I knew an AF pilot who found himself in the “F111 funnel” and immediately volunteered for VietNam as a FAC.
He told me the plane was a classic compromise. It was supersonic, had a 2500+ mile range and could carry more bombs than a B52. Problem - it couldn’t do any two of those at the same time. He was also very skeptical of the terrain following radar.
We had them at Ellsworth. Loved watching them.
My dad was a fighter pilot and they always referred to the F111 as the “switchblade Edsel” because of its poor performance in the role it was given in Vietnam. I learned later that that may have been unfair, since most of the losses were from running into a “lead curtain”: the Cong learned about the TFR and set up small arms ambushes in choke points.
My first assignment was at Cannon AFB, Clovis, NM, the other stateside Aardvark base.