F-111C Aircrew

82WG Short Story of the RAAF’s F-111s – Modified 82WG brief for PigsTales farewell, Dec 2010

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-111C Delivery

The first of Australia’s 24 F-111C aircraft was delivered by General Dynamics (GD) on 6 Sept 68.  The F-111C was a modified version of the F-111A with longer wings and stronger undercarriage and brakes.  However, problems with the F-111A’s wing carry-through box (WCTB) slipped the delivery of the remaining 23 F-111Cs to late 1969.  F-111Cs awaiting delivery to Australia were stored at Fort Worth until the structural integrity of the F-111 could be confirmed.  In April 1970, a joint agreement between GD and Australia deferred the RAAF’s acceptance of the F-111C pending the verification of their structural integrity.

The RAAF leased 24 F-4E Phantoms as an interim strike aircraft while new WCTBs were installed on all F-111Cs before being delivered to the RAAF.  This refurbishment program began on 1 Apr 72.  In 1973 the F-111C was finally ready for delivery to the RAAF.  Australian crews flew the aircraft from Fort Worth to McClellan AFB.  Once at McClellan, Australian crews flew several training missions before leaving for Australia.  The first four F-111Cs finally reached Australia on 1 Jun 73.

F-111 Name – aka the ‘Pig’

The F-111 was unofficially referred to as the ‘Aardvark’ in the US, probably driven from two aspects, its difficulty to maintain and its undeniable ability to get down close to the ground and root out the enemy.  During the early days, Australian hierarchy referred to the jet as the ‘F one hundred and eleven’, ‘F triple one’ or F one eleven’s’, but the early aussie aircrew and troops preferred a more affectionate name, and after learning ‘aardvark’ was defined in the dictionary as ‘earth pig’, in typical aussie style they simply shortened the name to ‘pig’!

Aussie F-111 Tail Number History