If I asked you to name the greatest tank killer of the Gulf War, you’d probably guess the A-10, and you’d be wrong.
No, the largest number of armored vehicle kills in that conflict belongs to the much maligned F-111. The plane the Navy didn’t want and the Air Force didn’t even bother to give an official nickname to until they retired it.
The F-111 was the product of Robert McNamara’s ill fated TFX project of the early 1960s. The Air Force wanted a low-level strike aircraft to replace the F-105 and the Navy wanted a fleet defense aircraft with greater range and capability than the F-4 Phantom.
Trying to build two versions of the same aircraft, one for the Air Force (F-111A) and one for the Navy (F-111B), didn’t really work out very well. Sounds familiar, don’t it?
Generally speaking, it’s a lot easier to convert a carrier plane for land based use than the other way around. The F-4 and A-7, for example, started out with the Navy but had successful careers with the Air Force. I’m hard pressed to think of one that’s gone the other way — maybe the F-86/FJ-3 Fury.
The Navy ultimately cancelled their F-111B version due to weight and performance issues in favor of the much superior F-14 Tomcat. Might as well just let Grumman build all the Navy fighters and be done with it.
Oddly enough, some of the characteristics of the F-111A were driven by the original US Navy requirements. It was the Navy that wanted side-by-side seating originally. Then they changed their mind when they ordered the F-14.
The Air Force F-111A performed to expectations but was initially trouble prone. This was a very complex aircraft with a lot of new technology for the time.
This was the first operational use of variable geometry or a “swing wing”. This gave it the ability to reach very high speeds yet still operate from relatively short runways. This has since been used in many other aircraft but the F-111 was the first.
The disadvantage of a swing wing is that it adds a lot of weight and complexity. While it was the “hot setup” for a number of years, we’ve generally found better ways to get the job done.
The flight control system was highly advanced. Triple axis stability augmentation delivered a very smooth ride even at low altitude. In comparison, the B-52 often beat the crap out of us on a low level.
The heart of the F-111 was its automatic terrain following radar. Unlike the B-52, the F-111 had its terrain avoidance radar coupled to the autopilot. This thing could fly hands-off at 200 feet, at night, in the weather. The system was even smart enough to fly around a mountain rather than popping over the top. The system had three ride settings: soft, medium and hard. When set to “hard” the system would command up to a zero G pushover when coming over the top of terrain.
The crew escape capsule was another “seemed like a good idea at the time” technology. From what I’ve been told, it was very good at getting you away from the aircraft, but the landings could be hell on your back. There was an air bag that was supposed to inflate underneath the capsule to cushion the landing. If it failed (and it sometimes did) the landing would be brutal. Even when it worked, I’m told it could still be pretty rough.
I know one person that had to eject from an F-111 and he spent some time in the hospital with back injuries.
This was possibly the first fighter to use a turbofan engine rather than a turbojet. This gave it incredible range. An F-111 could actually cross the Atlantic without air refueling. Unfortunately the TF-30 engines were rather susceptible to compressor stalls. The otherwise excellent F-14 used the same engines and this proved to be its Achilles Heel.
There were a lot of different flavors of the F-111 and I’ll try to make some sense of them here:
F-111A was the original Air Force aircraft with analog instrumentation.
F-111B was the cancelled Navy fighter version.
F-111C was built for Australia and had a longer wing to extend range.
F-111D had digital avionics and was probably the most advanced (and troubled) version.
F-111E was basically an F-111A with bigger engines.
F-111F was the “Cadillac”. It had digital avionics (but not as advanced as the D) plus the bigger engines of the E model.
EF-111A was a dedicated electronic warfare version. Easily identified by the big “football” on top of the vertical fin. Reportedly not as capable a jammer as the Navy’s EA-6B it had the advantage of being fast enough to keep up with a strike package.
FB-111 was operated by SAC as an interim between the B-58 and B-1. It had the longer wings of the C model.
F-111G was an FB-111 converted back to a tactical aircraft. Some of these also went to Australia.
F-111K was to have been the British version after the TSR-2 project was cancelled. That’s a story for another day. Note: don’t ever get the Brits started on the TSR-2. It’s like the bloody Arrow for the Canadians!
Initial combat tests in Vietnam in 1968 resulted in the loss of three (out of six) aircraft due to a fault in the horizontal stabilizer. Not a very auspicious start to an already troubled aircraft.
The F-111 returned to Vietnam in 1972 and was highly successful, with only six combat losses for 4,000 sorties flown. It had two big things going for it. It carried enough gas to not need tanker support and it didn’t need standoff ECM (Electronic Countermeasure) support.
Legend has it the Vietnamese called it “whispering death”. I tend to take these stories with a large grain of salt. I’d guess it was something more like “F*ck you Yankees! Stop bombing us!”
During my days in the USAF, this was the plane nobody really wanted to fly. Mostly because it didn’t do air-to-air, and that’s what the fighter types want to do. Pretty much everybody’s pilot training “dream sheet” went: F-15, F-16, F-4 with the A-10 or F-111 somewhere in the last two spots.
I actually had the F-111 first on my dream sheet. I enjoyed low level flying more than I liked pulling G’s and I thought it was a cool airplane. Plus I knew that nobody asked for an F-111 so I figured it gave me a better shot at a fighter. It ended up not mattering since they decided to make me a T-38 instructor. Once Air Training Command had their hooks in you that was it.
In reality the “F” designation was a stretch. The F-111 was more of a medium bomber. Its primary job was to carry a large bomb load a long way and deliver it precisely.
I think we called it a “fighter” because TAC flew fighters. Plus there were political ramifications for us basing “nuclear bombers” in Europe, even though everyone knew that’s what they were there for.
The bases at Lakenheath and Upper Heyford in the UK regularly had F-111s sitting alert with tactical nuclear weapons. Their targets would have likely been in the Warsaw Pact countries rather than Russia itself. I don’t think they had quite enough range to hit Russia from the UK, at least not if they wanted to land somewhere.
Most military aircraft have an official nickname and then the real nickname that everybody actually calls it. For example, I have never heard someone actually call a B-52 a “Stratofortress”. It was always a “BUFF”. A B-1 is officially a “Lancer” but everyone calls it the “Bone” (B-1 = B-One = Bone).
The F-111 was always called an “Aardvark” or just a “Vark”. Probably due to its long nose and its fondness for getting down in the dirt. The Air Force never bothered to give it an official nickname while it was operational. When it was retired they finally jumped on the bandwagon and made “Aardvark” official. The Australians usually called it the “Pig”.
It looks ungainly with the wings swept forward and all the various slats, flaps, spoilers and other junk hanging out. Once the gear’s up and the wings are swept back, however, it transforms into a dart. It went like one too. Top speed at altitude is somewhere around Mach 2.5, limited by skin friction. It had the power to go faster, but parts would start to melt.
It was one of the fastest planes at low altitude and one of a handful that could actually go supersonic on the deck. The F model could reportedly hit Mach 1.4 down low and it carried enough gas to go fast for a long time. A MiG-23 might have been able to catch one but it wouldn’t have been able to chase it for very long. That’s assuming you were brave enough to go that fast in a MiG-23.
The F-111 had an internal weapons bay that could be fitted with bombs, extra fuel or a 20mm cannon. The gun was eventually removed, because TAC didn’t want to waste a $20 million jet strafing $20,000 trucks. I believe the Pave Tack laser designating pod took the place of the gun.
Each wing had four pylons for external stores. The inner two pylons on each wing pivoted to stay streamlined as the wings were swept. The outer two did not, and couldn’t be used if the wings were to be swept all the way back. As such the outer two pylons were rarely used.
Sometimes these carried an AIM-9 Sidewinder missile for self defense, although it had little in the way of air-to-air capability. To use it would have required a target of opportunity flying right in front of them (which I’m told sometimes happened in big exercises like Red Flag). The F-111 bled airspeed rapidly in turns so trying to dogfight in one would have been foolish. Its best defense was to get down on the deck and go like hell. “Sweep and smoke” as the crews would call it.
The other defensive trick they had was called “BIF” or “Bomb In Face”. Works just like it sounds. If a bad guy was coming behind them at low altitude, they’d pop off a “high drag” bomb right in front of them. Ruins your whole day.
The next combat operation for the F-111 was Eldorado Canyon in 1986. This was where we supposedly “taught Libya a lesson”. Eighteen F-111Fs out of Lakenheath plus four EF-111A’s from Upper Heyford flew a 6,400 mile round trip to attack targets in Libya, in addition to carrier based aircraft from the US Navy.
One of the F-111Fs was shot down, either by a ZSU-23 antiaircraft gun or a missile. Depends on which source you want to believe.
France, Spain and Italy refused us overfly rights, but of course we only got mad at the French, because that’s what we do.
And Libya never bothered us again after that! Yeah Reagan! Oh wait, they blew up PAN AM 103 in 1988. Never mind.
I learned a few new things from this. First, that Italy has an island in the Mediterranean called Lampedusa. Second, that we had a Coast Station there. Third, that Libya shot two SCUDs at the island in retaliation to Eldorado Canyon. This worked about as well as you’d expect and missed the island completely.
The F-111’s crowning moment was Desert Storm. Sixty six F models plus eighteen E models were deployed for the conflict. Most of them were based at Incirlik Turkey. At least some of the EF-111s were based at Taif in Saudi Arabia.
Their initial sorties were planned for low altitude (like the B-52 force). Their initial strikes were made from 200 feet and I’m told they were as hairy as you think. At some point they switched to medium altitude, once the Iraqi defenses had been marginalized.
The only F-111 loss I know of was an EF-111 that ran into the ground during evasive maneuvering. The story I heard was that an F-15 “buddy locked” it but some sources claim it was an Iraqi aircraft. Believe whichever you want. Fog of war and all that.
Reportedly two F-111s took hits from AA-7 missiles (similar to our AIM-7 Sparrow) fired by MiG-23s yet made it back to base. Another one took a hit from an AA-8 fired by a MiG-29 and also made it back. It makes sense to me that an aircraft of that size could probably take a fair bit of damage.
The only recorded air-to-air “kill” by an F-111 was an Iraqi Mirage F-1 that ran into the dirt trying to intercept an EF-111 that was maneuvering down low at night. Self critiquing.
Initially the F-111s were targeted against Iraqi airfields air defenses and other high value targets. The EF-111 “Spark Varks” usually accompanied strike packages against more heavily defended targets. When I went to Baghdad to hit the SCUD missile factory, we had EF-111s as part of the package.
Later in the war the F-111s were used for “tank plinking”. Using their Pave Tack targeting pods plus laser guided bombs, they took out over 1,500 Iraqi armored vehicles. The US Navy did the same thing with their A-6 Intruders.
Attacking from medium altitude made sense here. With the larger radar guided SAMs mostly suppressed, this kept you away from all those nasty tracked vehicles like the ZSU-23 and SA-13 that tend to travel around with tanks. Even the A-10s preferred to stand off with Maverick missiles when they could.
Overall the F-111 force flew around 5,000 sorties in Desert Storm. I don’t think they got much credit, since everybody back then acted like the F-117 won the war all by itself.
The USAF started phasing out the F-111 fleet starting around 1993. They retired the last one in 1996. The reasoning was that the F-111 required a lot of maintenance and the job could be done by other aircraft. The F-15E Strike Eagle didn’t have the range of the F-111, but the B-1B could tackle whatever targets the Strike Eagles couldn’t reach.
The Australians continued to operate their “Pigs” all the way until 2010.
OK, I know you want to see the “dump and burn” demonstration so here you go.
This was accomplished by first dumping fuel and then igniting it with the afterburners.
Can’t get enough dump and burn? OK, here’s another one.
In summary, a highly complex aircraft trying to be too many things to too many people. While troubled initially, it went on to be one of the most effective aircraft of the Cold War era.