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American bomber that was buried in Australia’s landfill
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- Опубликовано: 3 авг 2024
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0:00 The innovations of the F-111 Aardvark
1:29 How F-111's ejection cockpit works
2:52 F-111's terrain following capability
3:35 The advantages of variable sweep wings
5:08 Hoverpens (sponsorship)
6:08 Why was the F-111 developed?
9:20 How did the F-111 initially perform in Vietnam?
10:17 Why did the US Navy cancel its order of F-111B?
11:01 Why the entire fleet of F-111 was grounded
12:21 F-111 wing pivot box issue
13:05 Australia receives its first six F-111C
13:38 F-111 Dump and Burn
14:56 Australia's troubles with F-111 fuel tank sealant
15:44 How the F-111 helped with a human heart transplant
16:33 What armament did the F-111 carry?
17:26 How Pave Tack targeting system revolutionized the F-111
18:14 The F-111's adventures in Australian Air Force
18:55 RF-111C and other variants
19:51 How maintenance-heavy was the F-111?
20:37 Why was the F-111 retired?
22:03 Why were the F-111C buried in a landfill in Australia?
22:55 The legacy of the F-111 Aardvark
The F-111 Aardvark was arguably the most technologically advance aircraft of its era. It pioneered variable sweep wings, terrain following capabilities, and an ejection cockpit.
But why the F-111 had no ejection seats and had to shoot out fire during emergency landings, why Australia went through 10 defense ministers to receive its F-111s and at then end buried them underground, how this 2-seat aircraft once carried 3 lives onboard, and how the F-111 once dropped a bomb that ended a war, is #NotWhatYouThink #NWYT #longs
Music:
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Footage:
US Department of Defense
Note: "The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement."
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How does bro not have any likes on his own comment but other people are more than his lol
2000: We would have flying cars in 2024 :2024 we have floating pens!!
Rest in peace aardvark
We all love you
"Fastest at lower altitudes" while others would break going over mach 1.2 the aardvark could go slightly over mach 1.3
Obsolete thing. Best in landfill.
So is the SU-57. But some people still think it's basically the best. They're wrong but still.
G'day,
Well, 3 RAAF Aardvarks/Pigs crashed within 60 miles of where I'm sitting right now...; the ones at Armidale and Gurya I heard about, but the one at Tenterfield was one of a pair which overflew me at Emmaville - when they were heading from Amberley coming way inland before setting off to bomb at the Evans Head Range, 140 miles away...; and I heard only the singleton going home..., and half an hour later the Hourly Radio News told of the Crash.
As kids we schooled ourselves to notice the faintly growing
sssssSibilant hisssSss-ing noise which gives one about 5 or 7 seconds' warning that an F-111c at 450 knots or so on TFR would appear on the Horizon, 45° above the Horizon, and incoming....; and IF one could hear, notice, and MOVE ! - fast enough then about half the time one could get to see it going overhead..., receding - and only
Then...,
The Sound of the Engines
Arrived !!!
It was a great game to grow up with.
And, because once every 7 years they actually crashed, around here...; I for one was never so sanguine as to shrug and simply keep my head down, when the Hissing gave me enough warning to run out and see the flyby.
Hillbilly Aeroplane Spotting...; kinda thing.
If an F-111c was perhaps goanna prang while flying past going low and really fast,
On Terrain Following Radar with a 1960s Computerised Autopilot...; then I was not interested in missing an opportunity to observe that phenomenon... (Science !).
And, as I said, I literally heard the "Missing Man" fail to return from a dummy Bomb-run on the Tenterfield Abattoir, hitting a Tree on the pitch-over atop a Hill on the way in - knocking off one Stabilator...; and then instead of ejecting, because they were pointed at the town..., they went to
Full Afterburner with full back stick, and roared over the top of Tenterfield (built down beside the Creek)..., to punch into the Ridge to the East of the Town, in an empty paddock.
"...Dying in the finest traditions of the Service..."
As the Air Chief Marshall said, on the Radio, afterwards.
The other thing you didn't mention was that there were 2 ways to perform that Fueltank Deseal/Reseal job...
The British Contractors who did it on the USAAF-based Aardvarks took Skin off the Airframe and removed the Fueltanks - to then work on them in the open...; wearing full HazMat Suits...
(From an Article in Aeroplane Magazine...)
The RAAF did the job differently,
In-House, using Service Personnel who could be
Ordered to do dangerous things....
Like - doing the whole thing without pulling the Tanks, instead putting an Aircraftsman wearing nothing but underpants (to fit in through the tiny little opening)..., with a Mask and an Air-Hose from a Compressor outside..., working
Inside the Tank, still in the Aeroplane, to use really strong Solvent to remove all the old Sealant by hand, and then going back in again to reseal the seams with new Goop.
Coming out from the Desealing, they were always naked, because the Solvent dissolved their Jocks.
All those who did that duty, duly went on to have Medical Discharges, and die from Autoimmune Diseases and Cancers and Leukaemias...
(ABC Radio National Background Briefing program Interviews with Ex-Servicemen...).
So...
"Love the F-111...?"
Well, I used to enjoy watching them go past - but I'm a pretty serious Aeroplane-Head from way-back... (check out my "Personal Aeroplanology..." Playlist, my first Aeroplane hangs in the National Transportation Museum !).
I never saw one prang, but I once heard the absence afterwards - kinda thing ; and a lot of families are still mourning their burried Ex-Aircraftsman members who used to work inside F-111c Fueltanks.
Oz burried the Hairygoplanes which killed their own
Maintainers with
Cancer.
Somehow, that all probably balances...; about as well as anything connected with the Military can ever be expected so to do (?) !
Such is life,
Have a good one...
Stay safe.
;-p
Ciao !
@@bastiaan7777777
YES with that much ( Asbestos) in Airframes it must be covered, to keep Dust out of the human air breathing 🫁
On a side note. I remember a big city by myself that wanted to remove its Asbestos water mains. I worked in the industry and remember cutting those pipes. The pipes were really a combination Asbestos/ cement. Some water systems were very mussy Asbestos pipes, if there was a big fire and the FD pumped hard, the pipes would just implode. The District I worked for, had the thicker pipes much stronger. Anyway the Big city decided to remove all their Asbestos water pipes. By the way the customer was not in any danger of drinking water as Asbestos is an airborne issue. It cuts up your blood making little bulbs in your lung when breathed in, you basically start coughing up blood. So the district went to great lengths to dig the pipe out carefully, using hazmat suits and in closing all pipes in plastic to be carefully sent to landfill. Very costly for that city, when the pipe could have been left in ground and a new Ductile Iron water pipe installed on opposite side of street or close to the Asbestos pipe, but far enough away to never disturb it in further
One of the contractors who hauled the covered pipe to landfill, I think it was someone higher up in company or a safety guy who had gone through all the meetings about making pipe sealed from Airborne breakage. He watched in horror as the landfill guys with their big Dozers just crushed the plastic coving the Asbestos pipe, just smashing it with blade and tracks. He could NOT believe that after all their work, the landfill would just destroy everything they did to protect the pipe from being airborne let alone the air quality at the landfill and winds blowing the Asbestos particles to surrounding homes. He reported this to city engineering and the city was going to go after the county like angry ants. The county ran the garbage customer dump transfer station and landfill. The city contracts the garage pick up and those private carriers dump at the transfer station. City did take the county to court over this, but it's beyond me why the landfill did not even think for a moment that they had this hazmat pipe coming in
My guess is the landfill knew the pipe was a hazard but just decided to smash it with dozers anyway. But just goes to show how the public sees a city taking precautions and another agency just flipped them off
I also think it was stupid for the city to dig up all this Asbestos pipe instead of just leaving it in ground it was not causing any airborne related issues if left right were it was in R.O.W. nothing was ever going to be built on it, and if a issue in future, just have maps in city engineering department to show the pipes location. There were over 85% Asbestos/Cement pipe in the District I worked at for 15+ years. I would Live tap any cut ins after the Asbestos issues were made notice of the district by the Department of Health. A live tap is a machine that just cuts the round hole inside with the valve installed to the machine. By the way in Disneyland they actually FROZE a water main live tapped it for a new area of park water systems. They could not shut down water systems because of cost loss to Disneyland. I went to an event for water systems on freezing water mains for installing a new connection on the big mainline water pipes. A very interesting way to tap a live pipe. A service tap for your home is a live tap with a very much smaller hand run tool like basically a metal cutting drill.
I was part of their disposal and worked at both 1 and 6SQN the F111 Squadrons, great aircraft and loved by the public. Not all were buried many went to museums etc.
Hell yeah! The old girls used to put on quite a show over Amberley, although, I still love going and watching planes practising.
people may complain that using the f-111 to transport a heart for transplant was an extravagant waste of taxpayer dollars. i beg to differ. it was an important time pressure readiness drill that im sure gleaned valuable experience that shaped procedures for decades to come. im equally sure everyone involved counted it as the most important mission of their career if not lives. bravo to everyone involved!!!
I am sure the pilots were elated to help, because at least they were doing something useful. Pilots need to complete certain amount of hours of training anyway and they usually spend them doing basically nothing. If anything, doing the delivery meant those hours were not going to waste.
"It Belongs in a Museum"
pretty sure they have 1 or 2 already
Yes it belongs in the British museum
@@lisawinder8857 those british need to keep their hands off our Aardvarks! (hope u brits out there r doin well tho)
We do have some in museums. There is one in the military museum in Canberra.
Waiting area in 2000 years they will be in a museum
"Watchout boy, she'll chew you up, she's an ANTEATER!"
Dammit!Now that song is playing in my head.Thanks a lot.
🎶 ohooo here she comes! 🎶
I was confused on why they buried them until now. It makes sense with all the asbestos
The FB-111A had some significant changes over the other models. It was also identical in dimensions to the F-111C. A fuselage plug was installed behind the cockpit that added over three feet to the length. The wings were also longer, so they blended better with the tail plane. There were other changes, most too minor to notice. Strategic Air Command operated the FB-111A as a strategic nuclear bomber. Much like the TAC crews had unofficially named the aircraft the Aardvark, the SAC crews called their FB-111A's Switchblades. My family spent eight years at Mountain Home AFB, from 73 to 80. I will forever miss seeing that big, beautiful pig in the air.
The RAAF crews called them Pigs.
In 1976 I went to AFROTC camp at Plattsburgh AFB. FB-111s were stationed there along with KC-135s. We got to tour one of the AC and a hanger that had the remains of one that had crashed. We got joy rides in the tankers and observed refueling missions from the boom operators station. Later in 80-82 when I was stationed in AK with the army, we were waiting for deployment on a field exercise at Elmerndorf AFB and just as it got dark 2 FB-111s departed. Taking off with full afterburners was quite an impressive sight. They shook the terminal we were in as they went by. I kind of grew up with this aircraft. The TFX model that came out in the 60s. The news reports of them in Vietnam. Their mission to bomb Lybia. They were great aircraft.
@@aaronleverton4221 An aardvark is a type of pig
@@zelons4675 No, it isn't.
@@zelons4675 I think aardvark's literal translation is 'Land Pig', but as an animal it's not really related to a pig.
A very underrated aircraft
Underrated is a very overused word.
Underrated is a overrated word
NPC ahh comment
@@cookeddonut0001 so trve
Overrated comment.
Not quite an F4 Phantom II, after severe teething problems, the Aardvark played a much larger role than it gets credit for.
Phantom is a naval interceptor, 111 is a nape of the earth gyroscopic below radar nuke deliverer. Oz bought them for their range and payload capacity, and for the Raven's view
I recently saw a video where it was argued that the aardvark was better than the warthog
The F-111 is another 1 of those aircraft that just has a timeless look. Its outline fits into the fighter jet that all kids draw. Like the F-15, A-5, A-10, Mig- 15, 17, 21.
I grew up in mid 70's at RAAF Amberly, listening to the F111s spool up at 7am every morning...then soon after the comforting waft of burnt Kero 😁.
Dad was Sqdn Ldr. for Ch47s. (Mike Andrews- still alive and doing well 👍) 🇦🇺
I grew up just outside of RAAF Edinburgh, it was a treat when they came in to visit.
A lot more exciting than the Orion's based there.
It was more common to see the F-18s and FA-18s than it was the Aardvark at Edinburgh. I do miss the Airshiws they used to hold. And also what happened to the shuttle they had across the road in the DSTO
@@safreestyle At RAAF Edinburgh, ARDU had it's own F-111C, A8-132, used for weapons development and release trials, ie AGM-88 HARM, AGM-84 Harpoon, and AGM-142 Popeye to name just a few, and a G, A8-277 was attached to ARDU were it was used in the development of the Small Diameter Bomb used on the F-22 and F-35, mainly supersonic release from the weapons bay
I got 2 Transplant (Lung and Kidney) because of Cystic Fibrose. This Story that a Bomber Jet deliver a Heart is so great. I respect that much
Cystic Fibrose sorry to hear that. and the jet having asbestos in it went unnoticed
@@bbillbill3919 I get 43 years old with CF and it is a wonder what modern Medicine can do. I belive that asbestos where noticed in the Dok. sorry for my english
@@bbillbill3919 it takes tons of toxic substances to make aircraft - the old grumman site on long island is highly polluted
@@bbillbill3919 "the jet having asbestos in it went unnoticed"
No, it was not.
Having asbestos in surface ships and aircraft was very common still in the 1960s when the F-111s were originally built. Part of why it is so expensive to scrap old ships like the old WW2 carriers and supercarriers is because of hazardous materials like asbestos that were used in their construction.
The vast majority of the American F-111s were scrapped in the desert of the US. Just wasn't cost-effective to preserve more than they did. Most of the preserved F-111s in US museums are A-models which were mostly retired by the late 1980s.
There aren't that many F-117s in museums, either. The stealth coatings of those planes have toxic chemicals in them which have to be stripped for public safety. The planes also have to be sanitized in other ways so that they don't leak out more classified info to our adversaries than they already have.
The last preserved F-111C actually went to an air museum in Hawaii. The American F-111s that weren't preserved in museums were gone long before the Australians retired their F-111s. Most of the F-111s in storage at AMARC in the late 1990s were stripped and they sold spare wing sets and other parts to support the Australian fleet.
The F-111C was originally scheduled to remain in service until 2020 but it became cost-prohibitive to maintain a plane that was literally spending a week on the ground for every hour it spent in flight! It had a ridiculously high maintenance man hours (MMH) per flight hour of 160:1! By comparison, even an old F-18 probably doesn't have an MMH much higher than 18:1!
"Incredible footage! These machines are truly working on another level!"
Worked at Hawker de havilland/Boeing at Bankstown Airport 1989, was on top a RAAF Caribou aircraft refuelling and servicing it, when I noticed an approaching F-111C from the south not 400ft heading between our two hangers and as roared over our heads I saw the Pave Tack pod swivel as it flew by!
I think I was Pave Tacked and lived to tell the story, 🤣and not many people can say that!
I used to see them fly past the gold coast often just above sea level,my friend Mike was a navigator on these,
I was based at Amberley for a little while during my army service (in a little shed). First day, awesome. Last day, good fucking riddance to the airforce! Lol. Youse guys are too noisy for this digger.
You guys had much better mess food than we did though, so thank for that. (I worked on a roving small arms training team, we did Austeyr qualification and training as it was rolling out across the ADF. Lots of good times.)
my Dad was RAAF Resident Engineer at de havilland Bankstown in the early 80s, he has a 44 gallon drum of used Caribou conrods, dont know why and he has never found a use for them lol. One time during a launch of an F-111 when I was at 1SQN the Nav/WSO was tracking me walking around the aircraft with the pavetack, same thing happened to me at 75SQN with a Hornet FLIR pod, smart alec aircrew!
Excellent video on the F-111. I was on the 'acceptance' AFB in Texas when the F-111 was being built and delivered to the USAF. I don't know if the reason the for losing a 'wing' was ever made public but it wasn't a design problem which is all I can say without getting a visit from the guys in the three letter agencies. We lost quite a few of these new birds on their acceptance flights when two hot pilots would take it out and test the strength and function of the 'bird'. These test flights were supposed to be flown in a 150 mile radius of our AF Base. One bird we lost seemed to have disappeared, leading to weeks of c130 flights in the circular test area around our base, but still no bird. This was a first and Air Force authorized a 'Blackbird' photo recon mission out of California that, because of the altitude and speed, was done in one flight (with refueling). We got the pictures in the search unit (where I, a lowly airman, cleaned up and did errands for the others). A certain picture in Arkansas on a mountain top appeared to be wreckage of the right shapes. A National Guard patrol was sent to drive up and examine the suspected wreck site, but no luck, just rocks in a clearing.
After a few weeks we shut down the search as we were simply flying over the same areas over and over again. I later heard hat it had been found, but far outside of the 150 mile radius test area (those test pilots did what they liked many times and the F-111 was built to evade radar, so where it went was impossible to trace by running a radar recording for the test flight area).
Anyways, it appears a Cajun was in his swamp buggy poking around for gators or some other animal and saw a tail sticking up from the swamp water in the middle of a flooded forested area, which hid the airplane's wreck from photo reconnaissance.
A short distance from the aircraft was a parachute from the crew module, which had shot deep into the mud, that had ejected when the aircraft had rolled upside down, as the wing 'loss' took just enough time, combined with the ejection time delay to chop the wires going to the module prior to rocket fired ejection. Hot rodding it, around 500 mph, they had the controls set at the minimum GFR (Ground Following Radar) setting of 200 feet and probably the highest 'Gee' force up and down, which was about 2.5, if memory serves. Like riding a bucking bronco, with your hands floating off the controls, sort of a dare situation.
The wing swivel broke under these quite strong forces (the max the bird was capable of) at a low altitude, leaving no chance once the wing broke off AT that point the clock was ticking. The bird rolled, the ejection handles were pulled nearly instantly, the guillotine blade fired off and sliced all the wires at the back of the module, the explosive bolts holding it to the frame banged off and the ejection rocket fired JUST WHEN THE AIRCRAFT HAD ROLLED UPSIDE DOWN. Those were good pilots, the best were chosen for this program, about to take over squadrons and fly a desk, mostly. Those responsible for the failed wing part were found and never saw the outside of their jail cell again.
Thus the 'problem' was identified fairly quickly as it was always a single element in each 'bird' Part of the history that should be told. In England in WW2 anyone who sabotaged a Spitfire (by sawing the wing frame, (hard to find on final inspection) was taken 'out back' of the factory and shot, then buried, right there, no trial, no marker. They're probably still there (this was from someone who worked at the Vickers plant, (long dead now) Some actions don't require much thought or time to fix. Most people in the plant knew what had happened and it didn't happen once. Ideology does crazy things to people as our own 'Woke' times show.
Just by the shape of the fuselage i already knew it was an AaaarrrrrrrrvvvvvvvvvvaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrcccckkkkK
Just by the shape of the fossil archeologists will know it was an Aaaaarrrrrdvvvvvvvvaaaaarrrrrcccckkk!
this guy listens to my mind, i usually binge watch your vids while having dinner at this time and i was hoping that pls if NWYT had uploaded a video. Thank NWYT
I need to know who convinced the air force to deliver the heart.
Convince a tactical unit to do something fun? I bet it was a case of beer or less.
Reminds me of the corpse behind the Walmart
what
@@gaemeer895 it reminds him of the corpse behind the Walmart. Simple as.
@@RatingRater what
Plural?
can I please just have one original experience smh...
the f-111f will forever be my favorite plane, all the features that it has it crazy
The coalition destroyed over 3,000 tanks, by air, during Operation Desert Storm. More than 50% (1,500+) were destroyed by F-111s.
The A-10s destroyed around 30%, with th remainder destroyed by other types of aircraft.
To see these buggers buried is heartbreaking!
I remember as a kid watching F1-11s dump and ignite their fuel over Brisbane an the 80s. It was otherworldly.
My Unkle gave his life refueling these at Amberly. RIP
I remember being in High school in 68 when FB-111 busted the windows of the school out. This happened several times. Then none.
There was a crashed/ recovered f1-11 in a brisbane scrapyard back in 1983, i went and took some pics and asked about it, the workers told me they put some of its fuselage into the furnace, but the workers got sick from the fumes given off from the buring paint, so they didn't put anymore of the fusalage into the furnace.
I've seen the F-111C after burner fuel dump at night a handful of times. But, the night one did it in vertical climb above the Sydney Opera House will never be forgotten. Beautiful Aeroplane.
Video suggestion. The F-105 Thunderchief's loss rates are not what you think.
395 out of the 833 built were lost in Vietnam. Only 60 some were non combat reasons or accidents, pretty high loss rate
@@sjd7188 Sam missiles were the main killer
Comment suggestion. That's funny, no one was thinking of the F-105 Thunderchief.....and especially not its loss rates. WTF, is this "blurt out the first thought....now!" Hahahaaaaa! No one want to sit through 18-20 minutes on the "Thud"...not even guys who flew the damn thing!...they've had enough of it too! Hahahaaaaaa! Oh, shit, I'm gonna giggle like a little girl for an hour over that.......fucking out of no where.....F-105 loss rates are not what you think......wait, what......NO SHIT!....no one thinks about it or it's loss rates. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THAT LAUGH! I'M CRYING RIGHT NOW. Did you start in the middle of a sentence, in a conversation you weren't having?? I can't breath....hahahahaaaaaaa!
In 2000 years, if this is discovered, the new people might think it's a UFO. Haha!
Just by the shape of the fossil archeologists will know it was an Aaaaarrrrrdvvvvvvvvaaaaarrrrrcccckkk!
The terrain following radar was so sensitive in the first iteration it was making crews sick. On several occasions caused injury to the crew. The system was brilliant. It took Australian engineers to refine the terrain following radar. I know, I was there
RIP "Cobber" Fenwick, no-one knew the TFR system as well as he did
Australia utilized the F111 from 1968 through to 2010. In fact Australia continued to use the aircraft long after everyone in the world stopped using it. In fact i knew a guy who was an aero engineer and he was involve in designing maintenace proceedures for the F111 because Australia at that point was the only country in the world still using the F111. Why was it used long after everyone else had retired it?? Well in australia we have vast distastances and there was a need for an aircraft that could deliver ordinance at high speed and low level (below the radar, supersonic 100' off the ground). The F111 to this day is the only aircraft that could do forfill this purpose. The planes were buried because it was determined that the airframes contatined hazardous materials (as evidenced by the worker health risks associated with working on the fuel tanks).
I imagine that when they delivered the heart it was full burner all the way just spitting flames
Side note, RAAF operated loaned Phantoms while waiting for the F111s.
My mother worked filing Blue Prints in the Records Dept. of Sanders Associates in the mid-60s when they took part in developing the F-111. They all knew the test pilots. I remember her coming home in tears one day, saying a test plane had crashed killing her friend.
All that aluminum, and nobody thought to recycle it?
And Titanium also. What a shame. Makes me wonder what Aussies do with their brains… Play football with it?
22:35
Covered in Boron patches to stop cracking. Very toxic to work with.
Nah they were too lazy to properly process the asbestos adhered to it.
Flying a heart for a transplant is so cool!! That's somthing that would not happen these days with how sue happy everyone is
Remondis. Queensland’s first waste-to-energy plant was built at Swanbank. Remondis constructed a $400 million waste-to-energy incinerator, planned to generate electricity for up to 50,000 homes. The project aim was to convert between 300,000 and 500,000 tonnes of waste per year into up to 50 megawatts of baseload electricity. Imagine powering a state, on planes that were the most technologically advanced of their time. Bravo Remondis.. bravo (sound of one hand clapping).
Marge, what's the connection between waste-to-energy and the F-111 Aardvark?
Excellent content! And an actual interesting sponsor, that's so rare!
Whilst I was stationed at Coonabarabran NSW,Australia, An aspiring young police detective at the police station ,situated in the north west use to get the RAAF at Williamtown base to do a night run , training run across the thousands of acres of the Pilliga Scrub. They would do a strip run picking the heat signals from the water storage used for growing drugs. The area was hot during the day and freezing at night. Simple gps location enabled police to find the plantation. I was told it to 10 minuted to the location and a couple of strip runs then home. Now if the police helicopters searched the area it would have given the game away. As it was the F111 use to do a circuit out into the central west and as a kid I watched in awe as they banked over our farm to head back to base. They were our pilots flying our planes, we were proud to have them.
more likely asked the RAAF at RAAF Base Amberley, Williamtown was the "Hornet's Nest". I served at both
i always loved how the aardvark looked, i hope they still have some in the museums
During a major service as a life extension program in Australia, the F111's wiring was replaced with optical fiber and this reduced the weight of the aircraft by 250 Kg's.
less than 2% percent of the avionics wiring was replaced with optical fibre, 60% of the wiring in the forward fuselage/avionics bays was reviously replaced during the Avionics Update Program but with exactly the same PTFE insulated tinned copper wire, and less than 2% during the AN/ALE-47 mod. ex RAAF Electrical Systems Specialist here
They also stretched them 3 foot to get rid of the 900Lbs weight in the front landing gear housing.
13:32 Really, you put Chandler in there 😂😂
I was serving with the RAAF at Butterworth in Malaysia during the mid seventies when the F111s arrived to participate in an IADS exercise. This involved aircraft from Australia,Malaysia,New Zealand and Singapore. The F111s operated out Butterworth but were required to attack the Base. Malaysian Air defence artillery were to defend the base, but could not engage the low flying high speed F111s.
A British Army Warrant Officer seconded to the Malaysian Army related a story that because the F111s were so hard to target when the aircraft completed their exercise sortie and returned to base, as they came in on approach the Malaysians fired (blanks of course)on the aircraft. The pilot realising he had been fired on initiated the dump and burn and the gunners on seeing the resulting flame abandonded their gun and took off forgetting they were firing blanks
I had been told that dump and burn could be used as an attempt to blind an ir missiles seeker and in extremis be used to ruin an intercepting pilot's night vision.
What year it is
Thanks nwyt - always wanted to know the story of the aardvark, well done.
Thank you for the fabulous video today! 😊😊 What a shame that duch an iconic aircraft was destined for a landfill, but totally understandable. Such an amazing aircraft. Thanks again for the insight into this marvelous machine! 😊😊😊😊😊❤❤❤❤❤
Worked on those F-111 egress systems as a student at Amberley. A lot of explosive charges passing through one’s fingers kept you frosty.
I remember the the f111 when
I was growing up in lnverell N.S.w. Australia great looking jet
The F-111 was sent to Vietnam, because of its terrain following capability. The North Vietnamese countered by hanging cables in the valleys of the mountains, which would destroy the F-111 on impact. The terrain following system couldn’t see cables. I was part of the C-141 crews getting them there.
If I was the pilot, I worried about powers cable too
19:33! I was stationed at REF Upper Heyford (UH on the tail). That's a really odd place for any plane much less a 111. The blue awning behind is/was a gas (petrol) station for cars. I bough gas there all the time. I worked on components from/for that exact plane. I was there in '93 as the base was drawing down. The F-111 was such an amazing platform for it's time!
Not really into Jets, but you tag intrigued me. I saw one, do a dump and burn at an Airshow once, it was bludy specy!
Main problem leading to disassembling them was the amount of asbestos they contained unfortunately, those demilitarised (very few) cost about 1 million to remove the asbestos. I have a clip here on UTube of the last public dump and burn at an air show ,Williamstown RAF base here in Newcastle NSW AU.
I believe we kept 10 or so as museum exhibits, plus several cockpit modules. Plus one we donated to the US Pacific Air Museum in Hawaii. Ground crew got sick doing the deseal/reseal service on the fuel tanks, it contained a lot of asbestos, plus it needed about 180 hours of ground maintenance for every flight hour. It’s time had come - sadly.
As ground crew for 20 years on F111 E’s,F’s, and FB’s, you have no idea what you are talking about. Go back to mommy’s garage
@@dmwspoons60 What's your issue with my comments? Think clearly for once - I have a lot of evidence to back up what I said.
Refuel and post/preflight was a 10th of your 180. I have assisted with reseal cleanup of wing and mains front and rear. If ventilation used as normal everything fine. You have never walked a 111 much less swung a wrench on one. Go back to your keyboard google life and let us maintenance lifers run ours
Wright Patterson AFB has an A an a F model in the museum. That specific F model tail was my wing commanders ride and I worked it and launched it
@@dmwspoons60 I don't mind you being wrong, it's that you have to be a complete jerk while you do it.
Hello, I live 2 hours from Amberly in the Mole River region. Its where the RAAF had a designated low level training range, not live fire though, just navigation and mock targeting. I drove a bright orange ute back then, I think that's why I was the mock target multiple times when i was driving around the bush. The most memorable low pass went directly over the shearing shed, I had heard the few seconds warning rumble of its approach and i ran and jumped out the end of the shed to hopefully get a look at it. I was still falling and looking up as it flew directly over me, so unbelievably low, it must have been maximum 20 meters above me. As i hit the ground I could smell the kerosene. One F-111 was lost on the outskirts of Tenterfield in the 80's, flew right into the ground at high speed. I've heard that the fuel dump and burn actually has a tactical function, the South African Air force employed it as a flame thrower to ignite bush fires upwind of the enemy. Somewhat effective as i was told.
They would do weapons training down at Evans Head, NSW. I remember being on holiday and walking along the beach when several 'pigs' roared overhead at low altitude, didn't even hear them coming! In an instant they were just there then up and over the headland and gone leaving just a receding roar. Having seen the F-111's fly many times throughout their service career I can honestly say that at each high speed pass I got a little emotional. The Super Hornets just aren't the same.
The Australian Military knew about the folly of the swing-wing jet, the F111. The CSIRO got involved and helped add stress sensors all over this aircraft. Load on wings, landing gear, engine mounts. It was a comprehensive. Once the Yank got word of this, the price plummeted. Now they do this gig. The Australians don't f**k about when it come to hardware.
I got the most professional tour of the aircraft by the Australian pilots at the Memphis (Tennessee) Naval Air Station during an open house. A great bunch very willing to show you everything and answer questions short of the secure stuff. Sad to see those being buried.
10:45
Damn bro didn’t have to expose himself like that
Small question, what plane's your pfp? My first guess was the F-5 but im not so sure now.
Looks like an f/a-18@josecoronadonieto6911
@@josecoronadonieto6911 it’s an F/A-18 hornet, took the picture myself in San Diego while visiting the USS Midway. Pretty sure the plane is still there
The long pause after makes it so much worse lol
I saw its ejection cockpit in Moscow aviation institute.
Love the F-111. Whenever someone mentions cost and reliability issues of the F-35, I like to remind them that when you push the limits like the F-111 did, you pay a price for having the bleeding edge. As an Australian, I have respect for both platforms. Spaceships for their time.
You forgot to mention that the wing sweep variable geometry was captured technology from the German LUFTWAFFE after WWII.
19:32 Actually my RAAF mates in the seventies called them the "Triple One".
in the seventies an official order by the RAAF CAF (Chief of the Air Force) the F-111 would at all times be called the F one hundred and eleven. the order was mostly ignored and faded into history.
Interesting , Thank You .
I'm pretty sure in the 1979s, these flew over our home in southern MO quite often.
I once spoke with a pilot of this plane (a guy that flew several other planes as well)
He related the pilots spent an inordinate time practicing a technique called "The idiot loop" - nothing against the airplane; this was about a way to make an older plane sort-of nuclear capable, after a fashion.
There's an excellent book called "The TFX decision: McNamara and the Military" by Robert J. Art. I read it during my Masters program in Military History. It's an easy read at 202 pages and goes into good detail about the development of the F-111.
Side note: We never learned the lessons from the TFX program and made the same mistakes again with the F-35.
Very interesting sponsorship 🤔
In the future when everyone grows up a bit, they'd wonder why they were buried like what they did to all those WW2 aircraft after the war. Today they're classics.
Looking at it again, the F111 is a cool aircraft.
I had no idea they buried the aardvarks like that. I don't know much at all about the planes, but dang, that sucks.
edit: now that I've watched the video all the way through, I know MUCH more about the aardvarks, and I'm happy about it.
After the US Air Force retired its EF-111A's, they relied on Navy EA-6B's during combat support missions. Now relying on Navy EA-18G's after the EA-6B's were retired.
The Navy never wanted to share a design with USAF. Late in the program, the Navy added a requirement for Mach 1 at sea level. The added structure pushed the aircraft weight past the 70,000 lb limit imposed by elevators on the carriers. The Tomcat was the result for the Navy.
I loved working on the F-111 in England at RAF lakenheath as an aircraft electrician RETIRED USAF
A total of 11 total, F-111A Aardvar was lost with 6 in combat. That was also during the 1968 almost the end of the war.
I bet it also influenced the T-65 X-wing, the A/SF-01 B-wing, and the ARC-170 from Star Wars
and especially the Arwing from Star Fox
Oh, got to fly in that sim.
Main task was nav computer and instrument overhaul.
When following terrain, you don't set an altitude, but a specific height above ground, altitude is meant above sea level. Yes I am nitpicking, but still your videos are really good
Yea of course, you set the height. We used the wrong word. Thx!
It’s all about the AGL.
Excellent research on an iconic aircraft that I saw from the Australian perspective as a High school student. The trial and tribulations were never ending and Australia was supplied with the equally venerable F4 Phantom as a substitute aircraft until the F111c were actually on our shore.
What amazes me more though, is the sheer stupidity of the Australian governments as we have progressed since then. As mentioned an order blew out by three times the amount and like dumb asses they paid storage fees because of the manufacturers faults...WTF. Who would do that with their car? But did Australia learn anything, No effing way! They continue to buy aircraft from US companies that continue to be flawed and still sign contracts with stupid clauses in them whereby they will pay even if they do not receive the goods for five years and when they do, they are broken and faulty (F35s) not fully combat ready and already out of date. Every software update is an extra cost, which is to fix a problem the manufacturer has identified from its build. But did they learn...No the clown princes of down under land are so dumb, they spend billions on submarines from France, then they put the "Merde" on the frogs and have to pay a breach of contract so we can buy some USN submarine that has flaws already identified, but we wont see them for 10 years, making them twenty year old design submarines if we do get them. The list goes on and on in recent times whereby the world is well aware that the USA cannot maintain its own defense capabilities and munitions, with a doddering fool giving money, weapons and munitions to a corrupt country, Yet Australia is ordering the very same systems that the munitions are in short supply for, the priority are two other countries and we the taxpayers, like our US brethren are being screwed for very last drop of money.
I love seeing innovation like the F111, I served 30 years in the army and had close association with the RAAF on exercises at one point in my career.. The most memorable experience was to know that an F111 had found our locations and was inbound on TFR. We could not see it anywhere despite the GCR unit trying to locate it for the AD surrounding it. Next instant I was staring into the two after burning turbo fans and feeling the heatwave and smell of AVTUR it me all at once, it planted me fair on the ground and thundered straight up into the afternoon sky. My only wish was that I had a camera on that day in Nov 1990, I swear those two yellow fireballs of after burning glow, were aimed straight at me. But then so did the four other people who were on the ground with me. Such was the power and force of the F111. A memory much better than the dump and burn. RIP Pig!
My fellow pilot was an F-111 driver. When the USAF phased them out, he phased out.
i like the translation . Good job 💯
At the same time was Brittan's TSR 2 and Canadas AVRO Arrow both were cancelled
Guess which aircraft was first into enemy territory in the Gulf War? Then guess which aircraft killed the most enemy tanks in the Gulf War by a country mile compared to the second highest? Yep.
The heart was NOT delivered at supersonic speed because breaking the sound barrier is not allowed over land.
It depends where it is flying. I'm sure they would allow it over outback Australia, just not in populated areas.
They give approval to break that rule whenever needed.
Yes, aardvark is a very fitting name for a plane that's put in the ground.
almost as heartbreaking as the collection of WW2 Japanese aircraft that ended up under O'Hare airport...
They did go Down Under
Underrated comment
Kool pen👍
Dont think we didn't notice Chandler Bing at 13:32
Sounds a lot like a Panavia Tornado lol
The F-111's were retired because the airframe life of those planes had pretty much reached their limit. That's why the USAF replaced their F-111's with the F-15E _Strike Eagle_ from the middle 1990's on.
Can't believe how no one has said nothing about recycling the special alloys within these planes. In a world of Hypocrisy and laws placed upon hard working decent people , one would think that these decomitioned planes would be totally recycled not put in the ground to rot . What a waste of money and resources.
Thousands of years later when archaeologists dig these out, they would probably suggest these are RVs and they do not any propulsion. Very advanced civilisation.
Just by the shape of the fossil archeologists will know it was an Aaaaarrrrrdvvvvvvvvaaaaarrrrrcccckkk!
There’s an F-111 in a museum in Port Adelaide on South Australia, they are more beautiful then they look on camera
I was wondering why aardvark soo famous when i was kid. It look basic to me. Now i understand it is pioneering marvel that make it earn those reputation
For as long as I have luv'd Aircraft , the F111 , it was an inovation but had a Ball an Chain round its neck..
The Aussies operated them for 37 years. That is a long run for any supersonic fighter/bomber.
Now imagine how angry the public would be if these were A-10 Warthogs
That's going to happen one day. Even if they were super successful, that's the fate of all aircraft. Some receive preservation in a museum, but most are disposed of once they're no longer viable.
@@mill2712 yeah, most weapons get such a fate including tanks, choppers, firearms, ships, everythings gotta have a grave.
Can you use the dump and burn thing to trick the enemy that you are on fire
The ardvark!
vark
F111.....was a Beast !!!!
So they wouldn't recycle all of that aluminum and titanium?
Why the heck aren’t they recycling the aluminum metal??!!
14:46 The F-14 also has this issue.
Well, the reason for burial was definitely not what I thought!
I assumed it was due to it using the same engines as the Iranian F-14 and the US not wanting to accidentally supply spare parts.