Farewell to the F111

Last time I saw them was at the Willytown airshow in September, I almost had tears in my eyes when the last one departed. They served the RAAF well.

The F-111 remains near the top of my all-time favorite list because I grew up watching (and listening) to them near by Brisbane home. My family bought a house on ridge in Taringa that was the last high ground on a run from the 111 base at Amberly and downtown Brisbane. The first ANZAC Day we were there (I would have been 11), I awoke to a tremendous roar and the house shaking, and looked out the window to see seven of the beast in formation a few hundred feet up headed for a flyover of the parade. I know the aircraft has had its share of problems, but they have always epitomized airpower. Low slung, side-by-side seating, and all, reminds me of a delivery truck that's capable of Mach 2. You really don't want to be on this guys delivery route.

Farewell old friends!

I remember when Reagan sent them over to Libya to put a certain person in his place.

After reading the story about what those pilots went through, I ran right out and built one.

-Jesse

Maybe I can hunt down an F-111 crew capsule now.. What a great thing to put my flight sim computer in, eh!

Was in the FD at a  F-111 base in England.They were not the easiest plane to pull egress on because of the cockpit setup.No name to the aircraft and we just called it the "111"

I had an IP who flew F-15s and he told a story of Red Flag one day.  Said he spotted an F-111 on the deck trying on ingress and he rolled in on his six thinking it would be an easy kill.  The Vark proceeded to run away and leave him in the dust.  He was amazed at how fast it was on the deck.

They had a terrible reputation in Vietnam.  They called them McNamara's folly or something like that.  There was a very high accident rate.  No one had any idea why they kept crashing on low levels.  Then one day a pilot recovered one and they found out that the stab trim would run full nose down almost instantly.  Not very good at 300 feet and Mach 1.5.  This guy's trip just happened to run nose up and he recovered.

During Desert Storm they were known for tank plinking.  The desert ground would cool faster than the Iraqi tanks so at night they would fly with a load of 1000 lb bombs and use the IR pod to find the dug in tanks.  Lase and drop, boom one dead tank.  Scared the crap out of the Iraqis.  Quiet desert night and BOOM!

Thank goodness we never had the F-111B Deviant!

Hans von Hammer

Oh, we had lots of names for them. 

That's why I said "Official", lol...

Only "Official" name I knew was for the EF-111 Raven.. Unofficial was "Spark Vark", and that's the limit of my F-111 knowledge...

Got a buddy of mine that was an Aardvark avionics guy and he didn't have much good to say about it either...

The EF-111A was the only model of the F-111 to have an official name.  They were also called "Electric Fox", "Spark Vark", and several un printable names.  The F-111 was ofter called F- wonder eleven.  Its a wonder if it will ever get off of the ground.  Another name was "Buzzard" as it looked just like one coming in for a landing with everything hanging down and long wings.

I think the F111 was underrated... Wait, that's a different thread...  The only thing I ever heard warthog referring to was an old 70s A-10 kit I had once lol.  Actually I think I might still have a 1/48 kit in my little stash.  YUP.  Just Looked, an Academy/Minicraft EF111 Raven in 1/48 and the sucker is still sealed.  I just remembered that my Daughter got it for my Bday about 2 years ago and it's been sitting in the back of the closet for 2 years unopened.  I think I might do it after the Secret Santa build is complete.

berny13

 

Sparrowhyperion:

 

Raven I believe.  It was the first variable geometry fighter kit that I ever built.  It is still one of my favorites.

 

 

Hans von Hammer:

Only USAF fighter-bomber to never have an official nickname...

 

 

 

 

HvH is correct.  When the F-111 was being designed there was discussions going on what to name it.  The USAF and General Dynamics was leaning toward "Switch Blade" but the Navy didn't like that name.  They never came up with an official name, but Aardvark was taged on later.  That name was never fully approved by the USAF or GD.  Maintenance had other names for it, many non flattering.

Sparrowhyperion

Raven I believe.  It was the first variable geometry fighter kit that I ever built.  It is still one of my favorites.

 

Hans von Hammer:

Only USAF fighter-bomber to never have an official nickname...

 

HvH is correct.  When the F-111 was being designed there was discussions going on what to name it.  The USAF and General Dynamics was leaning toward "Switch Blade" but the Navy didn't like that name.  They never came up with an official name, but Aardvark was taged on later.  That name was never fully approved by the USAF or GD.  Maintenance had other names for it, many non flattering.

Raven I believe.  It was the first variable geometry fighter kit that I ever built.  It is still one of my favorites.

Hans von Hammer

Only USAF fighter-bomber to never have an official nickname...

I can rember collecting water samples from a bog in North Wales in the late 80's and ducking as 111s thunder overhead, pursued by Tornadoes if memory serves.

Still an amazing memory 20 years later.

Karl

Oh, we had lots of names for them. 

That's why I said "Official", lol...

Only "Official" name I knew was for the EF-111 Raven.. Unofficial was "Spark Vark", and that's the limit of my F-111 knowledge...

Got a buddy of mine that was an Aardvark avionics guy and he didn't have much good to say about it either...

Hans von Hammer

Only USAF fighter-bomber to never have an official nickname...

Oh, we had lots of names for them.  None which I can post.  Every one thinks it was such a great aircraft.  If they ever had to work on one, they wouldn't think so.  It was a mechanics nightmare.  The electronics had a failure rate like no other aircraft.  It is the only aircraft I know that had an engine start two hours prior to take off so problems could be fixed to make an on time take off.  That still was no guarantee it would get off of the ground.  For every four aircraft scheduled to fly, there would be two spare aircraft setting on the ramp.

Only USAF fighter-bomber to never have an official nickname...

Always one of my favorite birds! Check out my FB-111A build here:

'Vark

I saw one perform at an airshow many years ago in Loveland, Colorado and instantly fell head over heals for it! I don't know what model it was as I was still unfamiliar with the aircraft then. It was just impressive overall to me and the 'dump and burn' was an added bonus! Somewhere I have photos of it and I'll have to dig them out and try to figure what it was. A 'FB' model is displayed at the Wings Over The Rockies museum.

ikar has some really great shots of F-111's at Korat. I hope he comes by...

I've always had a project to build an FB-111 just never get to it.

Man. that plane never got much respect- Aardvark; Pig!

But it had some serious operational successes.

only time i saw the 111 was in yuma in 81, wish i could have took more pics of the bird. well the passing of a great a.c. thanks for the vids.

Here's a couple more clips I found:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8YY-6NB1g0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eE7DATGSqac

 That is freakin awesome..!! I have a very good friend who crewed on the ol Pig while in the Air Force.. I remember seeing the dump n burn many o time while attending the CNE Airshow in the Big T.O

 Gone but not forgotten!!

 Thank you for sharing!

Flaps up,

Mike

Rangers Lead the Way