Go to images.google.com and drop in the following:
"f-111" + "dump and burn"
Posted on 04/18/2008 6:37:23 PM PDT by Dundee
THIS "shredded" and incapacitated F-111 soared across southeast Queensland homes before a spectacular emergency landing at Amberley Air Base.
The jet was flying at 900m on a test bombing raid at Evans Head, northern NSW, when a pelican struck the fibreglass nose and was sucked into an engine...
The nation's air combat chief, Air Commodore Neil Hart, said the jet's predicament and "precautionary emergency landing" was not serious enough to alert the public...
"One engine was working fine, while the other was at reduced power."
He described the circumstances of the incident, which happened between 10am and noon, as near freakish. "It's a surprise thing at 3000ft to have a bird strike," he said.
"It's certainly not the way we want to operate all the time. The boys did a great job in getting it home."
Repairs to the F-111 – one of 21 active jets – are expected to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Initially the pelican bounced off the nose before being sucked into an engine.
Its impact smashed the plane's ray-dome before causing an immediate engine failure.
The damaged aircraft is expected to be flying again within a month. The F-111 fleet, built in 1974, will be retired in 2010 when an expanded fleet of new Super Hornets is introduced.
At the time of the incident the F-111 was cruising at more than 550km/h. The Air Chief played down fears the flight path endangered homes across the region, though he conceded there were homes in the flight path.
The pilot and air combat officer in the plane were both "reasonably experienced" flight lieutenants, he said...
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
Eric,
“Swingwing like the B-1?” No. Like the late great F-14 Tomcat. A McNamara era joint project to satisfy all the services nearly satisfied no one. By the time the Air Force added weight and complexity of mission to the origial TFX, it was too heavy for shipboard operations. The Navy developed the Tomcat and the Air Force the F-111.
Though the concept was for a big, fast, long-range multi-role fighter that could sweep its wings forward for dog-fighting manuverability, it never quite worked that way. The A.F. plane became a low-level nuclear capable all-weather terrain-following strike bomber. The Tomcat, despite the Tom Cruise movie, remained a stand-off fleet protecting interceptor that could engage multiple targets with its lookdown radar and Phoenix missle system.
I heard that in the end, the only things interchangeable in the two planes was the concept and the wing pivot structure.
Oldplayer
Went TDY to Northern Germany to repair a 111 while at Heyford.The Germans love aircraft and the German base commander asked the aircrew to do a high speed flyover when we were done.I think every German on that base came out to the flightline to see it.The 111 took off and did a max climb disapeared and maybe 30 seconds later you see a small speck then its bigger by the second then its by you,just below the speed of sound about 1000 ft above.I felt so proud of that crew and that old F111.
My ship was in Darwin one year during the commemoration of the 1942 Japanese air raid. Two RAAF F-111s did a close flyby during which they dumped a bunch of fuel and then lit it with afterburners. Can’t remember the term for it but it was cool as hell to watch.
Your story is too funny. Flying F-4s out of Moody, Georgia in 79, I hit a Buzzard at 500 feet and 500 knots. Blew a huge hole in the front left of the canopy. Had a large very sharp piece poking me at the aft side of my left arm. That was it. It could have been much worse! Biggest problem after something like that is slowing down fast enough so you can actually communicate with the guy in the back. I can understand why a student would eject.
That would be it. It was quite impressive.
Did your WSO know what had happened?
Pilots didnt trust the terain following radar.They tryed to override it and flew them into the dirt.They pulled them out of Nam.
Tanknetter,
Thanks for the reminder. The first time I read about the new attack system mounted on the F-14, I just laughed to myself. What a versatile airplane the F-14 (with uprated engines) became.
Though still laughed at as “flying overcast”, the big bird was ready to protect our nation in many different ways. It is a tribute to the engineers, the factory assemblers, the pilots and the aircrews, that the plane was so very successful.
Oldplayer
Sure can, I was a A-4 structural mech in Nam, they took a lot of punishment but a bird in the cockpit wasn’t part of it. I have seen them return with limbs and leaves in the wheel wells where the pilots would drop gear in order to get as slow as possible to place ord right on target.
Had one return with a hole in the wing you could stand up in.
VMA-223 Mag 12 Chu Lai RVN 66-68.
tet68
In the mid 1950’s when I was about 7 years old, I was spending a few weeks down in Florida with my aunt and uncle. They’d just gotten a new Olds 98..with the big Rocket V-8..and we were driving through the Everglades...back then the road was a simple two lane blacktop...probably doing about 80-90 mph...when we smacked into a very low flying buzzard..cracked the windshield, came right through and ended up in their laps in the front seat. Mess of blood and guts. My uncle managed to stop the car straight..without driving into the water or rolling it. Troopers who responded said they’d never seen anything like it.
Perfect and most informative posting. I learned from the picture, too. Thanks.
It is hay and its for insulation. Its cheaper than fiberglass and doesn't cause itching when you stuff it into the nose cone.........
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