F-111 Aardvark (General Dynamics)

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

This thread is dedicated to the F-111 Aardvark and its derivatives. Please feel free to share your photos, stories, experiences, factoids and relevant data.

Here's a WIKI link for some basic information:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Dynamics_F-111_Aardvark

And, of course, here are some pics for y'all to drool over....

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I personally kinda liked the side-by-side cockpit arrangement of the F-111.

She was quite a bird.
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I was privileged to be "right seat human cargo" on an F-111 in 1977. I was "the package" that had to get somewhere fast, and for one leg of my trip, I got a special thrill. The pilot was a civilian (test pilot?) and he allowed me to assume control for a bit, coaching me through some maneuvers. Then he resumed command and almost "helped" me black out! Due to the nature of that trip and my mission, I am still unable to discuss many of the details of the flight, but suffice it to say, the memory is still a cherished souvenir of my time with No Such Agency.

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

Here's the National Museum of the Air Force's 360-Degree view of the Aardvark's cockpit.

http://www.nmusafvirtualtour.com/cockpits/SEAW_tour/SEAW-12.html

The complete library of the NMUSAF's 360-Degree views of various aircraft may be explored via this SS Link:

https://www.steelsoldiers.com/showt...Museum-of-the-Air-Force&p=2039452#post2039452

Carry on.

 

[Tracer]

Here are some photos of the Navy version of the F-111, the F-111B. The Navy chose the F-14A as a carrier aircraft over the F-111B, due to the F-14A being somewhat smaller and lighter in weight. Of the seven F-111Bs that were built most were used as test aircraft, and then scrapped. One F-111B survived, and is stored at NWAS China Lake awaiting restoration.

 

[Barrman]

The CAF had one sitting outside a hanger in Midland 4 years ago. Tires low and looking neglected. There is another outside the base in Clovis, NM. If eastbound through town it looks pretty awesome because the road turns and you head right toward it for a while. Pretty big plane.

 

[marchplumber]

Didn't the entire cockpit "eject" on the F-111? As a complete compartment? Fast, low level, NOE, and just plain beautiful to behold!

 

[maddawg308]

I have very few pics of the F-111 and the EF-111 variant, and most were taken a long time ago when pics were smaller and more grainy. But here's what I got.

 

[Tracer]

Sad ending. Twenty Three of the RAAF F-111C aircraft, are interned at the Swanbank landfill in Queensland. The Australian Govt. deemed it cheaper to bury the aircraft, rather than recycle them. Six F-111C aircraft were lost to accidents, and several aircraft were awarded to aviation museums in Australia. The last F-111C, is being loaded on a C-17A transport, bound for the Pacific Air Museum at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The F-111C differed from other F-111s, in having upgraded landing gear, and extended wingtips.

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

Didn't the entire cockpit "eject" on the F-111? As a complete compartment? Fast, low level, NOE, and just plain beautiful to behold!

The ESCAPE CAPSULE is mentioned and shown in the WIKI link of Post #1 - Just scroll down about 50-60% of the page and you'll see it on the right. If you click on the link under that pic, you'll jump to another pic of the F-111's Escape Capsule.

Good call.

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

The CAF had one sitting outside a hanger in Midland 4 years ago. Tires low and looking neglected. There is another outside the base in Clovis, NM. If eastbound through town it looks pretty awesome because the road turns and you head right toward it for a while. Pretty big plane.

I had heard about that specimen at Midland about that time frame too. Do you know her fate?

Next time we're around Clovis & Cannon AFB I'll make a point of checking that gate guard out.

Thanks.

 

[steelypip]

My experience with the 111 was all with the SAC FB-111A medium bomber variant. It is sort of forgotten among the strategic nuclear bombers in between the big, workhorse B-52, the flashy and impractical B-58, and the entertaining, but never-quite-ready B-1B built by a machine tool company.

The FB-111, like the B-52G at that time, was primarily armed with the AGM-69 SRAM. The FB variant had longer wings for better range and a higher max gross weight (119,250 lbs takeoff), along with better TA/Targeting radar. All through the 1970s, it was tasked with targets that were too well defended for a B-52 and required more accuracy (or later target updates) than an ICBM could manage. The nuclear aardvark reliably did well in ORIs and at Bomb Comp against stiff competition, and was a valuable tool in the EWO toolkit.

The 111 had a sort of squirrely reputation in USAF all through the 1970s because of teething problems with the TF-30 engine. US Navy had similar experience with the TF-30 in the F-14A. The navy cured the problem by swapping out the TF-30s for GE F101s and made the Tomcat into the movie star we know today.

USAF stuck with the TF-30 in the 111 (mostly because nothing else fit in the holes), and P&W eventually got the bugs out. By the time the FB-111 went into production, improved intakes and uprated engines made it a reliable performer and solved the problem USAF had with B-52s no longer being able to deal with improved air defense around the USSR.

The same fixes applied to the tactical F-111 variants resulted in the aardvark being tasked with the Libya raid in the mid '80s, in which they did an outstanding job with a mission that was practically tailor-made for the aircraft.

 

[M813rc]

..... the Navy version of the F-111, the F-111B.

The F-111B was basically being forced on the Navy by SecDef McNamara (of whom I have an exceptionally low opinion) and his lust for "commonality" between all the services. The F-111, despite it's designation, was never a fighter, and the B certainly wouldn't have been.
In senate hearings, Admiral Tom Conolly was asked if more thrust, ie more powerful engines, would fix the issues the Navy had with the plane. Conolly's response was essentially that "..there isn't enough thrust in Christendom to make a fighter" out of the F-111.
Thus the F-111B died, and the Navy was able to develop the F-14 instead, named Tomcat in honour of Tom Conolly (who ended his own promotional prospects along with the F-111B).
Now that was a fighter!

The F-111B was, however, a good looking plane, in my opinion.

Cheers

 

[Guyfang]

The ESCAPE CAPSULE is mentioned and shown in the WIKI link of Post #1 - Just scroll down about 50-60% of the page and you'll see it on the right. If you click on the link under that pic, you'll jump to another pic of the F-111's Escape Capsule.

Good call.

The Russions are the proud owners of a F-111 escape capsule. They came by it in the Vietnam war. It turned up in a Podunk museum in Sibera, (I think). Now I ask you, where is the crew? There is mention of this pod in several books. One of the best is, Kiss The Boys Goodbye. But the Russions refuse to admit that many of the MIA air crew, were probably sent to Sibera, to be interagated. Along with lots of wreckage. It's a good book to read, but will raise your blood pressure.

The F-111 was another aircraft seen at Hill AFB. The birds came there for upgrades and maintenance. What a wonderful aircrafts!

 

[Barrman]

The one in Clovis is on the west end of town on the main drag. Cannon has its own collection of gate guards at the overpass headed onto base.

Here re is the one in Midland from June on 2013 when I took this picture.

 

[M813rc]

There is another outside the base in Clovis, NM. If eastbound through town it looks pretty awesome because the road turns and you head right toward it for a while. Pretty big plane.

What you tend to miss while looking at the plane, is that there is an M42 duster parked a little behind it. Worth stopping in that little park for a few minutes to check both of them out.

We used to see the F-111s transiting New Mexico at low(!) level back when they were active at Cannon AFB. Very cool.

Cheers

 

[KsM715]

Dang, I've been away from this site too long.

I truley miss the days of driving to work around the flight line and sitting ( waiting to pass around the far end of the runway) and watching these Planes taxi into position and then getting to watch them take off.
( RAF Upper Heyford '92-till base closure in '94)