Ain't that the truth. The ol' varks wanted lots of attention...
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What have you done to your XS today?
- Thread starter I am Carbon
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- maintenance
I wonder where they went when they were retired. I didn't see any mass landings of them here at D-M like I did with the F-106's, A-7's and the F-4's
Sadly, they weren't mothballed... they were cut up for scrap. An un-fitting end for a damn fine airplane
A little history for you history buffs out there.....
Those of us that flew and maintained the F-111... we always knew her as the Aardvark. Officially, she was the only airplane in the history of the Air Force to go her entire career.... without an official name. Blame that on Macnamera and the politics of the 60's. At her retirement ceremony in 96, she was officially named the Aardvark. She had her quirks and was a demanding ol' girl, but she was one of the most capable strike aircraft ever made. I miss those cold nights wiping her down and talking to her...
Meddy
XS650 Addict
Funnily Jim, when I was in the Air Force here in Australia, we had F-111C's and we knew them as "Pigs".
She also set the record for crash/mortality during development testing. Don't want that kinda publicity...
Indeed - the F111 broke a lot of new ground.
On the issue of names - I am an avid aviation and naval history buff and so I am familiar with most aircraft and their names and I certainly agree that the 111 never adopted an official name in-service.
Having said that - I’m not sure that the Lockheed U2 (of Francis Gary Powers fame) had a name either - or have I forgotten that one?
Pete
On the issue of names - I am an avid aviation and naval history buff and so I am familiar with most aircraft and their names and I certainly agree that the 111 never adopted an official name in-service.
Having said that - I’m not sure that the Lockheed U2 (of Francis Gary Powers fame) had a name either - or have I forgotten that one?
Pete
U-2's are called the Dragon Lady. Not sure if that's an official name or not....
[QUOTE="]Funnily Jim, when I was in the Air Force here in Australia, we had F-111C's and we knew them as "Pigs".[/QUOTE]
I called all the planes I worked "pigs". Loudly when they were giving me a really hard time.
I called all the planes I worked "pigs". Loudly when they were giving me a really hard time.
I once put an "info" write-up in the logbook of one of my planes that the previous crew reported the aircraft "tends to fly nose low over cornfields." I wish I had a picture of the next pilots face when he looked at the logbook.
The African word Aardvark literally translates as "ground pig."
True, but lets put that in context... She was the first fighter to employ full span fowler flaps and spoilers for low speed flight (no ailerons). The first to employ variable wing sweep to optimize itself for low and high speed (M2.5+) flight. The first aircraft to use afterburning turbofan engines... the first supersonic turbofan engines P&W TF-30's. And the first aircraft ever to use an autopilot coupled terrain following radar so that it could fly right at the speed of sound, at night, in a thunderstorm, through a mountain range... keeping an average height of 200 ft. above the ground.... no mean feat with today's technology and absolutely cutting edge technology for the 1960's.
All things considered, you could make the argument that the accident rate during development was remarkably low... all things considered.
Edit: Almost forgot... the first aircraft to use an escape capsule for both crew members instead of ejection seats.
Huh, I don't fully understand all that but I get the gist. Wow is all I got.
All I got is the test pilots must have used a wheelbarrow to walk to the aircraft.
Ain't that the truth. They were definitely a different breed.
I remember when the Air Force was developing terrain following radar guide aircraft. Wasn't the crash rate attributed to pilots having a little freak out and trying to wrestle control away from the auto pilot, when they saw the plane heading straight for the side of a mountain?
Forgive me if I'm wrong about that, but I seem to remember hearing that.
Forgive me if I'm wrong about that, but I seem to remember hearing that.
I respected the F-111's but did not enjoy working on them. Now General Dynamics next product was a dream to work on. F-16's. Worked them for about 6 yrs. 2 bases. Flightline and Phased docks. Good times.
Anyway....UPS delivered my clutch rod seals. Gotta go install them. Later....
Anyway....UPS delivered my clutch rod seals. Gotta go install them. Later....
Mailman, I heard about that too. Your cruising along near mach, low level (200-300 ft above terra firma)Hard ride setting, following, every up and down with the land your blasting along, and your not fully experienced in this plane. Yeah, I can believe it.
They had lots of problems initially... one of them being what you describe. The fix was actually pretty simple. If the computer received a stick input when Auto TF was engaged, it instantly commanded a 4G pull. Suddenly you were looking straight up with your chin firmly planted on your chest. It was a pretty wild ride
When everything was working, as Jim said, she was unbeatable, but keeping everything working must have tough. That thing had a heck of a lot of electronics - based on vacuum tubes...
And she wasn't bad on the eyes either.
