The F-111's Fatal Flaw
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- čas přidán 21. 05. 2024
- Updated video here: • The F-111's Fatal Flaw...
Delivery of the F-111 to the Royal Australian Air Force was held up until General Dynamics could iron out a fatal flaw.
Contents
00:00 Introduction
01:20 F-111 Background
03:03 TFX Program
04:15 Features
04:55 Fatal Flaw
07:24 Wing pivot fitting crack
08:48 Recovery program finalised
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Copyright disclaimer under fair dealing sections ss 40/103C, ss 41/103A,ss 42/103B of the Copyright Act which includes research, study, criticism, review, and reporting of news. Copyright remains with the respective owners. These videos are made for educational purposes only.
The Australian Military Aviation History Association is a not-for-profit association with the intent of recording, preserving and promoting Australian military aviation history. - Krátké a kreslené filmy
Updated version here czcams.com/video/jbMqAJLmTn0/video.html
What has been updated in the linked version?
@@bnwww some images changed that were in error, spelling corrected, narration smoothed out somewhat.
"Only" 77 losses? That's a LOT for an aircraft that never saw combat with the RAAF!
@@raafdocumentaries Then why not remove this one? I've just spent 10 minutes watching this only to scroll down and be told it has errors and to watch the updated version.
@@Shaun.Stephens Image errors might make a difference, but frankly I'm not spending another 10 minutes watching a revamped video just for the subtitles to change "floor" to "flaw".
In the early 1980's I was working on the development of a 65 kilometre pipeline project between Gladstone's Awoonga dam and the Callide dam in Central Queensland. The RAAF was tasked or commissioned to do photogrammetric flyovers. Will never forget standing on a hilltop one morning, turning around to see an F111 coming at me from below. Thought I was a goner. They were on the terrain radar and basically jumped up and then down the other side of the hill. Awesome example of how stealthy these beasties were. I still have scrape marks on my forehead😂
I began my MILITARY career with RAF Bomber Command in the 1960s
The RAF AVRO VULCAN ALSO used terrain following Radar so it could fly low.
After serving 30 years of MILITARY service - mostly in AU and 2 years on
exchange to the USAF - I am now happily retired ---
I surrendered my pilot's license in 2012 as a result of failing eyesight.
It took a while to get over it - since I learned to fly at age 13 -
lessons paid for by an aunt who served with the RAF towards the end of WW II.
Her - like my mother is/was Russian and was born in Ukraine
British technology developed with the TSR2 then given away for peanuts. Some special relationship.
The (AI?) narrator's accent keeps changing from Australian to American. Very strange :)
As a Aussie with American parents, I do the same thing. 🙂🇦🇺
Perfect for an Australian/US story!
That really threw me off too!
I came here to say the same thing! Ha ha, yeah I really enjoyed the video but was intrigued by the accent shifting.
It's an AI, the guy who runs the channel commented on that. They're training it to sound Australian consistently.
I attended high school in Penang, Malaysia. We routinely saw Royal Malaysian Air Force Hornets and MiG 29s, as well as Hercules and Sea Kings. The most exciting, by far, were RAAF F-111s flying out of Butterworth. They flew low and fast, and were a real treat to see.
I was based at Butterworth in '97 with The Australian Army mate, I totally agree!
Yes a multi-billion dollar entertainment for fools.
@@johnsmith1474 It is better to be taken for a fool, than to open one's mouth and prove it!
czcams.com/video/9vAT1JduSGw/video.html
My friend Wayne who was in the air league with a guy called Bill Pike who did RAAF service told me about Bill & Mark Fallon & Tenterfield who both perished in anF111 back in the mid 1980s ! May they both rest in peace!!!
I was there too as a kid...1960 to 1963
When I was a kid, I built a large-ish model of one of these. It was the first time I painted camouflage. One of my favorite models ever.
Even in 1:72 a model of one of these is pretty big.
Me too! I was just reminiscing about it, it has the detachable front nose, the Cockpit could separate too. I loved, it, I think it was the Revell 1:72 kit
My sister, who was stationed at Nellis AFB when the A models were there, said that there were so many problems with them, that the aircrews went on "strike" several times; every single one of them would show up "sick" at the Flight Surgeon's office. One major problem? The engines would flame out at the first hint of a rain cloud; also, like the F-14 A Tomcats, they were very prone to compressor stalls. The USAF finally swapped them with the recon RF-4C's at Mountain Home AFB, Idaho - just before I got stationed there. One of the more unpleasant parts of my career field was Aircraft Crash Survey/Recovery. Sadly, those A model's kept me much busier making crash site maps, and picking up stuff - both metallic and organic - than I would have liked... The Air Force finally wised up; shipped all the remaining A's to Grumman, who took them totally apart; threw about half of them away; and turned them - at the cost of $27 million apiece (in 1976 dollars) - into EF-111 Ravens. In which guise, they performed a whole lot better - and much safer. The rest of the time I was stationed there? Never once had to pick through the remains of a Raven....
I was at Mt. Home from 81-82, right at the beginning of the EF program. You undersell the A model. After the initial problems were sorted out, the aircraft performed admirably in SEA. Suffered the least losses of any combat aircraft and dropped more bombs on target. The converted A's into EF's retained the original mechanical parts, WCTB, engines, cockpit, etc. After the war in Vietnam was over, the AF basically relegated the "A" to training only.
They didn't send "all the remaining A models to Grumman...." I was at MHAFB in 1981, and there would ultimately be 42 EF-111As at two bases (MHAFB and Upper Hayford), and enough A models remaining at MHAFB to fill out 3 other units within 366 TFW--Green, Blue, and Yellow sections. I don't recall their numbers, but between 20-30ish each.
That being said, I only recall 2 A model crashes, neither related to the wing issue.
I was stationed at Mt Home in 1985, and the F-111 was there.
Great summary. It's interesting to see the importance between platform and mission fit in determining the success of the aircraft.
Thanks for your service and this report.
I was at the inaugural Australia 500cc Grand Prix at Phillip Island. The flyover of an F111 and a FA18 will always be remembered, not so much the F18, but the F111 will always have a special place in my memory. I grew up in the 70's and remember the drama's about the aircraft but I would never want to be on the receiving end of one. I still think it's the most amazing aircraft the RAAF has had.
I well remember the RAAF F-111s. During a joint exercise with Australia during the '70s when I was in the US Navy, my ship was watching Aussie F-111s (the adversaries) on our SCANFAR radar system at over 300 miles away and these had our complete attention. What we missed was four Aussie F-4s coming at us, at wave-top height and at 500 knots, coming undetected from the opposite direction to "kill" us. The were finally seen by a top-side enlisted man lookout aft using his Mark I, Mod 0 eyeballs just before loudly buzzing the ship. Quite a sight to see!
Are you sure that the F4 and F111 were in RAAF service at the same time.
@@basilpunton5702 RAAF operated 24 F-4E Phantom II fighter-bomber aircraft in the ground attack role between 1970 and 1973. The F111C was inducted into RAAF service in 1973 and retired in 2010 rather than 2020 as originally planned.
Thats why US navy has to use E2 hawkeye.
Great yarn!
USN Sailor: "Um, Sir...."
RAAF Pilots: "G'day! Ya dead! Cheers!"
Thanks for sharing the story, best wishes from Sydney. ;)
@@Franz.Isler497 seems likely the sneak attack was actually A4s.
Back in the early 2000's, when I worked on copiers, I was driving down Broadway in Louisville, and between the builds, I was looking straight on at the cockpit of this ginormous swing wing aircraft flying over the river. It was sporting the old Vietnam era camouflage, like a refugee from the 1970's, so it wasn't something I expected to see. I immediately thought of the MiG 23 and several Sukhoi designs and then I realized that the USAF still hadn't retired the F-111. That Saturday, we had the annual pre-Derby airshow and fireworks display. Only rich people pay attention to the horse race.
I miss the Pig . Payload|range is still unbeaten today
I was privileged enough to fly it. What a machine!
Same
My father worked at McClellan AFB back then, and that base was assigned the job of completely remanufacturing that aircraft. They put together one if not the largest machine shops, fabrication, and testing facilities in the USAF. My Dad was in charge of all of the radar and recon equipment installed on that aircraft and the "Wild Weasel" craft. During open house days, I would tour that place and it was indeed impressive. They even had a specially built hanger that had equipment that could do a comprehensive structural analysis of a craft. It also was a one-of-a-kind. He ran a special team of expeditors who had their own building. If you need a component yesterday, he was the one that you called.
Actually, McClellan was the depot for the F-111. When a plane needed major repairs, it was sent there. All F-111's went to McClellan at one time or other. They actually didn't "completely remanufacture" the airplane
Wow what an interesting job!
I remember seeing a well-worn Navy F-111B on the west side of McClellan in the mid-1980's. Somebody was using it for battle damage repair practice.
@@dukeford I too saw it. I was there for the ARC-190 HF radio TCTO proofing. I was TDY from Pease AFB. It was right behind the revetments the F-111's were in for TCTO's.
7:00 "in favour of another aircraft"
He means the F-14 Tomcat, baby 😎
I was stationed at a US Air Force base that had FB-111's when I enlisted in the military in the early 80's. That base has been closed for a very long time now but the F111/FB-111 is still one of my favorite aircrafts. In the early 80's we were told that no other plane could fly as fast as the F-111 in proximity to its low ground flying ability. I don't know how accurate that was/is at the time but it was something the aircraft mechanics, pilots, etc. seemed very proud of. The F-111 is an iconic aircraft.
I was trained on them, but never operated on them. It was a fascinating aircraft; born out of the intersection of several new technologies that came together at just the right time. Later on, much of this would become "standard equipment", but the F-111 (and FB variants) was one of GD's better innovative designs - perhaps eclipsed only by the astonishing F-16. It is kind of unfortunate they got absorbed into the increasingly large "Borg-type" mass of contractor conglomerates. I firmly believe competition breeds innovation, and reducing competition to a bare handful of contractors (all with deep pockets to "donate" to multiple Congress members) harms our defense capability significantly.
Crazy isn't it as a former military brat I always wanted to go see the military hospital I was born in Asia hopefully someday miss seeing F-14s buzz by
@@MrJest2
Well said. 👍
@@firesupport162
👍
Had lunch with one of the original crew who went over to bring the F-111 back to Australia, This didn't happen straight away because of the problems with the plane, but he did get to do a stint at Top Gun when he was there before the planes were brought back. One of the few qualified to sit in both seats.
There is one F111C at the William Town Air Museum near Newcastle NSW. I had the pleasure of seeing it up close and was surprised at just how big it was.
If youre interested there is another at illawarra.
Yeah Fighter World at Williamtown RAAF has one, struck me how big an airframe it is. The same Museum now has an F/A-18A, well worth a look!
Yep same it is massive.
Another one at Evans Head. Australia paid for storage while OEM got their act together; very costly & poor contract oversight.
I heard that each state that had Air Force museum, got one, and then the remainder had to be "terminated", and were subsequently interred in an undisclosed site, in an undisclosed state, in an undisclosed part of a very disclosed Australia. Actually got to see the "parts" of the one, lost in the Hauraki Gulf, when they brought them to "Hobby" for the initial investigation.
one point missed is one of the losses was believed to be caused by improper tool handling and not a flaw in the manufacturing process. The cause of one of the cracked D6AC pivots was believed to be due to a tool dropped on it causing a microscopic dent that grew into a crack. Also, two of the Vietnam losses were cause by the failure of the rear stabilisers control valve, causing a violent pitch-up maneuver followed by an uncontrolled roll. The faulty valves were replaced by a different valve in every model and the fault never occurred again
These types of steel have special handling requirements to begin with. A similar steel used in oil pipe manufacturing cracked simply because it was left too close to the door overnight, in a shop, during a cold spring. Therefore, I say it should still be considered a manufacturing error.
@@SerbanOprescu That is a lame excuse for steel, its more likely manufacturing errors, out of tolerance dimensions, bad tolerances., and bad deburring or radiuses.
@@joefish6091 How can you say it's a lame excuse for steel?! Clearly you know nothing of special steels. I've met steels which need turning in stages, with pauses, simply because they hardened due to compression (not heat). That one I've mentioned was also special steel - and I've personally encountered two such cases They are simply brittle, and in use it doesn't matter because they don't receive shocks. In manufacturing/processing, it does.
. Wise designers design for the established reality of aircraft overhauls and maintenance, because they know nearly all combat aircraft are disassembled multiple times over their service life. Maintenance, repair, inspection etc often require component removal and not every design is maintainer-friendly nor is every supplied component handling fixture ideal. Many parts will be cannibalized from one jet to another over their lives to generate as many combat sorties as practical.
One Viet Nam war era repair program got around buying new aircraft by rebuilding severely damaged birds which would have been written off after discarding major components. (One of the 'Vark maintainers ITT may remember it.) F-111s were not nearly as inexpensive as Phantoms so creativity was called for.
It's the same issue that got Boeing.. As they used a Fork Lift to replace the Engines. As it was faster. Only to stress fracture the engine mounting holes when installing them. The engine flew off on takeoff killing everybody. When they seen what caused it. They found several other aircraft with the same stress fracture.
Still remembered the fire trailing of the F111 in an Airshow in Singapore during the 2000s ... 🙏 Thank You So Much for this professionally produced & enjoyable to watch mini documentary! 🌷🌿🌏💜🕊
Qld Air Museum has a couple of interesting interviews with survivors of F-111 ejections on their podcast. They received spinal injuries from the initial rocket blast of the pod escaping the aircraft and then the speed at which it hit the water under parachute.
Not a surprise. Most pilots who've had to "Bang-Out" end up physically shorter from the process. The odd compressed/ruptured disc in the spinal column is preferred over riding the plane in to the accident site. Sure, you might live a life with near constant back pain, but at least you have a life to live...
I was working at Amberley when F-111 A8-143 lost a main wheel on take off. The wheel rolled for a considerable distance and came to rest after striking a car in the car park which coincidentally was parked mere meters from my own car. Not sure the insurance would've covered that one. Also remember growing up in north east victoria when F-111's would routinely fly past at very low level no doubt on TFR exercises.
what car park was that? the big one near the tower and engine workshop?
It was the carpark just east of the Boeing DLM hanger. The aircraft was departing to the south when the wheel detached and did a big right hand arc.
@@AllThingsOutdoors yeah I know the one, I worked in Hangar 410 (what became the Boeing DLM) when I was in 501WG and before that in 3AD
@@andrewroutley it was after my time but I heard from a mate who was still serving at the time that a pin sheared, it wasnt maintenance error, just fatigue
I was stationed at cannon afb nm with the F111D in crash recovery and aero repair The ejection pod never worked well at low altitude especially if the aircraft wasnt upright during ejection .There were 2 crashes in the early 80s when I was there and both crews died on impact.
As Chief of Propulsion Systems (RAF senior engineering officer seconded to HQ ACC LGMP) within a few weeks of my arrival at Langley AFB I was asked to lead an Integrated Process Team (IPT) to resolve (get well program) the F111 TF30-P111 afterburner failures at a time when the aircraft of 48th Wing at Lakenheath was relocating to 27th Fighter Wing Cannon AFB and many ABs were missing from the inventory. The F111F fleet had a dramatically reduced operational capbility with so many "holes in aircraft" (engines out). The ACC supercruise operations was seriously reduced not just by the TF30-P111 problems but the only other supercruise aircraft the B-1B having major engine (F101-GE-102) issues with fan blade failures. The F111F "Get well program" had a potentially swifter recovery program from my mechanical engineering perspective and recommendations as the AB was a basic 2-position iris eyelid "slamming" mechanical linkage, which OC-ALC LPA management, F111F SPO, Bristols of Canada (R-R Canada), Pratt& Whitney (United Technologies, and of course ACC executives LG 2-Star and 4-Star Commander agreed with. The TF30 -P111 engine had effectively been designed on-wing starting from a mere 20 hours MOT and had reached 2,200 hours MOT. The F111F Get Well program to reach an effective ACC super-cruise operational role took just under 12 months when the 27th FW reported that it was achieving this with an increasing number of QTR engines. While the B-1B F101-102 engines problems continued limiting its operational role for another 2 years. We managed to extend the operational life of the F111F by 2 years saving it from the boneyard at 2 successive ACC annual POMs.
And this is why the F-14 had an electron beam welded titanium wing box.
Which is fucking cool as fuck... As if the Tomcat needed more street-cred... 😋
@@smk6469 Grumman learned a lot from the F-111 effort, and applied all of it to the F-14.
@@HarryVoyager Indeed. The Tomcat was an F-111 without the flaws of the F-111 for fighter / interceptor work. Deleting the bomb bay, and going with twin tails did a lot.
If only the Tomcat wasn't stuck with the TF30.
@@DBravo29er I mean, it was intended to be powered by the F401. The TF-30 was only to get it flying while they finished the real engine. It seemed like a good plan at the time...
Dunno anything about aircraft, but the F-111 looks just gorgeous. What a shape!
McNamara's Folly. ""Pull the wings off, paint it yellow and install benches in the bomb bays;" at least that way it could serve some purpose as a high speed taxi." John Boyd
Funny, they did great in the air-to-ground role. You haven't been sipping the Pierre Sprey tea, have you?
@@skaldlouiscyphre2453 The F-111 was originally to have been a fleet air defense fighter. I think Colonel Boyd was correct, there's no way it could have fulfilled it's original design brief.
Trying to force one aircraft into multiple roles and services always seems to result in mediocre aircraft. Asking a dump truck to be a sports car is stupid. As a fast dump truck the F-111 was ok, as a sports car it was a total failure.
@@fantabuloussnuffaluffagus The fleet defense fighter aspect was always an afterthought, that's why it was never able to fulfil the role.
The F-111B was essentially a bomber awkwardly forced into the CAP role. To be fair, the Navy didn't have the Tomcat in mind as the goal, they basically wanted a fast Missileer. The F-111B fulfilled that role, it just wasn't a viable role in the first place.
As you say, the F-111B was never going to be a sports car and eventually the Navy realized they needed a sports car.
I worked on the F-111D’s at Cannon AFB. Remarkable aircraft!
I was there from 76 to 81.
I was stationed at Cannon 70-73 when the D models first arrived. There were lots of growing pains with the new planes both for us crew chiefs as well as the boxes in the nose.
I was stationed at Cannon 27th CES Power Lineman & Airfield Power and Lighting in 1973-1974. Beautiful and Loud Aircraft.
The F111-F was my first aircraft crush as a kid. Living near RAF Lakenheath, and seeing the Aardvarks of the 48 TFW flying over almost daily. Back in the day when Lakenheath and Mildenhall had their air shows, going down to see them. Lakenheath was a lot smaller air show, but you could get up real close to the aircraft.
Thank you for covering the F111 's development problems.
I lived in Bullsbrook (RAAF Pearce) on the final approach path, during the 70's. My father was in the RAAF. The F-111 was always the plane we wanted to see, especially fast at low-level. Also we had Aermacchi MB-326, Mirage 3, F4, Skyhawk, Caribou, Bell Iroquois UH1, Neptune, Hercules, Chinook.
The terrain following radar was the first of its kind as far as I know.
I'll always be grateful that I had an opportunity to witness three F-111C's doing a formation low pass with dump'n'burn and a pull-up/split at the end of the runway during the RAAF 70th Anniversary airshow at Richmond NSW. I was 12 years old, and was invited along by the father of a friend who was the president of a local aero club. He spotted right away that I was fascinated by all things aviation (unlike his own kids), so he sort of "adopted" me whenever these kinds of opportunities arose. That was a formative memory for me... I'd never heard or seen anything like it, obviously!
In more recent times I've visited and sat in the cockpit of A8-109 at HARS in Albion Park Rail (Illawarra region, NSW) a couple of times and had a good natter with a few of her custodians, some of whom were retired aircrew. They had some great tales to tell about ferrying the Pigs over from the States, TFR training flights out of Amberley, Red Flag exercises, and various other escapades.
For those interested in seeing an F-111 "in the metal", the wikipedia article for the variant has a list of the remaining display aircraft/cockpit modules and their locations. Four in NSW (including the aforementioned A8-109 at HARS and A8-148 at Fighterworld next to Williamtown RAAF base, both of which are well worth a visit for the huge amount of history and airframes on display at both museums), two at RAAF Amberley in QLD (one of which is their gate guard, because of course it is) plus a couple of cockpit modules elsewhere in the state, and there's at least one complete airframe or cockpit module in each of the other states/territories except for Tasmania and ACT.
Instant subscriber here, looking forward to checking out the channel, cheers!
My Mrs. was an aircraft electronics system Test and Evaluation Systems Engineer in the USAF.
She worked with the RAAF from June 93 - March 94 on an RF-111 upgrade program while a Captain at Wright-Patterson AFB, OH.
At an RAAF Pearce airshow in the late nineties, they had a couple of F18's start their take off runs with a single F111 either in front or behind them (my vision was blocked). The F18's were still on the ground when they came into view from behind the control tower. Then only seconds later the F111 flew over the top of the control tower straight at the crowd. Very impressive. My first RAAF airshow was in 1971 when the RAAF had Mirages and Phantoms. One party trick back then was for a Caribou to take off behind one of the hangers after a very short take off run. Another was destroying old Holdens with the Phantoms rotary cannon.
In 1973-1974 I was stationed at Cannon AFB TAC 27th CES at Clovis New Mexico. We were an
F-111 training base. I was a Power Lineman. I took care of all base power as well as Air Field Power & Lighting. I loved being on the flight line around those beautiful aircraft. Great Plane. Interesting and educational video. Thank You and Best Regards
A very good presentation. Thanks!
The F-111 after its teething problems with the WCTB became the finest strike aircraft in the world and remained so for 37 years. For all the TSR2 lovers out there, I understand the emotion - I have been fascinated with TSR2 for years and travelled halfway around the world to see the two beautiful examples at Duxford and Cosford (so much for the government conspiracy to destroy all traces of them...) but the facts are Britain could not afford it, there was no export market and it was inferior in every measurable way to the smaller but longer legged and faster F-111. I recommend Damien Burke''s exhaustive coverage in his definitive book 'TSR2-Brtiain's Lost Bomber.'
For reference- here are comparative stats
Performance F-111C
Maximum speed: 1,434 kn (1,650 mph, 2,656 km/h)
Maximum speed: Mach 2.5 (M 1.23 at sea level)
Combat range: 1,160 nmi (1,330 mi, 2,150 km)
Ferry range: 3,700 nmi (4,300 mi, 6,900 km)
Service ceiling: 66,000 ft (20,000 m)
Rate of climb: 25,890 ft/min (131.5 m/s)
Lift-to-drag: 15.8
Wing loading: 126 lb/sq ft (620 kg/m2) wings spread
158 lb/sq ft (771.4 kg/m2) wings swept
Thrust/weight: 0.61
Armament
Guns: 1× M61 Vulcan 20 mm (0.787 in) Gatling cannon with 2,050 rounds (seldom fitted)
Hardpoints: 9 in total (8× under-wing, 1× underfuselage between engines) with a capacity of 31,500 lb (14,288 kg) ordnance mounted externally on hardpoints and internally in fuselage weapons bay
Performance TSR2 (projected)
Maximum speed: Mach 2.15 at 40,000 ft (12,192 m) (this was later reduced to M 1.5) M1.1 at sea level
Ferry Range: 2,500 nmi (2,900 mi, 4,600 km)
Combat range: 750 nmi (860 mi, 1,390 km)
Service ceiling: 40,000 ft (12,000 m)
Rate of climb: 15,000 ft/min (76 m/s)
Thrust/weight: 0.59
Armament: Total weapons load of 10,000 lb (4,500 kg); 6,000 lb (2,700 kg) internal and 4,000 lb (1,800 kg) external
The FB & EF 111's were a sight to see flying Low Altitude Bombing missions during the annual MultiService Field Training Exercises at White Sands Missile Range. Some of those 111's were deployed out of Cannon A.F.B. near Clovis, NM. A truly impressive aircraft to look at!
I was stationed at Cannon. I maintained Base Power and Airfield Lighting. Loved the flight line. Beautiful aircraft.
I worked on the electronic warfare models as their time in the USAF was coming to an end. The RAAF avionics specialists should be supremely happy that they never had to deal with translating cowls as part of the air inlet systems. That was a true nightmare of a system.
The C model had translating cowls.
I can tell you as an ex RAAF maintainer that worked on our F-111Cs that they did indeed have the translating cowls, it was the RAAF Gs that did not have translating cowls, they had the triple plow set up
I, and I am sure others would be pleased if you could expand on this point regarding translating cowls and their impact on avionics and anything else.
@@andrewb5957 The translating cowls had nothing to do with avionics, other than the fact that they were on the early models (A's and C's), and the early models had rather primitive (by today's standards) avionics.
Andrew I worked on avionics A and EF models and can’t remember working on translating cowls lol
I can hardly begin to describe the powerful negative emotions I felt when I realised I'd been listening to a computer-synthesized voice so perfect that it was only given away by a smooth transition from Australian to American accent.
I thought it kept wanderig between the two. The "a"s and the rising sentence intonation were very Australian, but there was also the full American "r" on display throughout (Australian is a very non-rhotic accent, even more than English ones). A really weird and unnatural sound, at least to these Aussie ears.
@@kenoliver8913It may have. I just didn't watch beyond the first transition.
I was stationed at Nellis AFB in 1969/70 when these were still being tested. An awesome plane with many problems to be worked out. The avionics alone pushed the limits for the time. It was a first in so many ways. I'm glad they finally achieved success.
I was stationed at RAF Upper Heyford (20th TFW) from 1971-75. I roomed with a couple of flight simulator jockeys who cited avionics as one of the problems with this aircraft. I was flying from Toronto to Chicago on April 14, 1986 when I learned that Muammar Gaddafi (in Libya) was bombed by F-111's that flew out of RAF Upper Heyford. France and Spain did not want the F-111's lying over them so they had to approach Libya by flying southwest over the Atlantic Ocean.
I'm guessing you were with 474th TFW. When I graduated high school in 1975, I enlisted in the USAF and was trained as a 32630A. In July, 1976, I was assigned to the 474th AMS. I got my 5 level quickly and watched as the last of the 474th's F-111As lit the burners, trundled down the Nellis runway, and turned northward to Mountain Home. In August, 1977, I left Nellis AFB for Travis AFB, California.
When I saw the title of this video, I thought the producers left off an "s" on the word "flaw". One of the things I learned was that the Aardvark was a maintenance hog, soaking up people and money for two primary systems: the wing pivots, and the TF-30 engines. Did I mention that I learned to HATE the TF-30s? I should probably mention that.
@@johndemeritt3460 I trained briefly on an F-111 at Chanute. The aircraft we had there had cracks in the pivot assembly and was decommisioned as soon as it landed. It was practically a new aircraft. All the classified electronics were removed before we students were able to train on it. None of us liked that aircraft, so our training moved to the F-4D and B-52B and D models.
The narrator's variable sweep between Australian and American accents may well be a fatal flaw in what is otherwise a well informed documentary.
Loool I was wondering if anyone else noticed that
I noticed that. Kept shifting back and forth between a standard North American accent to what sounded to me more like a subtle British accent, but then I have trouble telling the difference between some Aussie accents and some British ones, especially when there's only a hint of them coming through.
Makes me wonder if either the narrator was suppressing his natural accent, or if it's an AI.
Edit: It's an AI. The video creator confirms it in a reply to another post.
Thanks so much for this. The random accent movements between generic Australlian, generic North American, and generic Southern English was super distracting....
I noticed that too. Were there two different narrators or did his accent just keep changing?
I thought I might have been going crazy, so good to know it wasn't just me!
First time I heard a sonic boom.
Broke about 1000 houses windows in my town,
Still worth it.
I'll never forget that double bang.
Amazing stuff
Circa 1978, During my lunch break at McClellan AFB in Sacramento, CA, I used to watch the F-111 take off under full AB with a shock diamond studded flame squirting out the back and a thunderous roar pounding my chest, awesome aircraft!
I worked on those in the U.S.A.F. and in lees than a year at 1 base they lost 7. 4 on the trim pad loaded with 4 500 lbs. bombs each, 1 crashed landed without main landing gear, 1 crashed landed without the nose gear, and 1 started cartwheel right after taking off causing the base commander and WSO to eject. When their capsule hit the ground they both suffered back injurys
Saw this beautiful aircraft perform by the Australia AF in 1997 at the Malaysia Airshow before it was retired. Absolutely beautiful bird.
I love how the two commentators have such similar timbres to their voices, but hugely distinct accents. Great story though, first time I've seen your content. Subscribed!
It sounds like one person trying to speak with 2 different accents.
The swapping between narrators with Australian and US accents is very distracting.
a cool cool aeroplane as was the phantom and thunderchief... love this and them all
Beautiful plane. One of the prettiest and most capable ever produced!
my vote in a similar role is for the F-15E ...
F-111s were many things, "Pretty" was not among those things!
The aussie F111s were an icon. And a sight to behold when they zoom up from uncontrolled airspace after their TFR flights west of amberley
I was in the army a bit back and F 11-C's would buz us some times, we would look up when we heard them and would not see them, 'cause they had been going away by then. HOWEVER, the F11 - C is better specked up than MOST aircraft of even today when you check them out AND as to the vibration of the wings during (mostly) transition in flight, NASA could not fix this BUT Newcaslte University (Australia) did solve it and I met the Professor who was in charge of this.
Real sad they are all gone now I lived at Boscombe Down in the 1980's and they would come in every few years for a bit. Met some REAL nice crews and other when I was in the ATC.
Muito bom, eu não sabia dessas falhas na asa do F111. Obrigado por compartilhar!
I seen one of the last flights of the f111 at Williams town RAAF base brought a tear to my eyes
One F-111 wing broke due to a flaw in the carry through wing structure. The original billet had a flaw introduced when it was formed. The metal was also temperature sensitive becoming more brittle at low temperatures! This eventually led to environmental testing, sound testing, etc. making high performance aircraft safer! Another, had 20mm shells cook off in the weapons bay firing through the mid fuel tank.
Fascinating story! I like how the narrator's Australian accent comes and goes. When he's doing American English--he's spot on.
Such an arrogant but typical American thing to say. The rest of the world thinks differently.
I was there in England in the late 70's and the E models were having a lot of problems with capsule ejection system failures, and engine problems on ab's. Watched one on takeoff full ab, where it looked like a roman candle, as the left starboard decided to come unglued. He did a quick right, fast base leg and landed safely. Every landing is good. Happy they fixed all of those problems also. Retired radar tech. GE.
The Defense Dept is a den of criminal irresponsibility and murderers, when will unethical people like you stop being generated in a free society?
Without ignoring the fact that the F111 eventually proved a success, it would be interesting to examine the thinking of politicians in the UK who scrapped (literally) the TSR2, and planned to replace it with the F111. But being politicians we will likely never really find out. Yes, it involved financial considerations but the technical reasoning?
More likely pressure from the US government was behind it, bedfellows the two of them and still are when it comes to the military.
The F-111 was also design to meet GOR 339. The F-111 was always the more capable aircraft with almost double the range.
The British economy was a basket case in the 1960s after a dozen years of economic mismanagement by the Conservative Party whose policies encouraged overmanning to keep the unemployment figures down. Couple this to a failure of business owners yo invest in new techniques and machinery and union intransigence by failing to allow modernised methods of working made that productivity levels in the UK were falling. In 1964, just after the Labour Party became the government trade deficit figures were announced that were double what had been expected at £800 million. The foreign currency traders saw this and the business as usual budget of the new government as worrying and so started to sell off their Sterling investments (Sterling and the US$ were the 2 international trading currencies at the time). The government tried to prop up Sterling and over the next 3 years there were repeated runs on Sterling which resulted in the UK spending all its foreign currency reserves, almost all of its bullion reserves and the taking out of loans from the other major central banks and the IMF. These loans came with no strings attached beyond getting our economy in order. The TSR-2 was one of several military projects that ended up being scrapped during this period, but we had cancelled around a dozen military programmes between the mid-1960s and the end of the 1960s. The financial crises also led to the closure of many parts of the UK rail network.
The fact that the TSR-2 was intended for East of Suez operations and we were slowly getting rid of these didn't help this aircraft's case for retention.
There were technical difficulties to overcome with the airframe and systems that time and money overcame, well for the systems they did.
It isnt really a mystery.
The project was behind schedule, overbudget and plagued with issues which were a LONG way from being resolved. i think it had only flown a couple of times and it had no real development of actual capabilities. It was all in theory.
There is a lot of people that blame the USA for offering the f111 and the TSR would have been far superior etc etc... there's no real evidence to believe that would be true. Its easy to say it would have been amazing but up to the time it was cancelled it didnt do anything spectacular and was costing a bomb. The f111 remains the fastest jet down low and performed brilliantly in vietnam, el dorado canyon, desert storm and kept the russians scared enough to insist it was included in arms talks.
a success?? silly Alan
@@slickstrings That is the conventional wisdom - I was brought up with that. But a recent doc about TSR2, involving the people concerned with it, including the one of the pilots, paints a different picture. (It is on youtube). It was definitely ahead of the F111 when it was cancelled, and there is the curious point that all materials, even the prototypes themselves, were destroyed - not even retained for future development or usefulness to other projects. All the politicians interviewed claimed they did not order that - but someone did. And permission was refused to be allowed to let the workforce know about the cancellation before they heard it on the news - curious. The reasons the politicians offered ("no one in the RAF wanted it") do not stand up to scrutiny. Problems were being hammered out and people involved were quite optimistic about its future - the main worry being the politicians. The recently installed Labour government had promised, before the election, not to cancel it, but that´s what they did. It was the politicians who pushed the "rearranging" of the British Aero companies and their oversight of the project was inefficient, time-wasting, and resulted in much higher costs. (Check out how the committees worked, and the allocation of the work). Yes, postwar Britain did need to tighten its belt but for politicians that normally means, "Okay, we´ll cut that out, and don´t bother me with the consequences" - just like every reduction in the Armed Forces is an "improvement". The F111 had many, some very serious , problems with its initial development, but they were eventually hammered out, as with the development of many aircraft. The TSR2, at the time of cancellation, was the leader in its field, (though it could have been overtaken in the future), but "We can´t afford it!" was the political decision. There are loads of similar examples, in many countries. Although the TSR2 never saw action I believe a quote from "Duke" Cunningham (apologies for a probable mistake with the spelling) one of the notable pilots in the Vietnam War, I believe one of his dogfights was long used as teaching material, but he did say "Stupid people start wars, and stupid people run wars, rarely do they talk to the people doing the fighting". He was referring to the jets being armed only with (often unreliable) missiles at the beginning of the war. ( A mistake being made in other countries too). The Aussies had placed an order for the TSR2, but then someone talked them out of it, and they agreed to take the F111, only to put that on hold for several years, until the problems were ironed out. The TSR2 - "We have cancelled it because it´s no good, costing too much, and we can get a better aircraft elsewhere". "Psst, is it really no good". "I have no idea, but the decision has been made". The usual story.
When I envision the late Pease AFB (SAC), I see not its B-47s, nor the B-52s, but the FB-111As as they swept out over the Atlantic along the NH Seacoast. Where they were bound we were not to know. But I do know this, those graceful variable-wing Advaarks were beautiful in their native SAC camo.
PS Yes, I am that old to have seen them all along with their buddies, the KC-97, KC-135, and now the KC-46. All too at Pease AFB or the now and still extremely important to the USAF, Pease ANGB. Glorious.
I too had a plastic model of it as a kid. Just a clean looking machine
Real voices commentary ! Yay ! Great videos, mate.
Real voices are the only ones there are.
In my materials engineering course, the professor mentioned that a test was developed to detect the flaws in the wing pivot fitting (WPF) of the F111 aircraft. The metal used would become brittle at extremely low temperatures, so a hanger in Alaska was fitted with a massive refrigeration system and the aircraft were cooled to some ridiculously low temperature. Once the aircraft reached the target temperature, a large force was applied to the wing which would cause the flawed WPF's to fracture.
Not in Alaska. I believe it was at Sacramento ALC.
@@harrystone8847 Thanks, it has been 40 years since I heard the story, so my memory is a bit vague.
@@harrystone8847 i was at Amberly were the RAAF f111 flew out as told they were tested in Alaska. The through box was very sensitive to scratches and denting.
We had them so they could hit Jakarta if we went war with Indonesia.
@@gingertom56 According to my source, there were 4 testing facilities for that process, 3 in Texas and one in Sacramento Ca. And they were cooled to -40F (-40C)
@@harrystone8847 that would freeze a beer, coke, or a pepsi real quick!!
Other variable sweep winged aircraft: F-14 and B-1. Both had low MC rates and cost a fortune to fly specifically because of the variable wings.
Swept wing aircraft are unsafe and should never be used.
Interesting. I was working at Vickers in 1963 and personally carried the s99 steel tail parts replacing the Aluminium items that had failed when VC1 landed. So Aluminium strength was well understood in Britain. I have particularly strong memories of Barnes Wallis stating that the US were doing something wrong with the swing wing as he had had one on test for 50,000 hours. As for all terrain navigation there were many Welsh farmers irate about bangs at night as Hunters howled through the valleys at speeds and levels that all authorities denied were possible 🙂
outstanding video
yo hold on. How does this channel have so few subscribers? This is like a gold mine of history
Mostly ai copypasta
This is very interesting Because of the design it looks between the TSR2 and the Canadian CF-105 interesting though.
Perfect Aircraft. I flew against it once in 1986 when I was flying F4E.
I was lucky to catch The Ardvark in action back in 2003 Australia Airshow at Avalon Airport. Unforgeatable! Especially witnessing the famous Dump and Burn !!! Its a shame cant catch it again during the 2010 Singapore Airshow. Their last ever performance before being retired completely.
Great video...👍
I had the privilege to work on the F-111D at Cannon AFB. I worked on the weapons release system plus loaded weapons. Great aircraft.
Not Cannon, mate, RAF Upper Heyford West :) I worked at the choke and puke from 90 to 92 at RAF Upper Heyford.
I was almost hired by Gen Dynamics in 1969 but I joined a competitive defense contractor, I remember following the early stages of F-111 development. I recall the numerous crashes and fatalities along with all its complex engineering many thought the entire 111 contract would be canceled as the plane had a very bad rep.
That's "Generous Dynamics," SDiego. "Gee, Admiral!" "You need someone to watch the dog for the weekend?"
How could the video miss this out?
The RAAF retired the F-111 fleet on Dec. 3 2010.
Eight of the service F-111s (seven F-111Cs and one F-111G) were
destroyed in crashes during the type’s service, with ten airmen being killed.
It's not a video about the whole F-111 service with the RAAF - we will do more - this is just touching on the wingbox issue. A video covering the whole RAAF service would be a feature length doco - but we will do more shorter pieces on specific events.
@@raafdocumentaries - OK thanks.
Detached now? Bravo!
I remember standing on a beach south of Coffs harbour and these things would be on top of you before you heard them coming even then the wings where not fully back so I guess they had even more speed to spare.
What a great video.
When I was in the USAF, I was first based at Plattsburgh, NY where we had the F-111's. I remember working weekends and have to patrol and collect Aerospace ground equipment. It seemed about once a month I would pass by this huge hanger where they would have these F-111's being X-rayed. Later I found out that this aircraft would develop these "stress" cracks and ultimately be dismantled a fixed.
F111 was in it’s final form was a great reconnaissance aircraft. As per my MCPO pops who was a chief at NAS Guam during the Vietnam War.
I wish they would bring back the f-111 with something like the fb-111L or fb-111x. Give it the newest most powerful engines for that size jet, include more modern flight surfaces and other modern technologies like thrust vectoring and advanced sensors and control systems. The copilot would be able to do a bunch of cool things. It could basically be a non stealth version of b-21, but considerably faster and more maneuverable. They can get rid of the heavy single cockpit ejection thing and just use normal ejection seats.
Long Live the Pig! Atleast in our memories! Loved that high throttle roar screaming along the coast.
1:01 that is one bizarre mid-word accent flip from Australian to US American right there. Is this a computer-generated narration and somehow the settings changed?
Has anyone else seen an F-4 do a dutch roll? It was lunch time at RAAF Amberley and I was walking from the airman's mess when this Phantom approached, it was wallowing, slow, nose high and about to fall out of the sky right on top of me. The nose lowered doing a 360 corkscrew motion, I had no idea what was happening and it was decades later I worked out what manoeuvre the Jock was doing. I have spent hours looking for a video of this done as an acrobatic manoeuvre but to no avail.
His second was a dirty pass until he got over the base when he retracted the gear and hook, sat it on its arse and went vertical, punching a hole in the overcast. The third was a high speed pass where he touched Mach 1 and broke the glass in the servo outside the gate.
I have no idea why the show, very few of us would have seen it. I assume it was a very experienced pilot so may have been USAF ex 'Nam.
School is a good foundation for learning more for tomorrow..
The F-111 flew during Desert Storm in '91. But it was comforting to hear "Brrrrrtttttt" of the Warthog!
I was in the US Air Force and used to go to Mountain goat Air Force Base ( Mountain Home) in Idaho. Saw lots of F-111s still flying. Cool air plane. I remember the Wings documentary great planes that used to be on the History channel when they showed history stuff. That one time they landed it on an Aircraft Carrier
We used to love seeing the F-111 F's at Lakenheath
Spectacular airframe.
I've always loved the Aardvark! I don't think I had too many flaws because it flew a lot of missions....
McNamara's folly, when you have a person who's experience was in automobile manufacturing being placed in a position he was not qualified for. The F-4 just happened to work for multiple services and this guy thought it should work for any aircraft. The F-111 worked for the Air Force but was to big and blind to operate off the carriers in service. Grumman had worked with General Dynamics in developing the wing sweep since they had built a test project earlier and realized the F-111 was not good, they developed the F-14 to fill a fighter role with allowances to haul bombs. The bomb hauling didn't happen until late in its career.
That's funny because here in the USA the F-111 is remembered as a product that was over-budget, over-promised, and under-performing. It was supposed to be a fighter, an interceptor, a strike bomber, a nuclear bomber, a reconnaissance aircraft, and an electronic warfare aircraft. Ultimately the F-111 saw service in limited numbers as a supplementary aircraft, and while the F-111 no longer is in service with any country, both of it's foreign competitors the Tornado and SU-24 are still in service.
"Maximum Commonality" was a very stupid idea that was reversed as soon as McNamara was ousted as SecDef, it was intended to save money but ended up wasting huge piles of it trying to make a jack of all trades aircraft.
I was in Adelaide for the F1 GP and an F111 did a fly over with it's afterburner on. The weather wasn't great and we were wearing our 'keep warm' clothes. Needless to say we felt a bit warmer for a short while at least afterwards.
Credit to be given to Dr. Jo Dean Morrow (and his 9 grad students) of the University of Illinois Fracture Control Program for rewriting the concept of Metal Fatigue - strain-life based hysteresis loop. T Edo's 'pagota roof rainfall' concept was key.
At 8:21, the still photo shows Mercury astronauts Alan Shepard and Leroy Gordon (Gordo) Cooper. Were they inspecting the F-111 (TFX) under development?
Reminds me a bit of the Avro Arrow (CF-105)
Unlike aerodynamics problems tracing to the design F-104 had, these failures were caused by manufacturing. Then again, designers should not overestimate the capabilities of manufacturing process...
The F-111's design was inherently bad and had nothing to do with the manufacturing process. You need to do some more research.
very interesting
Really interesting. I knew there were issues with the beginnings of the model but never really knew why. Interesting also that in spite of all of its notorious beginnings it ended up being the safest aircraft in term of crashes. Although I did always love the phantom and the Tomcat personally over the one eleven.
The total safety record was OK but Australia's record was not great: Australia crashed 8 of them.
www.pigzbum.com/accidents/sifting-through-the-evidenc.pdf
I think the Dassault Mirage had an equal impact on Australia for its superlative design and high performance and lot of controversy with the F-111 put the Mirage out of the picture.
Certainly there has never been a better looking jet fighter in my opinion.
I remember talking to 2 commercial pilots and an RAAF pilot in Darwin in the 1970's. They all held the same opinion about the Mirage. Basically it was if you put a big enough engine on something you can even make a brick fly.
@@geradkavanagh8240Are you comparing a brick to the Mirage? Where's the logic? A brick wouldn't fly, it would just be a projectile anyways.
@@anthonyxuereb792 Yes, the mirage was over engined to achieve flight capability. it was a flying brick and a big projectile with wings and flight surfaces to make it work.
@@geradkavanagh8240 I'm gobsmacked
@@anthonyxuereb792 Well, it wasn't my idea. These were pilots talking about the mirage. They were so concerned about the fuel consumption and cost of running the Mirage.
at 8:17 the picture is of the Mercury 7 astronauts Scott Carpenter (R), Gordon Cooper and Alan Shepard (centre) looking at the construction of their Mercury spacecraft, nothing to do with the F-111 !
This is truly a Great Plane, and no wonder, it was conceived the year I was born.
I worked on B models and EF111’s at Mt Home AFB. Primarily avionics. Only one crash,during my time, that they attributed to pilot new to F111s. error, but it did flip upside down prior to ejection sadly killing both pilots. If I remember correctly, flying over water could mess with the LARA, but that would need to be confirmed by actual pilots.
I wonder if the USAF ever improved on the terrain reading radar. I don't see it in cockpits anymore. I figure it could give pilots the edge in being able to control the plane while flying low. Like visually seeing terrain radar to help them fly instead of relying on altitude.