“Well, if nothing else, the Aussies sure liked them.”
Did the Aussies ever have any carriers to land and launch these planes?
Someone said they weren’t carrier based. They were Air Force.
Nope, but they do have a long coastline, and they liked having a twin engine fighter/bomber aircraft that had the range and durability to patrol that long coastline. They operated the F111 long after the USAF had sent theirs to the boneyard and chopped them up.
Funny thing, a buddy of mine in a former workplace was the last employee on the F111 program. His job was to go through storage, sort through all the stuff, and send anything useful to the Aussies. While he was going through the stuff, he found some boxes of swag, which is how I now have a F111 25th Anniversary RAAF mug sitting on my desk (with a half load of coffee).
(Not to mention some nice desktop models back at the house)