Just over 30 years ago this aircraft was sent to the Persian Gulf
as part of a multinational force in response to Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait.
This F-111 flew 19 combat missions as part of Operation Desert Storm
an air campaign that subjected Iraq to one of the most intense aerial bombardments in history.
Allied bombing was relentless.
With the precision weapons of the F-111s and F-15Es we destroyed in excess of a thousand tanks.
We must guard against the military-industrial complex.
We have done what we had to do if necessary we shall do it again.
The F-111 tactical fighter it's a twin-engine, Mach 2, two-place, side-by-side fighter aircraft
designed to perform an Air Force tactical mission and a Naval fleet air superiority mission.
The F-111 was produced in the 1960s. It was designed to be a fighter for the U.S Air Force
and the U.S Navy and was hailed at the time as one of the most technologically advanced weapons
in the United States arsenal. The F-111 program cost around 75 million dollars, but unfortunately
on completion the aircraft was found to be unacceptable for its intended purpose as a fighter
aircraft and indeed the U.S Navy declined its use. The U.S Air Force however redeployed the aircraft
as a low-level bomber. Its ability to fly close to the ground with terrain tracking radar gave
its name 'the Aardvark', an African mammal which also sniffs along the ground hunting for food.
The longer nose of the Air Force version is aerodynamically cleaner for improved
supersonic efficiency. Terrain avoidance radar on the F-111a will allow it to fly
low-level missions supersonically day or night in all weather.
It will land on a sod field over a 50-foot obstacle in less than 3,000 feet.
The most famous feature of the F-111 is it has variable sweet wings, better known as swing
wings. This means the aircraft can change the shape of its wings in flight. As it's displayed
behind me its wings are swept back which is how it would have appeared when flying at 2.5 times
the speed of sound at low levels. But if it wanted to land on a runway it could move its wings into a
forward horizontal position which was more stable and slower to allow for safe takeoff and landing.
In its extended position, it permits low-speed short-distance takeoff and landing
and long loiter time. With the wings folded back,
a near-optimum configuration for high-speed low-drag supersonic flight is produced.
The F-111 swing wing design was cutting edge at the time and indeed a number of aircraft
like the F-14 Tomcat and the RAF Tornado adopted similar designs. But advances in
aviation technology and improvements in flight control meant that there was no longer a need
for an aircraft to change its wings in flight so the technology eventually became redundant.
What's interesting about the F-111 is it symbolizes the idea of the military-industrial
complex that U.S President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned about in his final address.
We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence,
whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.
The aircraft was expensive to make and suffered a number of technological difficulties.
But in the U.S Cold War economy this created jobs and inflated u.s consumerism. In fact,
this point was touched upon in 1965 by artist James Rosenquist
in his famous work F-111. A painting that is just slightly longer than the aircraft behind me.
Despite all the technological problems it faced, in the 1970s the distinct sound of
an F-111's engines was recorded and put onto the Golden Record. This was a record
that was sent to space in the hope that extraterrestrial life could learn about
mankind. In that capacity, the F-111 represented mankind's greatest technological achievement.
Power is provided by two fan-type Pratt and Whitney T30 engines. Side-by-side seating
eliminates one complete control panel and the need for a trainer model. Also,
it provides much better inter-crew communications and operation.
The f-111 was crewed by two people a pilot and a weapons system officer, also known as a wizzo,
who operated the weapons and radar in the aircraft. Unusually for aircrew,
the crew of the F-111, who sit side-by-side, don't wear a parachute. This is because the aircraft is
fitted with its own escape pod. The cockpit behind me has the ability to
eject entirely from the aircraft and bring the crew down safely.
Rocket motors will boost the escape pod clear of the airplane and parachute deployment will
control the descent. The capsule will provide a shirt-sleeve environment, safe escape and
recovery throughout the operating envelope of the F-111 as well as at zero speed and underwater.
James Russell O'Brien, better known as Rusty, was a weapon system officer or wizzo flying
F-111s on the first night of the Gulf War. In Iraq, F-111s attacked ground targets,
particularly tanks, aircraft installations, and air-raid shelters. He talked about
the dangers of escaping and the worry that if he had to eject you would have
to face arid desert conditions, cold night weather, and hostile enemies on the ground.
The F-111 is interesting from a global political point of view as it represents
the place that the United States was trying to take in the world during its service.
In 1986 F-111s were sent to Libya, during the operation that was called
El Dorado Canyon, in retaliation to the bombing of a disco in berlin.
The evidence is now conclusive that the terrorist bombing of La Belle discothèque was planned and
executed under the direct orders of the Libyan regime. Today we have done what we had to do.
If necessary, we shall do it again.
The attack turned out to be a bit of a diplomatic crisis when it was discovered that it had been
almost entirely ineffective. But what it does show, was the United States were taking a more
interventionist role in global politics and were attempting to police global affairs.
This F-111 served with the 20th Tactical Fighter Wing who were based at Upper Heyford in
Oxfordshire. The F-111 is kitted out as it would have looked in combat. It bears the markings that
it wore while in service with the 20th Fighter Wing. The native American painted underneath
the cockpit represents 'the Chief' which was the nickname of the aircraft's commander.
One of the more poignant features of this aircraft are the names painted just over
the nose wheel behind me. They are the names of Captain Lindh and Major McGuire.
In September 1992 on a routine training flight, their aircraft ran into technical difficulties
which meant that crash was inevitable. They were ordered by the base to eject,
but realizing that ejecting would endanger the lives of the civilians in the nearby villages
they instead chose to crash the aircraft on the base and lost their lives in the process.
The F-111 was retired in the mid-1990s though that was not the end of the 560-odd F-111s
that were built. They continued in Royal Australian Air Force service until 2010
and the Australians affectionately dubbed the aircraft 'the pig'.
This aircraft was retired in 1993 and its final flight was from Upper Heyford to Duxford.
The F-111 weighs 24 tons so when it was delivered to Duxford it couldn't land on
Duxford's runway which was too short for it. Because it was originally designed for the U.S
Navy the F-111 was designed in such a way that it could land on aircraft carriers was actually
fitted with an arrester hook that could bring the aircraft to a stop on a short runway. So
the airfield was transformed into something a bit like you might have seen on an aircraft carrier.
Two arrester cables, wires which could bring the aircraft to a stop, were run across the runway
and the pilot came in and hooked the first of those upon landing. Despite all of these risks
and complications, eyewitnesses reported that it was professionally uneventful.
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