Was going through my old RAAF Photos and found these....kinda sad to see them "mothballed" now. I was at Amberley when the very first batch of F111C Models arrived in 1973.
I can remember when Squadron Leader Kelloway returned to Base one afternoon and both main wheel tires " blew " on landing. There was a " massive " bang ....both landing gear disc brake rotors were " glowing " red hot....fire trucks scrambled...etc....etc.
Aeroplane spent about a week in the hanger for a " refit " at 482 Squadron. It's a great aeroplane to work on.... and still brings back lots of good memories.
OF the original 24 we purchased .... we lost 6 due to " bird strikes " , Mechanical failure , Failure of the Terrain Following Radar ( TFR )...which caused 1 aircraft to impact a mountain in the Philippines in bad weather.
All in all over the 37 years we had them....all up about 36 F111 Aircraft.
Kinda sad to see these " pensioned " off....
To me they are still a " formidable " aircraft to be reckoned with in today's Military Hardware.
The best bit I used to get a kick out of was when they would " sneak up " on people at Airshows... you'd never hear them coming until they were right on " top " of you.... It was a real buzz.
Cheers .... FlashDrive.
Last edited by FlashDrive; 28-01-2011 at 04:00 PM.
Reason: addition
Yes, I've thought they turned out a good buy, after the initial problems. Good range, fly low, good payload, and short landing for a Mach 2+ aircraft. I hope we can replace them effectively. We have had our problems here when buying defence equipment
Yes, I've thought they turned out a good buy, after the initial problems. Good range, fly low, good payload, and short landing for a Mach 2+ aircraft. I hope we can replace them effectively. We have had our problems here when buying defence equipment
Cheers
No, we can't. The F35, despite being a good aircraft, is slower and doesn't have the range or the payload capacity. Even with the best long range standoff weapons it can carry, it still can't get to most targets the F111 can. Neither does the new F/A18-F Super Hornets we have.
The only thing it has going for it is its reasonably good stealth capabilities and its electronics package. If it got into a dogfight with an SU-37 it would lose, all things being equal, despite the Flanker being a much larger plane. It doesn't have the turning capabilities of the Flanker series of aircraft because it doesn't have vectored thrust. Nor could it outrun a Flanker (2.35M vs 1.6M). The only plane that can beat the Flankers (and the new PAK 50's) convincingly is the F22 Raptor, and they're too expensive (plus they've stopped production on them and they have sales restrictions on them).
Many moons ago when the Sydney Easter Show was held at Moore Park, they had the F111's do a fly over just after the fireworks, with their afterburners. It scared the living poop out of me (I lived a stones throw from the showground & wasn't expecting the fly over), and the noise shook the dust off the walls. Ever see someone's backbone spontaneously turn to jelly?
I remember the early days when a number of them fell out of the sky! I was driving the back road from Brisbane to the New England Hwy when I came across a mangled car body beside the road on which someone had painted "F111" Seemed funny at the time! (As I recall no personnel were injured in any of the F111 mishaps?)
EDIT - sadly, I do have to update. Seems 10 RAAF pilots and navigators have been killed in F111 crashes. Sorry.
I remember the early days when a number of them fell out of the sky! I was driving the back road from Brisbane to the New England Hwy when I came across a mangled car body beside the road on which someone had painted "F111" Seemed funny at the time! (As I recall no personnel were injured in any of the F111 mishaps?)
EDIT - sadly, I do have to update. Seems 10 RAAF piolets and navigators have been killed in F111 crashes. Sorry.
As far as deaths go... and I won't mention any names out of respect....I personally knew and spoke to on many occasion while at Amberley ... 2 crew members who died whist doing a " low level " bombing run using " dummy 500 pounders " at Evan's Head NSW. It happened in 1977.....the aircraft was inbound at low level .... ground speed was approx' 500mph then.....the aircraft went into an inverted roll and crashed upside down into the ground.
Subsequent investigation to find the cause of what happened came to light when an autopsy done on the pilot .....they found Albatross blood in his lungs . It was evident the Aircraft slammed into a flock of Albatross birds at such speed.....the birds smashed the Cockpit perspex ( Aviation Grade perspex is extremely hard to break ) and slammed into the pilot's face, killing him and the navigator instantly. A good sized Albatross weighs anywhere from 4kgs and upwards. You can imagine what a flock of these would do to any aircraft at " high speed ".
And then there was Mark Fallon...( I mention his name as it was on TV at the time )..... a young man ... at the age of 19.... flying F111'S from Amberley ... his Aircraft crashed at Tennifield NSW sometime in the early 80's. I don't know the cause of that accident.
He was, because of his age, was known as the " FASTEST TEENAGER " in the world.
I remember sitting on the north end of Fraser island one day on the top of a sand dune watching the surf. Next thing I'm lying flat on my face and getting sand blasted as an F111 screamed up over the back of a sand dune. Man it was traveling. I though I was going to die at the time. Its scared the hell out of me, until I saw what it was. Then it was a rush!!
Just who do we want to bomb anyway?!
I know the Kiwis can be annoying but......
I can see having a top-notch fighter with ground attack capability (oh yeah -Super Hornet!) and maybe reconfiguring the F111 for Wild Weasel missions, but keeping it as a bomber is silly. Heck. If we dislike someone enough to drop bombs on them, just send some cruise missiles at them. Why risk brave, clever people?
We could pay on a piece by piece basis and get the Yanks to do the dirty work.
'Course if we have to go toe-to-toe with the US we'd be nobbled.
The only thing it has going for it is its reasonably good stealth capabilities and its electronics package. If it got into a dogfight with an SU-37 it would lose, all things being equal, despite the Flanker being a much larger plane.
I've been told by someone in the know that our planes would destroy enemy planes without getting anywhere near them, courtesy of american technology and american cooperation, thus avoiding a dogfight.
I'm under the impression we just do whatever the yanks say since we're dependent on them for our defence.
My F111 experience was 3AD...the unofficial motto:
"you are not here for a good time, but you will be here for a long time"!
Love the old Pig, like the Mirage ...very graceful in design.
Colin...1973...yikes Hmmmmm quite a bit before me ...late 80s at 3AD.
Well...Well.....N0 3 Aircraft Depot ..... Yes .... In my time... that was the Engine Build Up section for various components ... etc.
I still have my Squadron Badge and original F111C Shoulder Patch which was made in 1974.
Do you remember Air Marshall Ray Funnel....he was chief of the Airforce during the 90's.....Well, when I was at Amberley in the 70's he was only a Wing Commander and was CO of No 6 Squadron....flying F111's.
My dad's uncle who used to have a farm near Loxton said that once
when they rang in a complaint that two of their flyboys had just
flown over their farm in F1-11s, treetop level, and killed all of their chickens and
smashed quite a few windows with the noise...the response was
something like 'sorry maam, our pilots are instructed not to fly
that low '
Yes our emblem was the Rooster...we would have one in a cage paraded every SQN booze up! I so loved my Rooster badge!
Yes I remember Funnell...when we occasionally escaped from our Avionics clean rooms.
I managed this quite often as I ran the Camera repair section (and later pavetack mirror control) so I had occasional sorties to the real world at 6SQN.
RAAFies are like flies..they always hang around and annoy you.
Last edited by wasyoungonce; 28-01-2011 at 07:39 PM.
I've been told by someone in the know that our planes would destroy enemy planes without getting anywhere near them, courtesy of american technology and american cooperation, thus avoiding a dogfight.
I'm under the impression we just do whatever the yanks say since we're dependent on them for our defence.
That's why the F35's stealth capabilities come in handy. It can sneak in under the noses of the enemy and let off their missiles before the others even know they're there. But if they were detected (and stealth isn't foolproof), they would be in trouble if they had to duel it out. Whilst they're a little bit more maneuverable than an F16 (and that's pretty toey, mind you), they're not as nimble as the SU-37 and the like. However, their electronics package also has the advantage as well...they have superb off boresight firing capabilities and can fire their weapons in any direction. All it needs is for the missiles etc, to be capable enough to perform so themselves. One interesting thing was they are thinking of fitting high powered lasers in the conventional versions of the F35, where the lift fan would normally go. The engine generates a surplus power supply of 20MW over and above the plane's needs. They've tested 150KW lasers for attacking ground and air targets and as far as I know the tests were very successful. Now, something like that would put a whole new spin on a dogfight, when the SU-37 went to shoot the F35 down, only to be cut in half by the laser from the F35
Not only that, but the new AESA radars can be used as weapons. They're designed to be aimed at the other planes and fry their electronics or the pilots inside the planes. Plus, they don't need to actively ping targets to find and identify them...they can do so completely passively.
Yes paying off the F111 is the end of an era in Australian aviation. I had very little to do with them. Possibly worked on some of their IFF. I was supposed to have a couple of F111's and Mirages do a bombing run on the old Trinity Bay dredge back in the early 80's. I m not sure if I got the F111's but the Mirages did the bomb runs. I was ground control (as a civvy) on HMAS Warnambool.
When I was at Amberly 6 Squadron flew Canberra's and Lincolns. Major Stoner USAF was the CO at the time. Watched him land a canberra with no nose wheel. He scratched the paint but little else. He was a real nice guy. He gave me a lift back from Brisbane one night after leave. I had a good long chat with him and his wife before he told me who he was. ACR's did not hobnob with majors.
How true Barry ...... ACR's ( Aircraftman Recruit ).....The lowest rank in the Airforce .....to be " hob nobbing " with a High Ranking Officer in those day's was a " privilege " ......let alone a daily occurrence.
I was single when in the Airforce at Amberley and was once invited to have tea with a Flight Lieutenant and his wife at their married quarters just outside the Amberley Airbase.
As a young fella of 19 years old...I was blown away and took up the invitation....He was an F111 Pilot who was 28 years old and had a regard for " ground crew " and didn't have a " us and them " attitude when it came to being an Officer or a " so called lowly ground crew "
Some of the other guy's got wind of this...and wondered if I was up for promotion.....never happened.....just " boosted " my ego a bit in front of the other lad's.
Yep, and another one here
After Edinburgh I did my time at Wagga (Intruments fitter) back in '75.
F111's were a favourite of mine.
I remember how they would practice landing and take-off's next to our barracks at 3am about twice a month, scaring the crappers out of us while we slept!
We never understood why they picked Wagga to do this.
Our barracks was up against the edge of the tarmac! (if you know RAAF base Wagga you'll know where I mean).
I remember those 'out of the blue' flyovers that would make everyone scream and little kids cry
That was back when they were allowed to fly over a crowd.
My Dad was with 77 Squadron Williamtown and AMTDU Richmond.
All of his 30 years were spent on Vampire, Sabre, Mirage, C-130's and the incredible Caribou
Apart from F-111, my other favourites are Mirage, Phantom, Caribou and Iroquois choppers.
Seemed funny at the time! (As I recall no personnel were injured in any of the F111 mishaps?)![[1ponders]'s Avatar](../vbiis/customavatars/avatar45_9.gif){kind=avatar}
