F-111C History

82WG Short Story of the RAAF’s F-111s

Much has been written about the F-111C, and stories & conspiracy theories abound on the internet and social media, but for an Australian perspective go no further than Mark Lax’s (NAV – 16 OPCON) superb book:  From Controversy to Cutting Edge – A History of the F-111 in Australian Service_Mark Lax or thesis: Australia’s Strategic Weapon: How the F-111 Changed the RAAF and Australian Defence Policy

F-111 Production

General Dynamics built all F-111s at USAF Plant 4 in Forth Worth, Texas, USA.

  • The same plant is now used by Lockheed Martin to build F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter
    (Trivia: the production line is just over a mile long, only in Texas !)

General Dynamics won the US Department of Defense contract in 1962 to develop a supersonic aircraft under a program called TFX.  This airplane, later designated F-111, would be the first in history to incorporate specific design features to make it capable of performing in multiple roles.

The F-111 is the first production airplane with a variable sweep wing—a wing configuration that can be changed in flight.  The wing provided outstanding aerodynamic efficiency.  With wings fully extended, the F-111 could take off and land in as little as 2,000 feet. With wings fully swept back, it could reach supersonic speeds at high or low altitudes.  At high altitudes, the F-111 could fly more than 2.2 times the speed of sound.  At low altitudes, the F-111 could fly supersonic speeds (> 850 knots+) hugging the ground with its terrain-following radar.  The F-111 could also fly trans oceanic distances without air-to-air refuelling.

The F-111 set a record for the longest low-level supersonic flight (172 miles at less than 1,000 feet altitude) on 9 November 1966.  It was also the first tactical aircraft to cross the Atlantic from the United States to Europe without refuelling (in May 1967).

The F-111 first went into combat over Southeast Asia (Declassified Report: The F-111 in Southeast Asia, September 1972-January 1973) beginning in the late 1960s, being flown as a penetrating bomber in both high- and low-altitude missions.  Nearly two decades later, US Air Force F-111F crews from RAF Lakenheath, England, used the highly accurate Pave Tack laser-guided bombing system against terrorist targets in Libya during Operation El Dorado Canyon.

In January 1991, the F-111 went to combat again, in the initial bombing raids of Operation Desert Storm.  A total of 110 F-111s participated in nearly 5,000 sorties in the Gulf War in strategic bombing, ground attack and electronic warfare missions. With its Pave Tack system, the F-111F attacked factories and other high-value military targets.  F-111s were also credited with destroying more than 1,500 tanks and armoured vehicles employing tank plinking tactics, best described by LTGEN ‘Buster’ Glossan’s Air Power Journal article – Summer 1993.  F-111 crews operated almost exclusively at night in the Gulf War.  The aircraft dropped the bombs that stopped the flow of oil into the Gulf after Saddam Hussein opened pipelines to wreak environmental damage during the war.  An unarmed EF-111 earned the first aerial victory of Desert Storm when its defensive manoeuvring caused a pursuing Iraqi fighter pilot to fly into the ground.  The F-111 was also used to drop the first GBU-28 bunker-busting 5,000 pound bombs.  Those weapons had been developed in a matter of weeks to meet a critical need.

The F-111 was flown for the first time on 21 December 1964.  In October 1967, the first version was delivered to the USAF Tactical Air Command at Nellis AFB, Nevada.  Two years later, the first production bomber version was turned over to the Strategic Air Command at Carswell AFB in Fort Worth, Texas.  A total of 562 F-111s were built.  The first rolled off the production line on October 15, 1964.  The last was produced in 1976.

The operational career of the F-111 came to an end on 3 December 2010 at RAAF Amberley near Brisbane, Australia, as a crew in an F-111C (serial number A8-125) of the Royal Australian Air Force touched down for the aircraft’s last landing.  The RAAF had operated the F-111 since 1973.  A8-125, crewed by Jake Newham and TC Owen,  was the first F-111C to land at Amberley on 1 June 1973.

F-111

F-111s Manufactured by GD – 562 aircraft

RDT&E       30   x   F-111A      (5 Attrited)
TAC           129   x   F-111A       (39 Attrited)
USN              7   x   F-111B        (2 Attrited)
RAAF         24   x   F-111C        (7 Attrited)
TAC            96   x   F-111D       (21 Attrited)
TAC            94   x   F-111E        (18 Attrited)
TAC          106   x   F-111F        (28 Attrited)
SAC            76   x   FB-111A     (14 Attrited)
RAF              2   x   F-111K       (nearly completed)

F-111s Modified by GD

TAC          42   x   EF-111A    (3 Attrited) Modified F-111A
TAC          34   x   F-111G      (0 Attrited) Modified FB-111A
RAAF        15   x   F-111G      (1 Attrited) Modified FB-111A
RAAF         4   x   F-111G       (0 Attrited) Modified F-111A
RAAF         4   x   RF-111C    (0 Attrited) Modified F-111C
TAC            1   x   RF-111A    (0 Attrited) Modified F-111A
RDT&E      1   x   FB-111A    (0 Attrited) Modified F-111A

F-111 Crew Module Ejections

80 F-111 ejections worldwide:

  • 63 successful ejections

  • 17 fatal ejections

RAAF: 4 successful ejections; 1 fatal ejection

562 F-111s manufactured, 138 attrited

F-111 Aircraft Serial Numbers and Attrition – pdf

241013 F-111 Aircraft Serial Numbers and Attrition
(Disclaimer: tables derived from pdf table and www)

Aviation Safety Network Database – F-111