Does anyone know what colors (missle body and cone) are on the Phionex missle? This is for a F-14 Tomcat with VF-111 Sundowners markings. I believe it is from About the mid-80's.
Also, is this missle going to be used on F-18s after the Tomcat is retired?

The only Phoenix Missles I have seen where all white(cone and body ) They would get dirty from flight hours but base color was white with brown stripes.
http://navysite.de/weapons/aim54_1.jpg
As for them being used on the F-18 I have not heard of anything about them being able to on anything but the Tomcat, but I could be wrong about this.
Hope this helps
Paul

There is some yellow and brown banding on the phoenix missile. Here are some pics:





I have a F-14 RIO that I work with that I could ask for exactness. He corrected me on the bands I put on the F-14 I did. He's on leave this next week, though, so it will be a week before I can have an answer.

Depending on what has been loaded in the missile as far as a rocket motor....whether its live or inert....same for the warhead and guidance package....will determine the color of the bands on the missile....this goes for the Sparrow, AMRAMM, and Sidewinders as well...there is a color pattern to it....what that is...I am not sure, but I am sure there are places on the net that you can find out.

Also...to my knowledge....the only 2 aircraft that have the proper equipment to carry the Phoenix is the F-14 series, and the F-15 series....its just that the USAF have never used the Phoenix on the Eagles. I believe it was tested, and that the USAF decided that it would never be needed.....that and the $1million price tag for each missile may have had something to do with it. As well...I believe that the F-15s could only carry 2 of them, maybe 3, one on the pylons under the sidewinders, and one on centerline....however this would replace fuel tanks if needed....where as the F-14 could carry a maximum of 6 and still carry 2 tanks!!

The Air Force most likely declined to use them because $1 million was too inexpensive and didn't include a golf course.

Viper hit the nail on the head.. All ordnance the hangs from the birds are color coded and the colors are universal no matter if the are a bomb missle tank round and so on.
Yellow ='s live or high explosive.
Brown ='s propellant
Blue ='s inert
Real light or lime green ='s incendiary (i.e white phosphorus)
In the pic provided by Tin Can (great one Thanks for it). The brown stripes point out where the motor is on the winder and the phoenix and the yellow bands show where the HE warhead is on the missles. The gp bombs are live High explosive due to the yellow bands.(Bombs have two designations)
1 yellow band is a slick skin
2 yellow bands is a thermal coated (most common used) the ones shown in the pic.
Sorry got so wordy, hope this helps
Paul

Thankyou very much!!! For all of your help.

Hornets are not able to carry Phoenix missiles and will probably never be, even Super Hornets. One of the reasons why Hornets are now replacing Tomcats is that the potential threat to the fleet is now different than it was when Tomcat was introduced to service. Back then in the middle of Cold War the biggest threat to the fleet were long-range Soviet bombers and flying bombs. It was necessary to destroy them at as far distance as possible - the result of such demand was creation of Tomcat - with its very powerful radar and capability to carry super long range air-to-air missiles: Phoenix.

With the end of Cold War the need for this kind of weapon no longer exists and the Navy decided that it can now live without Tomcat and Phoenix.

Regards,
Pawel

Most active air to air missiles in the 80's were gloss white. In 1989 all missiles were to be painted gloss Lt grey I believe FS16375 (1 is gloss, 2 is semigloss, 3 is flat, hence FS36375). In case of the AIM-54 Phoenix "C", in the Gulf War time frame, it was the gloss grey, with the war head being flat white. Any F-14A in service prior to Desert Storm the missiles were gloss white. The Id markings denoting the location of the motor section and if the weapon was for training or a live shot remain the same. In regard the the Hornet will ever be capable to fire the Phoenix. With arrival and service of the Aim-120 Amraam BVR, the Phoenix was not considered to be used on the F/A-18 in any variant. And as stated previously with the threat of long range bombers reaching the fleet no longer (though a few still remaining but in a sad state) a meaningful thought. The Aim-54C has basically been withdrawn from service. As for the F-15 testing the Phoenix, I have never heard of this, but I'm not into USAF testing much, mostly USN, so I will not comment on it. And if I don't know it may have been I've just learned something new. So since I do not know what time period you are doing your Tomcat, I hope this helps.

Fly Navy, Don't look back, something may be gaining on you!
Chuck

As far as I'm aware,only two aircraft were designed to carry the Phoenix...the F-14 (naturally), and...believe it or not...the YF-12. Even though the the -12 never got beyond testing, I've seen tech data that shows a Phoenix configuration as the only arming this aircraft was supposed to have.

hope this helps...