F-111C Ferry Crews – 24 new F-111C aircraft ferried between 1 Jun 73 until 4 Dec 73 from Fort Worth to RAAF Base Amberley, westbound via Hawaii and Pago Pago, American Samoa
F-111A Ferry Crews – Four second-hand F-111A aircraft with shorter wings, later modified to F-111C, ferried between 23 May 82 until 16 January 83
F-111G Ferry Crews – 15 second-hand F-111G aircraft ferried between 28 September 93 until 10 May 94
Cold Proof Load Test (CPLT) Ferries – Multiple ferries to/from RAAF Base Amberley to the SMALC factory, Sacramento, California, for destructive wing testing every 2,000 flight hours; via Hawaii and Kwajalein, Marshall Islands or Pago Pago, American Samoa until the RAAF built its own CPLT facility around 1999/2000 …
F-111C/A/G Ferry Crews – 1973/83/93 |
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| Model | Tail No | Arrival | Pilot | Nav |
| F-111C | A8-125 | 1-Jun-73 | GPCAPT J.W. Newham | WGCDR T.C. Owen |
| F-111C | A8-126 | 1-Jun-73 | WGCDR R.G. Funnell | SQNLDR N. Pollock |
| F-111C | A8-127 | 1-Jun-73 | SQNLDR I.M. Westmore | FLTLT J.A. Bushell |
| F-111C | A8-128 | 1-Jun-73 | SQNLDR W.J. Emery | FLTLT R.D. Hardcastle |
| F-111C | A8-129 | 1-Jun-73 | SQNLDR W.F. Walters | FLGOFF P.J. McDonald |
| F-111C | A8-130 | 1-Jun-73 | FLTLT R.T. Sivyer | FLTLT P.W. Growder |
| F-111C | A8-131 | 26-Jul-73 | WGCDR G.W. Talbot AFC | SQNLDR J.G. Gazley |
| F-111C | A8-132 | 26-Jul-73 | SQNLDR D.H. Gibbs AFC | SQNLDR J.G. Miller |
| F-111C | A8-133 | 26-Jul-73 | FLTLT A.T. Blyth | FLTLT C.J. Lake |
| F-111C | A8-134 | 26-Jul-73 | FLTLT P.G. Fairbrother | FLTLT T.M. Morrissy |
| F-111C | A8-135 | 26-Jul-73 | FLTLT C.J. Hancock | FLTLT A.R. Lockett |
| F-111C | A8-136 | 26-Jul-73 | FLTLT R.T. Sivyer | FLTLT P.W. Growder |
| F-111C | A8-137 | 28-Sep-73 | WGCDR P.H. Coy DSO | FLTLT P.J. McDonald |
| F-111C | A8-138 | 28-Sep-73 | FLTLT R.L. Perry | FLGOFF R.J. Parsons |
| F-111C | A8-139 | 28-Sep-73 | SQNLDR W.J. Emery | SQNLDR A.R. Wilkinson |
| F-111C | A8-140 | 28-Sep-73 | FLTLT S.J. Fenton | FLTLT B.F. Sullivan |
| F-111C | A8-141 | 28-Sep-73 | SQNLDR G.J. Moore | FLTLT R.D. Hardcastle |
| F-111C | A8-142 | 28-Sep-73 | FLTLT A.T. Blyth | FLTLT T.M. Morrissy |
| F-111C | A8-143 | 4-Dec-73 | WGCDR G.W. Talbot AFC | SQNLDR J.G. Gazley |
| F-111C | A8-144 | 4-Dec-73 | FLTLT P.G. Fairbrother | FLTLT C.J. Lake |
| F-111C | A8-145 | 4-Dec-73 | SQNLDR D.H. Gibbs AFC | SQNLDR M.A. McMahon |
| F-111C | A8-146 | 4-Dec-73 | FLTLT S.J. Fenton | FLTLT B.F. Sullivan |
| F-111C | A8-147 | 4-Dec-73 | FLTLT R.N. Kelloway | FLTLT J.A. Wills |
| F-111C | A8-148 | 4-Dec-73 | FLTLT R.L. Perry | FLTLT A.T. Pearson |
| F-111A | A8-113 | 23-May-82 | FLTLT Herbie Thoroughgood | CAPT Tom Bergam |
| F-111A | A8-114 | 23-May-82 | SQNLDR Rick O’Ferrall | FLTLT Mick Rowles |
| F-111A | A8-109 | 19-Aug-82 | SQNLDR Pete Criss | FLTLT Peter Layton |
| F-111A | A8-112 | 16-Jan-83 | FLTLT Frank Atkins | FLTLT Paul Thayer |
| F-111G | A8-270 | 28-Sep-93 | FLTLT Andy Seaton | SQNLDR Rick Owen |
| F-111G | A8-265 | 28-Sep-93 | SQNLDR Bill Lawrence | FLTLT Dave Riddel |
| F-111G | A8-291 | 26-Oct-93 | FLTLT Andy Seaton | SQNLDR Ricko Owen |
| F-111G | A8-259 | 26-Oct-93 | SQNLDR Bill Lawrence | FLTLT Dave Riddel |
| F-111G | A8-281 | 10-Dec-93 | FLTLT Andy Seaton | WGCDR Frank Atkins |
| F-111G | A8-274 | 10-Dec-93 | SQNLDR Bill Lawrence | SQNLDR Doc Millar |
| F-111G | A8-271 | 18-Jan-94 | SQNLDR Bill Lawrence | SQNLDR Doc Millar |
| F-111G | A8-506 | 18-Jan-94 | WGCDR Frank Atkins | FLTLT Dave Riddel |
| F-111G | A8-514 | 15-Feb-94 | FLTLT Andy Seaton | SQNLDR Ricko Owen |
| F-111G | A8-264 | 15-Feb-94 | FLTLT Steve Woods | FLTLT Dave Riddel |
| F-111G | A8-277 | 29-Mar-94 | FLTLT Steve Woods | FLTLT Dave Riddel |
| F-111G | A8-282 | 29-Mar-94 | SQNLDR Bill Lawrence | SQNLDR Doc Millar |
| F-111G | A8-278 | 10-May-94 | FLTLT Steve Woods | SQNLDR Doc Millar |
| F-111G | A8-272 | 10-May-94 | GPCAPT Dave Dunlop | FLTLT Dave Riddel |
| F-111G | A8-512 | 10-May-94 | SQNLDR Bill Lawrence | SQNLDR Ricko Owen |
Last F-111G Ferry Crews: D-Squared, Beaka, Woodsy, Doc, Ricko & Billy
P.S. What are the odds Ricko got to fly the last F-111G ferry after his dad, Trevor ‘TC’ Owen,
flew the first F-111C ferry out > 30 years earlier ? 🙂
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First Ferry Story from Bushy
Hello Fellow Pigcrew,
A story from the first ferry since Barrington and Ferret have already made a contribution for later groups. I was on my second jaunt to the States, but this time with a more sober crew than the first time when we trained for the F-4 at Davis-Monthan AFB. At that time as a newly promoted flight lieutenant I was the senior RAAF officer – much to the consternation of the USAF major who was supposed to look after the foreign students, but someone else can tell the yarns about that course. For this trip we had a group captain, a couple of wing commanders and many squadron leaders, so needed to behave. Apart from that my wife came along.
I took the family with me for the training at Nellis and flying out of McClennan to honour a promise. When I arrived back from the F-4 training I made the mistake of saying “it’s a great country. If I go back I will take you.” Of course I didn’t dream I would get a second trip, but when I did a promise is a promise.
I do not recall any of the RAAF instructional crews training us at Nellis. My IP was Mike Bennert who later came to Amberley on exchange. I remember one trip where they had this ridiculous task of bombing two targets within a few miles of each other. They called it a large charge. A mad rush after the first run to reset the coordinates and do a run on the second target. Like any smug instructor Mike was sitting there exuding the attitude of bet you can’t do it. I didn’t think I could either but the range dudes gave me a shack on both targets, so you have to be lucky sometimes. After seven flights with the USAF IPs we started flying with our RAAF crew. I was fortunate in having a pilot who knew the aircraft well from the first attempt to collect them – Ian Westmore.
We picked A8-127 up from the factory on 6 Apr 73 and on the way back to McClennan thought we would do a circuit at Nellis. Not a good idea. A flap vane came loose and our brand new aircraft had to land at Nellis for repairs. Nevertheless arrived at McLellan after 4.2 hours from Fort Worth. That made three RAAF pigs for the six crews to fly.
The time at McClennan was spent in flying around the area, being horrified by bug smashers in the circuit of airfields where we did a few circuits: “oh, he’s VFR” said the ATC puke. Couldn’t do much real flying because we had those damn jugs on the wings. Just one more trip in April then seven sorties in May before setting off for Hickam on 28th.
Across the pond was no drama. Westy was much amused when I was going to cut my wrists as the ground speed fell below 300 kts on the Pago Pago to Amberley leg. That became a six hour leg. Finally arrived on 1 Jun 73, although in my log book the flight is 31 May out of Pago Pago, to a high powered welcoming party. As luck would have it we had Jake Newham there to deal with them, so not a worry.
Sadly I got only the one tour on the Vark, and even more sadly I was an instructor nav in six squadron so didn’t get as much flying as the regular squadron navs. Apart from that in the early days the ratio of strap ins to getting some air between bum and ground was pretty high. Flight control computer or some other gadget would crap out, so back to the crew room. Rarely was there a spare.
I was fortunate to go through the Canberra, Phantom then F-111 stream so can’t complain. Not often a man gets a go on three types in his first 10 years of flying.
Best wishes to all,
Bushy (John Bushell)