F -111 Beyond Challenge (GD/FW)
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 4 авг 2015
- Produced by General Dynamics Fort Worth Division. I inherited F-111 materials from my father Ben Toney, who retired as Engineering Director for the F-111 program. This VHS tape video was among the items in a box I found.
I worked 💣AMMO💣 at RAF Upper Heyford from 1988-1990. What an awesome plane.
As a crew chief on an F-111 flight line, this was a fine aircraft!!
As an Air Force brat I always loved the F-111 as I was growing up. Beauty, power, capability. I feel that it can be an underappreciated plane here in the US at times. Always makes me happy to see the Brits and Aussies affectionate towards this very interesting and, in many ways ahead of it's time aircraft!
As a F111E crew chief incredible aircraft to which I am so proud to have actually worked on and had the honor to serve n overseas territories
I was in the 55th. Great assignment.
Ed Bracken was my first Wing Commander. He was a great leader. The 48TFW was a great wing, and the men and women of squadrons that I flew with (495 and 492) were outstanding people.
I was a crew chief on F, and A models at Mountain Home AFB 73-77 and part of the over the shoulder and testing detachment for the EF 77-79. Best days of my youth.
Colonel Bracken was my wing commander at RAF Lakenheath during the early 80’s. The F-111 was a great airplane, particularly the f model. It was a privilege to serve and to fly it.
Ross Wolfley I can remember watching several take off out of Alconbury in 89’. Very cool and very loud. Full afterburners at dusk. Wow
Col Bracken! Chewing that cigar as he stormed into our Maintenance Job Control! Great Wing CC
I was at Bentwaters/Woodbridge at that time. Occasionally we would have some F-111s land.
Ross Wolfley - we were there at the same time.
When I was a kid living in Colorado, we used to see F-111's all the time. It's a very impressive plane and a lot of fun to watch.
One of the coolest memories I have is on a Friday before an open house and airshow at Peterson AFB there was an F-111 that was practicing approaches to runway 17 Right (Closest to the roads). They would make it look they were going to land and circle back around again. I remember looking at the F-111 on one of their passes and the wings were swept forward, landing gear down and landing lights on. We all thought this was their landing pass. Lol wrong. They were maybe 200 feet off the deck when they retracted the landing gear, swept the wings back on and throttled way up. It seemed like out of nowhere because they hit 300-400 knots in seconds and took off like a shot. That plane could turn on the power when they wanted to and it was insane to watch. I miss those days.
Very good description..
RAAF had 49 General Dynamics F-111A/C/G and RF-111C. It also had a further 10 aircraft kept in AMARC USA for spare parts. 8 of the RAAF's F-111s (7 F-111Cs and 1 F-111G) were destroyed in crashes during the type's service, with ten airmen being killed.
Thanks for sharing. I had a copy of this film when I first started flying the F-111 in the late 1980. First and only assignment in the F-111 was RAF Lakenheath. I was proud to serve my days as a Lieutenant flying in such a distinguished aircraft.
I probably watched you flying about East Anglia then, we were there 1985-89 and some of my friends' dads were F111 pilots and crewmen. Salute! Love this bird and miss it
My dad was a Captain in USAF and flew the F-111 from '72 to '80. He was stationed in Mountain Home, ID and Lakenheath, England. Loved that plane my whole life! Thanks for sharing this video!
I probably maintained his aircraft. Mountain Home '74-'76. Awesome !
Love Aviation too,always wanted to get into fighters/ mechanics.
im an old electronic watfare tech and worked on f 111f out of lakenheath england. i love the f111
You dad is a legend. Ive grown up in Australia and feel inlove with this aircraft in the 80's.
worked on them at Upper Heyford and Eglin in the late 80s to early 90s. loved them
I was a Crew Cheif with the 42nd ECS during Dessert Storm.
The F111 is a venerable aircraft. It was known for its pathbreaking technology of swept back wings enabling high speeds and the terrain hugging radar which enabled it to carry out missions deep into adversary territory like it could carry out successfully Operation El Dorado Canyon .. an aerial operation which still now stands as the longest and that which tested both machine and men to the very limits of their capabilities. F111 is fondly referred to as the Aardwarrk .. it's a truly legendary war machine of its time .
This is important documentary history and I appreciate you posting it. Who knows how many treasures are out there waiting to be discovered in dusty old boxes?
I worked on these at McClellan AFB (SMALC) in the late 80s to mid 90s. It was such a sad time when they were retired by the USAF. I doff my hat to the RAAF for flying them for several more years.
Saw an F-111 take off at Wurtsmith AFB, MI in the mid 80s when I worked 52Gs of the 379 BMS. It was easily the loudest plane I had ever heard. Until I saw a B-1 take off in full burner on a very cold 94 Nov morning at Dyess. I was about 200 ft away from it.
We had a number of F-111C's here in Australia. A magnificent aeroplane, a shame we stopped using them.
RAAF had 49 General Dynamics F-111A/C/G and RF-111C. It also had a further 10 aircraft kept in AMARC USA for spare parts. 8 of the RAAF's F-111s (7 F-111Cs and 1 F-111G) were destroyed in crashes during the type's service, with ten airmen being killed.
The swing wing and tandem cockpit are kind of a dead end for fighter aircraft once powerful compact lightweight computers became common. Same story with the F14 and to a lesser extent the B1
Very loud!
Nearly as good as a Buccaneer 😎😎
Yeah, technology will never allow the use of any weapon system forever. That is the nature of the cat and mouse game of offense vs defense.
Served in the Royal Australian Airforce from 1973 to 2010. Australia’s frontline aircraft.
Scenes taken at LN look to be 1983 if I'm not mistaken; judging from the weather probably autumn. Clues: F-111Fs carry their Pave tacks, have slime lights (introduced late 1982), toned down 48 TFW emblem (introduced late 1982 and reverted back to high-viz emblem in 1984), and pilots wear different helmet types, also typical for '83.
Brought a tear to my eye… F-111E First Love True Love… RAF Upper Heyford!!!
About 1989 went to a safety day at Upper Heyford. Interesting being shown around the place, breakfast and lectures. They told us how Fridays were dangerous days, so they didn't fly on Fridays due weekenditous. European bad weather was a challenge. Pilot also told us about the Libya raid, interesting.
Loaded a lot of bombs on those Lakenheath F models. I was with the 494 TFS in the late '80's to early '90's. Great weapons platform. We blasted the hell out of Iraq with them. Good times....
It is good how this video mentioned that the F1-11was in RAAF service. A lot of non Aussie videos on this plane never mention that us Aussies flew them as well.
I was an F111D instrument and autopilot tech and instructor from 1971 until 1980. I loved fixing that aircraft and grew to love that aircraft. I got out of the USAF in 1980 and became an avionics tech rep for Sikorsky Helicopters. In 2005 I was sent to Townsville AU to be a technical rep or advisor for your Blackhawks. If I could have become a technician on your F111s and stayed there in Australia it would have been a dream come true.
there is an f111at cosford , I was amazed at the build quality
I miss the F-111. ❤
I flew the F4 and was at Nellie AFB when I saw my first F111. What I still can't believe how loud it was....the F4 is loud but can't come close to the F111 db count!
What engine did the F111 use?
Cxxxx
@@Golfez4u2 TF-30
Yes I was right up close to some Pigs taking off in RAAF Edinburough, set the afterburners and it literally shook the ground like an earthquake...
They were not that big of a plane and fully loaded weighed 50 tons? That is mindboggling.
I was at the Heath, in Red section, from 82-85. "Elephant Ed" Bracken was the CC when I was there. Great AC. Terrible place to be stationed at, at that time.
We were also there at the same time, but our memory is it was a great place to be stationed.
@@jc.cantrell 12 hour shift exercises that lasted 4 days every other month, with no comp time, weekend duty every month, working both sat and sun, with no comp time. Took me an hour to get to work, and an hour to get home, plus having to stay until everyone had their tools turned in, and turnover on the flightline was done, which delayed my getting to my car by 30 to 60 minutes every day. You decide.
@@harrystone8847 Differences in perspective. Like everyone else at the 'Heath, I experienced all that as well, and deployments, and sitting alert, and stan eval testing weekly/monthly, and check rides, and upgrades, etc. etc. etc. We were all in it together -- and being together made it a great time in our life. (no argument, just a different point-of-view).
@@jc.cantrell I can understand your perspective; since you were an officer and a pilot. You just needed to experience it from my end. I wouldn't do it again for a million dollars. I didn't even have time to take little side trips on the weekends. Normal days, I got home exhausted and couldn't even take my wife out to dinner. Exercises were even worse. 12 hour shifts, and was gone from home for about 14-15 hours each day. No thanks.
@@harrystone8847 Why did you live an hour away from the base? Was there nowhere to live anywhere closer? 🤔
Loved my time at Heyford in the 80’s
South side AMS, CNAPA, 1982-84 Remember the Falkland Arms Pub my old friends?
The part showing that sexy Cadillac dragging a shock wave across the desert was fantastic
I've seen clearer imprints of this particular footage elsewhere. Tremendous stuff. I'm certain that this is an actual genuine supersonic shock wave, given the plane's airspeed (which is simple to calculate in relation to its surroundings. Also, it was capable of supersonic flight near sea level).
Egressing from a target at Red Flag, we were doing 1.2 Mach at 200' in an A model from Mtn Home.
I love the USA cause of the proficiency, swiftness and all inclusive operations.
Forever the superpower we admire
Just an awesome machine….
Such a remarkable aircraft
Gotta love the "Vark".
I love this bird.
But never forget the mighty vulcans 🖖
Best looking bomber ever
Nostalgia intensifies at the narrators voice ☺️
my first and only jet i worked on as a weapons specialist was the f-11 out of nellis afb in nevada.... went tdy to takli rtafb in the early 70s... great plane to work on......had issues in the beginning but worked out the bugs....i think it got a bad rap from the politictions who didnt know shit.....they should have restarted the assembly line on this bird.......lots of bang for the buck if it was updated
I was also TDY from Nellis Air Force Base to Tah kli in September 1972 has a jet engine mechanic with the 474th
I was a weapons loader on both the D and F models. Eventually became SLC instructor, and ended up taking my F's (494th) to Taif Saudi Arabia during Desert Shield/Storm. Like you, the only ac I ever worked on was the F-111. I REALLY miss the 'ol girl, and wished there was still a flying model around somewhere. Thinking back, that aircraft would require a HUGE amount of money and resources to keep it flying! Now, to see one fly, I have to watch old pre-HD video. I loaded A LOT of weapons during Desert Storm. My crew - 883 bombs in a month and a half. Mostly GBU-24's and 12's. Great memories....
Crew Chief from 72 - 92 on them. Pease, UH, Lakenheath, Cannon.
Awesome Plane, Awesome Video Thank You For Sharing!
Cadillac of the skies is that correct ?
I heard our Aussie crews called them PIGS because they flew with their nose in the weeds like real pigs . For their TFR capability. Sometimes but not sure "vomit comet" at times due to letting go of the stick at 100 feet in valleys,raining,very low cloud,birds..and it stayed there,also any corrections by those who know are very openly welcomed. I love these planes and thank those who served in ,on and around ANY military service then past,present and future.My Respects.
My dad help build the hardened shelters at Upper Heyford for those bad boys.
I was at Upper Heyford 77-79 and they started building those hardened
Structures in 1978. I was with 20th SECURITY Police and worked in the QRA and WSA . I wS only 18 years old when I got to Heyford. Very good assignment. 👍
@@kennethbilinovich3432 -- We probably crossed paths when I sat Victor Alert. Heyford was a great assignment.
Just brilliant 👏
Great video; amazing airplane. Saw it turn into a dot many times. But it should be remembered that the airplane's promise was to replace/eliminate the need for the F-4, 14, 15, 16, and 18. It did, however, fulfill its strike role very well. In the Sandbox, a single squadron of 111s destroyed more Iraqi tanks than all the A-10s in theater.
It was never designed to replace Air to Air aircraft, like the F-15 and the F-16. It was primarily designed as an attack aircraft. The "F" designation was an error by the Sec of Def.
this jet one best looking jets ever 😎despite its killing caparbility an amazing jet well ahead of its time saddly now in history books and some museums australia buried most it fleet 😥 will always be rememerd 🙏🏻
Mach,2.5 that’s gittin it alright.ahead of time airplane.
Is there anything faster down low even now? I doubt it.
To all Veterans, thank you for your service!🇱🇷🇱🇷🇱🇷🇱🇷🇱🇷
Your dad gave us one hell of a plane
Today we must defend liberty domestically.
My Wing/CC Col Jim Sluis was a F-111 driver...great commander, leader and person
Yes F111 were the best ever ❤
The absolute best of the best
Great video.
Very cool video !!!!!
Beautiful voice!
26/06/2022 Our F trucks, as we also called them, were an obvious sight over Ipswich Queensland when I lived there, being close to their Amberley airbase. Unfortunately our politicians agreed that the RAAF's planes were to be amongst the numbers reduced by nuclear disarmament deals with Russia. Subsequently they were dropped down abandoned coal mines in the local area and the RAAF's ability was dramatically reduced; replaced by Hornets.
Great bird, father of the Tomcat. Aussies absolutely loved it. Great 👍post.
Cool plane!.. cool vid!.👍
It first flew successful test flight 4 days before I was born, I served in the RAAF, was taught by F111 RAAF pilots in PPL, CPL.
One day at RAAF Williamstown one of the Ex F111 boys caught a Pig 🐷 going back to RAAF Amberley.
They were on a bragging tour on the way home, stopping off wherever they could.
They'd just set a speed record from Amberley to East Sale.
The speed over the ground worked out to be Mach 3.5 as they had a +350 knot tailwind at altitude.
I did the walk around with the successful pilots.
They said the hardest thing about the flight was slowing down enough to land.
If I remember correctly it was 31 minutes.
F-111 and FB-111: if you modernized it with avionics, radar, thrust vectoring, etc. this would be a 4+ gen. aircraft!
Im in England 🇬🇧, watched the F111 Lakenheath for years
Aussies just call it the pig
My brother in law was at upper heyford at a staff sgt
Imagine if the jet was made up to date and still used today would still be world beating
agree
The gentleman (Father). Involved in the F111 used even based on snake island . Techs was up to day then . now today ( secret ) who is kidding who ???
There are several aircraft that should've been kept in service with upgrades and overhauls.
The F-111 is one of them.
worked on them a few years.....agree
But back in the day there were engineering shops tasked to making spare parts,new parts etc then they get moved to the next latest thing and those old parts run out ,perish or just aren't there.
It's natural attrition.
Try finding an original LX Torana tail light at a wrecker.
Might be in rare spares budget to mold more off original Holden tooling but yall have to pay
Nate D:
For weapons that are as effective today as they were then I’d be ok with my tax dollars being spent on it.
I miss this
Didn’t know a pilot in the Air Force could wear glasses while flying
It is a legend
I did avionics and flight control systems work on the F-111 F model in the mid-1970s. This aircraft still to this in 2022 would provide munitions any place on the planet it felt like. Get some of these things back out of mothballs, upgrade the electronics and integrate their original terrain following radar systems, along with new General Electric engines which put out about five to six thousand pounds more of thrust oh, and these things would be unstoppable for the next 50 years. There has only ever been one ever shot down and that was when Libya was tipped off that the planes were coming in and they fired everything they had and they actually hit one. It certainly wasn't because they were aiming for it.
I was also lucky enough to fly the flight simulator and develop a procedure for engaging the terrain-following radar if you're already in articulated Terrain. With that I was allowed to teach several Pilots how to do that so they could teach others without it being on the books.
B Shop on the D model at Cannon, 79-82
Get them back , we will need them
Kadhafi left the chat...
The russians we terrified of F111 aardvark
This looks like early-mid 1980s. Euro 1 wraparound camo, not SE Asia. And low-visibility insignia stencils. Not red white and blue.
Aardvark is the name; Ghaddafi is (was) the game!
LN love it
IT RAINS, SO HARD IN VIETNAM THAT THIS TERRIAN FOLLOWING RADAR DIDNT WORK UNDER WATER, SONAR WOULD HAVE BEEN USEFULL.
Don’t be dependent upon words or others be first to surprise those that aren’t right! Hate Is power know how to get there quickly!
I’ve always liked the Russian SUs. But the F-111 is impressive and beautiful, too.
Nice ad.
Hi person from the past, future historian here. We like the F-4 better. Also the f18 is you have those, those worked out great.
I believe in 1960s some f 111 were lost in SE Asia jungle due to technical issues
Du Nguyen,
They lost 3 on the first deployment in Vietnam. The plane was very new and there were systems that were not well understood not the least of which was the wing sweep mechanism which had weak spots that sometimes failed. They learned a lot from the lessons with the F-111 and they never had a disastrous mechanical failure of the swing wing in either the F-14 or B-1.
Overall, the plane probably introduced TOO MANY new technologies and engineering firsts in one air frame. They produced less than half of the F-111s they originally intended to manufacture because of all the bugs and it was the better part of at least 10 years from first flight before the plane could be called "reliable" and even then it was a bit of a hangar queen at times! They never completely resolved the engine issues and the TF30 engine continued to be problematic towards the end of its operations. There are no TF30's left in operation anywhere around the world aside from the dozen Iranian F-14s that can be flown (with baling wire keeping those planes together).
There were so many differences between the models of the F-111 that I'm sure they had logistical fits within the USAF. They had different standards of avionics between each model and at least 3-4 different models of the TF30 engine in service. There wasn't a lot of standardization beyond some basic airframe parts and even then --! The TF30 in the newest F-111s built, the F-model, were a different generation engine than the TF30 in the A-model! Due to aerodynamic studies, there were at least 3 different inlet designs among the models, too. The Australian C-model was a hybrid between the original A-model and the FB-111A model unique to the Strategic Air Command. The C-model was later updated with the same engines and targeting pods they used in the F-model.
There were originally supposed to be 4 services flying the F-111 -- the USAF, the USN, the RAF, and the RAAF. Only the USAF and RAAF bought the plane. The USN hated the plane from the start and were right to reject it -- it was NOT designed to their desires and needs and would have been a horrible fit for them. The RAF was in a bad place in the 1960s with waffling politicians and a national defense policy that could not make up its mind! They were waffling between wanting to save money and rely on missiles for defense or keep manned system backups and retain programs to shore up their national aerospace industry. The RAF F-111 project was a casuality of this timeframe along with the TSR-2 (which the UK F-111 was intended to replace) and any follow-on supersonic UK fighter after the British Electric Lightning. The last major UK military plane project of the 1960s that survived in production past the 1960s was the Harrier.
When the Australians finally retired their F-111s in 2010, they had been putting an average of 180 maintenance man hours (MMH) per flight hour into their machines towards the end because those airframes were close to 40 years old on average! That's considered excessive by any reasonable standard. A modern fighter has a "reasonable" MMH expectation of 12-15 hours per flight hour. (12-15MMH was the average for most World War II fighters as well. Prior to computerization of diagnostics it wasn't reasonable to expect 12-15MMH on fighters unless they were something stupidly-primitive like the F-5. Even the F-16 in some cases was pushed to get 12-15MMH and they definitely weren't hitting 12-15MMH with the F-15 let alone the F-14.) Anything above 30-40 MMH is considered expensive and excessive unless it's an older type plane or strategic bomber. A transport plane is supposed to have MMH of under 30 hours; they shoot for 20 or less for planes like 777's.
There was another issue (resolved after the US military involvement in Vietnam, circa 1973) with the F-111 avionics giving false readings and literally steering planes into the ground. There was an officer who finally figured out what was going on and convinced his superiors to investigate the situation and make the fix.
@@AvengerII Crikey
@@AvengerII thank you!
AvengerII
What the hell, Mister?
What an over-blown response, with far more than the commenter referred to.
@@patrickflohe1193 Patrick --
Being trapped by COOF hasn't made you a better person has it?
Someone makes a comment, I added to it.
You could do nothing but be an ass to a stranger.
You must be "lovely" at parties and tell other people they're talking too much when they try to tell stories.
Take that overblown response and shove it up your ass...
So, were the phone calls important?
Any idea what's the date of this film?
+bgm1958 I have the original VHS tape from my father who retired as Engineering Director for the F111. I copied this some time ago, I'll have a look to see if I can locate the tape and check if there's a date. I would imagine it was done sometime in the 1970's.
I would bet 1973 or so. I walked around them for two years at Mt Home AFB.
I always thought it was a good looking plane. I had models as a kid. I knew several pilots in the US and later met an Aussie who also flew them.
Definitely before the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1989.
Can't say time frame for the entire video, but the paint scheme and PaveTac pod mod occurred in the 81-82 time period. Ed Bracken was 48TGW/CC from Nov 81 - Apr 84 according to his official bio. I remember participating in the assumption of command when Tom Baker surrendered command to Ed Bracken.
I heard back In 80s one was lost in North Vietnam and those operations came to stop .
Very briefly.
8 vulcans tested usa defence, 6 got through undetected, yep, uk 🇬🇧
safe ejection for both crew members is a bit of a stretch... safe from wind, sure... no cables to break your legs, yup... but it had it's own issues....
Why didn't these replace b 52s?
They served a different role. B-52s have considerably greater weapons carrying capacity. Today, they're just as likely to be carry racks of airborne cruise missiles as they would be bombs.
I'm not an expert on either one, but grew up around both aircraft - Fort Worth TX, and Carlswell AFB. We had B-52s scramble over our house once a month, and man those things are loud!
First swing wing?, thanks to English Barns Wallis,
Isn't this the bird that John Boyd thought was such crap he came up with the energy maneuverability theory to explain it?
I'm not sure. Does anyone know the answer?
Do not use gravity clothing...?
Aardvark
RAF Lakenheath
The Navy dropped their acceptance of the F-111, wanted their own. The F-14 was largely stolen technology from the F-111. Today, the F-14 is gone, and the Navy is stuck with the F-18, which used to be called the F-17, when it LOST fighter competition to the F-16. Of course many upgrades happened over the years, but the Navy continues to fly 'bad copies' or 'failed rejects' from the US Air Force.
I've seen the YF-17 at the Battleship Park near Mobile, AL. It looks similar to the F-18. Here's a link. www.johnweeks.com/yf17/yf17alabama.html
Improve e the very ways we conduct wars if attackeded payment is required by getting thier blood!