F -111 The Unremembered Fighter Bomber

let's take a look at the unremembered fighter bomber the f-111 a product of the cold war and 1960s consolidation the f-111 program suffered from an ever-growing list of requirements and was limited to the technology of its time despite this the f-111 might just surprise you with its accomplishments strong legacy and how it may just outlive us all the f-111 was a medium-range supersonic tactical and strategic multi-role aircraft developed in the 1960s given the nickname aardvark due to its long nose other notable features include twin engines variable geometry wings and internal weapons bay and an escape capsule for the pilots who sat side by side surrounded by controversy and ambitiously designed to meet the needs of both the air force and the navy the f-111 ultimately proved successful spanning numerous variants beginning with the f-111a all the way through the f-111 k along with the strategic bomber version designated the fb-111a and an electronic warfare variant known as the ef-111a raven by the time the program ended over 620 examples had been built here are some quick specifications for the f-111f variant length 73 feet 6 inches wingspan 63 feet swept wing span 32 feet height 17 feet 1.5 inches empty weight 47 200 pounds maximum takeoff weight 100 000 pounds engines each pratt whitney tf30 p100 after burning turbo fan produces 17 900 pounds of thrust dry or 25 100 pounds of thrust with afterburner range 3210 nautical miles service ceiling 66 000 feet maximum speed mach 2.5 at altitude or mach 1.2 at sea level when it comes to armament the f-111 had nine hardpoints to mount ordnance four under each wing along with one under the fuselage between the engines there was also an internal weapons bay which contained two attach points total weapons payload was thirty one thousand five hundred pounds weapon options included a wide variety of free fall bombs from five hundred pound mark 82s to two thousand pound mark 84s cluster bombs laser guided bombs anti-runway bombs and even thermonuclear b43 and b61 gravity bombs could be equipped the f-111 could also employ powerful air-to-ground missiles the conventional agm-130 standoff bomb or the 200-kiloton yield agm-69 s-ram thermonuclear air-to-surface missile and finally the f-111 could equip the 20 millimeter m-61 vulcan gatling cannon in the weapons bay however this was seldom used as can be seen the f-111 was a capable fighter bomber with excellent low-level performance and weapons options so just where did the controversy come from in january of 1961 just as robert mcnamara was becoming secretary of defense the air force and navy were both looking for a new fighter both services modern an aircraft that could carry heavy armament have a high supersonic speed twin engines two seats and use variable geometry wings to perform in the anticipated flight regimes the air force was looking for a low-level high-speed interdictor ground attack aircraft to penetrate soviet air defenses while the navy wanted a high altitude interceptor to protect its carriers from soviet bombers and missiles although the navy and air force wanted their efforts kept separate secretary mcnamara ordered them combined into the tactical fighter experimental or tfx program it was decided that the best option was to base the fighter on the air force specs and then use a modified version for the navy in october of 1961 a request for proposals was sent out by december proposals were received from boeing general dynamics lockheed mcdonnell north american and republic this was an era of multiple aircraft manufacturers and some of the proposed aircraft are truly interesting the selections were narrowed down to boeing and general dynamics and while the air force and the selection board found the boeing proposal acceptable mcnamara went ahead with the general dynamics design as it shared greater parts commonality between the air force and navy versions development continued and the initial general dynamics design called for two variants the f-111a for the air force and the f-111b for the navy to operate on carriers the navy f-111b version had an eight and a half feet shorter length along with three and a half foot longer wing tips to improve on station time the navy also preferred side-by-side seating so that both pilot and radar operator could share the radar display the b version could also carry phoenix missiles and made use of the anawg pulse doppler radar meanwhile the air force version used the an apq-110 terrain following radar the automated terrain following radar was revolutionary allowing f-11s to fly at constant altitude following the earth's contours day or night regardless of weather conditions the f-111a first flew in 1964 just three years after the start of the tfx program to further develop the f-111b navy version general dynamics teamed up with grumman who had considerable experience in developing navalized aircraft the first f-111b flew in 1965 yet in 1968 the navy canceled the f-111b program and their participation in tfx citing additional fighter requirements along with weight and performance issues more on that later the air force proceeded with full-scale production and continued to improve on the design with successive variants australia would also become an operator of the f-111 using the f-111c variant and accepting the first aircraft in 1973. let's take a quick look at the variance of the f-111 following the f-111c the d variant added improved avionics a more powerful engine and an early glass cockpit the f-111e improved on the engine intakes which alleviated some of the problems with the tf30 engines the f-111f has been described as the cadillac of the f-111s and is the final variant produced for tactical air command adding an even more powerful version of the tf-30 which had 35 percent more thrust and allowed for mach 1.2 speeds at sea level the c and f models also feature the avq26 pave track forward-looking infrared or flear and a laser designation system which was mounted in the weapons bay the f-111k was to be the uk's variant of the aardvark following the cancellation of the bac trs2 the k version featured longer wings the mark ii navigation and fire control system a higher gross weight and provisions for reconnaissance equipment 50 units were ordered in 1967 by the raf however the order was canceled in 1968 citing higher costs we could only wonder what the raf f-111 would have been like the fb-111a was the strategic bomber version of the f-111 and featured longer wings increased fuel capacity an inertial navigation system digital computers and multi-function displays up to six agm-69 sram nuclear missiles could be carried once the b1b lancer was introduced fb111s were converted back to a tactical role and redesignated as f-111gs and finally the electronic warfare variant designated the ef-111a raven replaced the aging douglas eb-66 the raven's long-range high-speed and 4-hour unre-fueled endurance made it an effective ecm platform so how did the f-11 perform in actual combat conditions f-111s were given a trial by fire in the vietnam war operations in vietnam began as early as 1968 when the aardvark began flying night missions f-111s in vietnam would go on to participate in operations linebacker and linebacker ii as a testament to its capabilities and range f-111s using the terrain following radar could operate in weather that would ground most other aircraft while not requiring tankers or ecm support in fact each f-111 could carry twice the payload of an f4 phantom over two and a half times the range and the air force acknowledged the f-111 as being the most cost effective employed throughout the conflict the north vietnamese nicknamed the f-111 whispering death and f-111 crews came to describe their time flying in vietnam as one pass hall ass or speed his life ultimately f-11s would fly more than 4 000 combat missions with only 6 combat losses from 1973 to 1975 f-111s continued to fly combat missions in cambodia interestingly in 1986 two fb-111s flew from new hampshire to oklahoma to pick up a heart for transplant the fb-111s then landed at bradley international airport in connecticut to deliver the heart to a waiting ambulance also in 1986 18 f-111s along with some 25 navy aircraft participated in operation el dorado canyon a mission which conducted airstrikes against libya in response to a bombing of a west berlin disco attack the operation turned out to be the longest fighter combat mission in history as the round-trip flight from the uk to libya was some 6 400 miles this distance was due to the fact that spain italy and france denied overflights so the f-111s had to fly around most of coastal europe to reach libya some 28 tanker aircraft were involved in 1991 f-111s took part in operation desert storm initially participating in the opening strikes as bombers and radar jammers all told f-111s dropped almost 80 percent of all laser-guided bombs used and were credited with destroying some 1 500 iraqi tanks and vehicles f-111s were highly successful in this role due to their paved track target designation systems that some say led to the term tank blinking the f-111 ended up having the best mission success rate of any us strike fighter in the war 3.2 successful missions for each unsuccessful one serving with the royal australian air force the f-111c proved to be highly successful with an unrefueled range the f-111 proved to be the fastest longest range combat aircraft in southeast asia and provided australia with independent strike capability the f-111's long range was feared by indonesia's defense minister in the 1980s beni murdani who during a cabinet meeting told its members quote do you realize the australians have a bomber that can put a bomb through that window on the table here in front of us end quote during the 1999 tensions stemming from east timor's independence raaf f-111s were armed with bombs at base tindal ready to attack indonesian forces fortunately they were not used and in 2006 an australian f-111 was used to scuttle the north korean ship pong-soo which had been seized by australian authorities and a massive drug bust two gbu-10 paveway 2 laser-guided bombs were used and here is an australian f-111c performing a dump and burn a procedure where the fuel is intentionally ignited using the aircraft's afterburner the last operational f-111s were retired by the royal australian air force in 2010 the f11 was conceived with perhaps an impossible set of requirements high altitude interceptor low-level interdiction strike and carrier operations these requirements led to a wide range of flight regimes and the necessity of a swing wing design as a result the f-111 was the first ever production variable geometry wing aircraft and opened the door to an entire generation of swing wing aircraft the soviet su-17 fitter in 1965 the mig-23 flogger in 1967 the tu-22 backfire in 1969 the su-24 fencer 1970 which was very similar to the f-111 and the tu-160 blackjack in 1981. in europe the panoviya tornado debuted in 1974 and in the u.s the v-1 lancer bomber also came out in 1974 yet perhaps the most famous design inspiration of the f-111 was the navy's replacement for the f-111b the grumman f-14 tomcat if you recall grumman assisted general dynamics with the f-111b and the early versions of the tomcat used the tf30 engines along with the awg9 radar and aim 54 phoenix system the tf30s would be replaced in the f-14b but the phoenix missile would stay with the tomcat throughout its operational lifetime the f-111 was also the first production aircraft to feature afterburning turbofan engines along with automated terrain following radar some of these advanced features the f-111 pioneered have become commonplace in modern fighter design and given today's rising tensions in the asia pacific theater the f-111's low-level speeds and long range are certainly missed today the f-111 entered service after the more famous f4 and before the f-14 and f-15 as such today the aardvark is largely an unremembered fighter still it just might leave a legacy that outlives us all the iconic sound of an f-11 flyby is on the voyager golden record the voyager golden record is attached to the two voyager probes that were launched in the 1970s and have already flown beyond the solar system now you know maybe next time you're discussing fighter planes you'll bring up the f-111 remember the aardvark [Music] you

Channel: PilotPhotog

Views: 290,950

Keywords: aviation, flying, photography, aviator, pilot, fly, airplane, plane, planes, Libya, El Dorado Canyon, cold war, heart transplant, nuclear, swing wing, Australia, Raaf, EB-66, Destroyer, Douglas, ECM, FB-111, EF-111, F-111A, F-111B, Navy, Carrier landing, USAF, Voyager golden record, robert mcnamara, avgeek, f111, general dynamics, aardvark, f-111 aardvark, us navy, us air force, aircraft carrier, united states, edutainment, voyager probe

Id: QUYzVlolNQA

Length: 14min 34sec (874 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 06 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/jasonveridas]

What a magnificent aircraft! Remember building a Hobby boss 1:72 model of this aircraft growing up and falling in love with it.

[u/ichristi]

Hmmm there’s another word for “unremember” but i must have unremembered it..