That's a hell of a fast aircraft. It's truly a shame we dont use them anymore. They were great at moving in and putting bombs on target.
Actually, even though thats what it was designed to be in the beginning, the F-111 was never used as a fighter. It was a bomber. Rember, they were the planes that delivered bombs to tripoli in 1986.
It was originally designed to be a navy fighter, but was too big for the elevators, as I remember. It was also the only other aircraft besides the F-14 designed to fire the Phoenix air-to-air missle.
I'm reaching here, but I think only the F-111B was designed to fire the Pheonix. We certainly never used them on the F-111A,D,E, or F. I recall an Aim-9 and a Guns mode on the A-A HUD, but no other mode.
Most of my time was with the A, so the HUD was not much better than those of the Korean War. No radar designator boxes, no flight data, just a pipper and lead computing.
Its no shame. That aircraft is not as good as the Strike Eagle. Faster? Sure. Cost a fortune to maintain? You bet. The F-14 Phoenix system was an evolution from the system built for the YF-12's Eagle missile system, slaved to the AWG-9 Radar which came from the F-111.
Also, the F-111 still carries those crappy TF-30's that killed a number of my friends in the Tomcat.
In fact the Phoenix and associated AWG-9 fire control system were designed for the F-111B, and first tested on them. Only after the Navy canceled the F-111B and instituted the F-14 program did the Phoenix and AWG-9 get put onto that bird. In some sense the bird was designed around them in fact.