'Vark memoirs
- Cybrludite
- Posts: 5048
- Joined: Fri Aug 15, 2008 9:13 am
'Vark memoirs
"If it ain't the Devil's Music, you ain't doin' it right." - Chris Thomas King
"When liberal democracies collapse, someone comes along who promises to make the trains run on time if we load the right people into them." - Tam K.
"When liberal democracies collapse, someone comes along who promises to make the trains run on time if we load the right people into them." - Tam K.
- Rich
- Posts: 2592
- Joined: Mon Aug 18, 2008 8:11 pm
Re: 'Vark memoirs
While stationed at Edwards AFB, I had the dubious pleasure of working on a couple of f-111's. As I recall, a F-111A and a F-111D. Why on earth they allowed General Dynamics to install 60-80 lb avionics boxes directly into the instrument panel is beyond me.
I just shook my head and went back to my little A-7D, where sanity ruled (except in the continedl effort to convert British jet engines to US usage).
I just shook my head and went back to my little A-7D, where sanity ruled (except in the continedl effort to convert British jet engines to US usage).
A weak government usually remains a servant of citizens, while a strong government usually becomes the master of its subjects.
- paraphrased from several sources
A choice, not an echo. - Goldwater campaign, 1964
- paraphrased from several sources
A choice, not an echo. - Goldwater campaign, 1964
- Darrell
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Re: 'Vark memoirs
I was driving north on I-25 in northern New Mexico, out in the middle of nowhere, back in '94, I think. I got buzzed by an F111. Never saw or heard him coming, just a sudden incredibly loud roar directly over me. Scared the living daylights outta me. Then I saw the plane out the passenger side window, very low to the ground, heading east fast. I suspect the guys in the plane had fun doing it.
Eppur si muove--Galileo
- randy
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Re: 'Vark memoirs
I was on the Operational Test and Evaluation (OT&E) team for the EF-111. Sitting in a windowless SAM radar simulator van when one made a near mach low level pass overhead. Scope totally whited out and feeling like a mobile home in tornado alley.
One of my ROTC Field Training flight mates was the WSO when his bird crashed during a training flight out of Cannon. RIP Al.
The 'Vark was my go to AF bird (A-6 for the Navy) when I was a weaponeer and wanted absolutely positively destroy a precision target.
Thanks for the link.
One of my ROTC Field Training flight mates was the WSO when his bird crashed during a training flight out of Cannon. RIP Al.
The 'Vark was my go to AF bird (A-6 for the Navy) when I was a weaponeer and wanted absolutely positively destroy a precision target.
Thanks for the link.
...even before I read MHI, my response to seeing a poster for the stars of the latest Twilight movies was "I see 2 targets and a collaborator".
- SoupOrMan
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Re: 'Vark memoirs
No shit. It was a medium bomber and the fighter designation was a pretty much blatant lie to make the British communists and Soviet communists cry more.Sadly, the F-111 was lousy at air-to-air.
I and a few of our weapons troops still think we could have loaded SUU-23 gun pods (once the F-4 Cs & Ds retired) on the four inner pylons and made the F-111 into a very fun/scary CAS aircraft.
I loved working on my Ravens except when I hated working on them.
Remember, folks, you can't spell "douche" without "Che."
“PET PARENTS?” You’re not a “pet parent.” You’re a pet owner. Unless you’ve committed an unnatural act that succeeded in spite of biology. - Glenn Reynolds
“PET PARENTS?” You’re not a “pet parent.” You’re a pet owner. Unless you’ve committed an unnatural act that succeeded in spite of biology. - Glenn Reynolds
- Vonz90
- Posts: 4731
- Joined: Fri Sep 19, 2008 4:05 pm
Re: 'Vark memoirs
The fighter concept was for it to just carry a bunch of long range missiles and they would do the work. This was the 60's when they thought dog fighting was passé.SoupOrMan wrote:No shit. It was a medium bomber and the fighter designation was a pretty much blatant lie to make the British communists and Soviet communists cry more.Sadly, the F-111 was lousy at air-to-air.
I and a few of our weapons troops still think we could have loaded SUU-23 gun pods (once the F-4 Cs & Ds retired) on the four inner pylons and made the F-111 into a very fun/scary CAS aircraft.
I loved working on my Ravens except when I hated working on them.
- Rumpshot
- Posts: 3998
- Joined: Fri Aug 15, 2008 11:56 am
Re: 'Vark memoirs
My cousin was a wing safety officer for F-111's at Mountain Home for a while.
Then he was the program manager when they were retired.
He mostly made a career out of them. Started flying them around 1970, retired shortly after they did.
Then he was the program manager when they were retired.
He mostly made a career out of them. Started flying them around 1970, retired shortly after they did.
NRA Life Member
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VFW Life Member
NMLRA Field Rep
North Central Arizona
- SoupOrMan
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- Joined: Tue Aug 19, 2008 2:58 am
Re: 'Vark memoirs
For the Navy, it was supposed to be a long-range standoff interceptor that carried the Phoenix missile. Thankfully Grumman came along with the Tomcat to provide a proper carrier-based fighter platform.Vonz90 wrote:The fighter concept was for it to just carry a bunch of long range missiles and they would do the work. This was the 60's when they thought dog fighting was passé.SoupOrMan wrote:No shit. It was a medium bomber and the fighter designation was a pretty much blatant lie to make the British communists and Soviet communists cry more.Sadly, the F-111 was lousy at air-to-air.
I and a few of our weapons troops still think we could have loaded SUU-23 gun pods (once the F-4 Cs & Ds retired) on the four inner pylons and made the F-111 into a very fun/scary CAS aircraft.
I loved working on my Ravens except when I hated working on them.
For the Air Force, it was a medium bomber designed to carry nukes at low levels and high speeds and toss them to their targets while getting the hell out of there. Thankfully General Dynamics improved the intakes and with the C and future models. Translating cowls are terrible compared to blow-in doors. An H or J model modified to add an internal 25mm cannon would have been just the thing for a medium bomber with attack aircraft capabilities. It could carry plenty of ordnance, a gun that worked well against light vehicles & APCs would have been icing on the cake. Once the digital flight control systems were added, the aircraft became very reliable for B-shop.
Remember, folks, you can't spell "douche" without "Che."
“PET PARENTS?” You’re not a “pet parent.” You’re a pet owner. Unless you’ve committed an unnatural act that succeeded in spite of biology. - Glenn Reynolds
“PET PARENTS?” You’re not a “pet parent.” You’re a pet owner. Unless you’ve committed an unnatural act that succeeded in spite of biology. - Glenn Reynolds
- HTRN
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Re: 'Vark memoirs
I wonder how good a medium bomber it would be if repowered with say a pair of f135s? ads in some jdam equipped sdbs(with 30k of payload, that means a shitload of them
Doubling the thrust and adding vectoring, combined with modern guidance packages, basically makes "bone Jr"
Doubling the thrust and adding vectoring, combined with modern guidance packages, basically makes "bone Jr"
HTRN, I would tell you that you are an evil fucker, but you probably get that a lot ~ Netpackrat
Describing what HTRN does as "antics" is like describing the wreck of the Titanic as "a minor boating incident" ~ First Shirt
Describing what HTRN does as "antics" is like describing the wreck of the Titanic as "a minor boating incident" ~ First Shirt
- SoupOrMan
- Posts: 5685
- Joined: Tue Aug 19, 2008 2:58 am
Re: 'Vark memoirs
Well, you wouldn't be able to repurpose the old airframes with those engines. Now that I think about it, you wouldn't want to repurpose those frames considering some of the stress-related cracks. We had a few planes restricted to under Mach 1.1 due to engine nacelle and wing cracks.
Remember, folks, you can't spell "douche" without "Che."
“PET PARENTS?” You’re not a “pet parent.” You’re a pet owner. Unless you’ve committed an unnatural act that succeeded in spite of biology. - Glenn Reynolds
“PET PARENTS?” You’re not a “pet parent.” You’re a pet owner. Unless you’ve committed an unnatural act that succeeded in spite of biology. - Glenn Reynolds