Posted on 11/24/2010 7:54:23 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
F-111s streak towards retirement
THEY arrived late and amid much controversy, but 37 years later the Royal Australian Air Force is counting down the days to the retirement of the F-111s.
The decision to acquire the supersonic strike aircraft is now recognised one of Australia's best defence purchases.
Ordered by the Menzies government in 1963, the first F-111 arrived in 1973.
The Amberley-based 6 Squadron, west of Brisbane, is operating the last active F-111 medium-range bombers in the world.
The RAAF has planned a series of events to mark the passing of the aircraft which gave Australia a huge technological advantage but never dropped a bomb in anger.
The twin-engine swing-wing bomber can travel at more than twice the speed of sound and its ground-hugging ability makes it difficult to detect.
The F-111 has become famed for its dump-and-burn and it will perform the stunt over its home city of Ipswich as part of Christmas celebrations on November 27.
e F-111s, affectionately known as pigs, will take to the skies for the last time on December 3 in a flyover of southeast Queensland and northern NSW.
Four of the aircraft will go on permanent static display, one each at RAAF Base Edinburgh in Adelaide and the RAAF Museum at Point Cook in Victoria. Two will remain at Amberley.
They call the Aardvark a pig?
Aardvark = literally “earth pig.”
We call the A-10 a ‘hog’
I hoped it could slide by, but NOoooooooo!
They’d better be buying a tanker or two. The range of the F/A 18 is 460 miles, while the range of the F-111 is 1,330 miles. Of course, since the only real enemy is China, neither plane will make it to China without help from a couple of tankers.
Sad news....this is Austrailia’s ready to go nuclear capable aircraft delivery system. Great range and payload for the island continent....and I DO hope SK/Japan/Austrailia go nuclear.
In the 80s, the F-4 squadron I was in deployed to Australia and got in a competition with the local F-111s for the lowest and fastest pass across the runway on return. On the final day of the deployment, the flight lead decided the F-4s were going to win. What he didn’t know was our pain-in-the-butt O-6 was doing a TV interview at the runway.
I wasn’t in the flight, and don’t know either how low or fast they went, but the shock wave knocked the O-6 & the cameras to the ground. The Aussie F-111s conceded the F-4s had won, but only because they didn’t get another shot at the title before we left!
The problem isn’t that the Aussies are retiring the F111’s; they are over 30 years old and that’s a long time to keep the plane working. As the article notes, the Aussies got more than their moneys worth out of them.
The problem is that we aren’t making a reasonable medium range aircraft to replace it. All the US Air Force seems to care about is high-performance fighters and long-range stealth bombers. Aarvaarks are considered “unglamorous” duty and the fighter jocks who fly and the ex-fighter jocks who set procurement policy don’t want anything to do with it.
Pitty that the French weren't invited to bring their KC-135s to the party.
The last of the medium-bombers. Peacetime militaries tend to purchase equipment without regard to wartime utility. “Cost-effectiveness” calculations frequently ignore factors relating to wartime utility.
Early in Afghanistan the USN was running F-14 “Bombcats” north to fly topcover for the SpecOps and Northern Alliance militiament. The F-14 had great legs and a respectable bomb load. Try doing that with the F/A-18. You don’t get near the coverage and you don’t have as many weapons on station.
I saw an RAAF F-111 do one those fuel dumps in Darwin about 10 years ago. Pretty impressive. We were there for the commemoration of the Japanese carrier attack in 1942.
I wouldn't say 'last.'
How could I forget the Mud Hen? F-15E. The stealthy Eagle, if it ever gets built, is based on the F-15E I believe. THAT might end up being the last medium bomber.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.