F-111, FB-111, EF-111, Aardvark, Merlin, Raven, Sparkvark, and Pig

[Mike Wren]

I quite like the idea of Vengeance.  I'm going to do an RAF F-111 too, but in the all-white finish. It'll be from the Prince of Wales Wing, flown by Edmund BlackAdder with S.O Baldrick as his other crew. I've already got the decals allocated. What a trio they'll make.  what kit are you using? I've got a couple of ESCI salted away. The Italeri one's a re-issue of this.  I also like the idea of Vampyr as a name, but I'm reserving that for possibly the MiG-29. With 2 teeth-aerials!!  If we're looking to name it after Commonwealth capitals, Salisbury's a bit \"wimpish\".  Who's building it? Armstrong-Whitworth?  Boulton-Paul?  How about the Armstrong-Whitworth \"Vindaloo\".

Well, chaps, I like the F-111.  So there.  All-white with lots of dirty weathering.  Aardvark as a name (of course) fits nicely with the BlackAdder theme.  Let's hear it for the F-111s!  A great machine.  Looks really mean, too.

nice one Radish, I mean if the TSR2 would've gone into service and been crap no-one would care one jot about it, but it has seemed to attain mythical proportions as to its greatness...due to the fact that it was never tested in service/war. True, British a/c should always be first choice for Britain and TSR2 should never have been cancelled, but the F-111 (eventually) turned out to be a superb a/c
Mike (taking cover)

No need to take cover.  The F-111 looks much better than the hyped TSR2.  Aardvark, a great and wonderful aircraft.  It'll look great in RAF colours.....but then, it'll look great in any colours.

I think they should be standard wings, althought the RAF ones I'm doing will have the longer wings 'cause I'm using the Hasegawa F-111G/FB-111A) kit and can't be bothered to change them so it'll become part of the 'RAF range requirement' or something

[Matt Wiser]

I'd say the bad press from the first Vietnam deployment in 1968 was a factor, not to mention the failed USN F-111B version. The RAF's cancelling the F-111K program was another contributor in my opinion. GD did offer the F-111 to West Germany, Italy, Turkey, and even Israel, but no takers.
The main problem was that the plane was rushed into production and combat before all of the bugs were worked out. Once that was done, it was a great tactical bomber, but the B would have been a lousy carrier aircraft (too heavy, pilots lost sight of the deck just before touchdown, took up too much deck space, etc.) Great weapons system, though, and Grumann took the AWG-9/AIM-54 combo developed for the B and put it in the F-14. Finally, MacNamara's Whiz Kids (who knew very little about the military when they got to the Pentagon in 1961) seized on the program as one plane for the AF, Navy, and Marines (who never wanted it in the first place); and that was the first of many foul-up those \"bow-tie bastards\" created.

[Mike Wren]

here we go:

F-111A, Vietnam, Operation Combat Lancer, 1968

a premature & politically-motivated deployment, the 6 a/c deployment was withrawn after 55 missions with 3 a/c being lost.


F-111A, Vietnam, Operation Constant Guard V, 1972-3

48 a/c, over 4000 combat sorties, 6 losses, a 0.015% loss rate (the most survivable combat a/c in Vietnam war)


F-111F, Operation El Dorado Canyon, 1986

18 a/c, 1 a/c lost


F-111F, Operation Desert Storm, 1990-1

66a/c, 2417 combat sorties, dropping 5576 bombs, 2203 targets destroyed:

920 tanks/APCs (one seventh of the total destroyed during the entire war)
252 artillery pieces
26 vehicles
67 troop & ammo assembly areas
245 HASs
113 bunkers
13 runways
4 a/c in the open, 141 a/c believed destroyed inside HASs
13 hangars
19 warehouses
158 buildings
23 logistics sites
9 lines of communication
25 SAM/AA sites
11 Scud sites
5 pumping stations
4 mine entrances
32 chemical facilities
9 towers
2 ships
12 bridges destroyed & 52 seriously damaged

of more than 8000 precision guided munitions delivered my the entire USAF, F-111s delivered 4666.

66 F-111s destroyed 10 times as many tanks/AFVs etc. as 250 F-16s

all this info can be found in World Air Power Journal Vol 14, 1993

you see, its probably the best 'useless' aircraft of modern times (and I don't even particularly like it, which is pretty much the same opinion I have of the TSR2, so there)

Mike 'Robert McNamara' Wren

:s

[Matt Wiser]

I'll take the F-111F, plus Gs refitted to take PAVE TACK-why those didn't go to the ANG I'll never know: certainly there were folks in the Guard with F-111 experience as pilots, WSOs, and maintainers to have a Guard wing or two with the Vark, and keep the EF-111-give the Spark Varks to the AF Reserve, but upgrade them similar to the USN's with the EA-6B and give them HARM capability, then you can either jam the threat, or let them eat a HARM for their trouble. BTW in Desert Storm an EF-111 had a Mirage F-1 on its six, which let loose a Super 530 and a Magic (which missed) and the -111 went down on the deck (I talked to the pilot at the NAS Lemoore Air Show that summer) about 30-50 ft. off the deck, and the Mirage followed him: but when a rise came up-the
-111's TFR let the Spark Vark go over the rise so easy, the Mirage couldn't-he flew right into it. The crew got credit for a manuver kill.

[Deino]

No. 1

[Deino]

No. 2

[Deino]

... and the final !

[Aircav]

Cool, just what I was after:D
Next projrct after the Super Vulcan's        
Thanks and all the best
Steve

[retro_seventies]

RAF Steve?

[retro_seventies]

Hi yourself, mate!

She's a fine looking plane and no mistake...bit of a big boned lass, but she's got good lines, and a nice curvy back end.

like kate winslett with SRAMS really.

[Captain Canada]

that is screaming for medium bomber conversion  

would be a good Scale-o-rama contestant as well, ala Backfire !

 

[Geoff_B]

The simplest way is to track down a Revell TFX as it has the parts to do either the prototype A or B model. Its a bit full of gimicks and only represents the early shorter prototypes.

The Production version had an longer nose with a noticable increase in area between the canopy and radome to accomodate the actual radar electronic and mount the retractable refuelling probe. The other mods are extended wings and tails, beefier main Undercarriage, refuelling hook etc. Most of the details can be found in the Hasegawa F-111C or FB-111 kits.

However the other major change for the production version is that the cockpit is raised to give the pilot a better view on approach and this will be the hardest to replicate, especially as most kits represent the escape capsule.

Details on the variations can be found in the Ginster Naval Fighters book on the F-111B that also gives details on the possible kit usage to create the F-111B.

BTW the Estoteric Nose Job for the F-111B is just the nose cone from the Revell F-111B copied in resin. As this is designed to fit to the fwd cockpit bulkhead its therefore too large in diameter to be used on the production variant.

I used a Tornado nose with inserts to get the approximate profile for my F-111M, but the F-111M was a GD proposal using the F-111B weapon system in the standard F-111K airframe without any of the other B carrier mods as these were not required. As a result the F-111M could probably worked as a land based interceptor for both the RAF and the USAF, it was the F-111B's Carrier characteristics that the USN rejected (Odd how grumman won the VFX contest when it was responsible for the Naval side of TFX ^_^ )

G

[elmayerle]

*Laughs* More like they knew where the problem areas were in using the "common airframe" and were able to design something more dedicated.  BTW, there are pics around here of an F-111B coming aboard a carrier, despite what histories report.

[retro_seventies]

something like this evan?

[retro_seventies]

This might also come in handy if you want to convert a "standard" f-111 into the "b"....