Tag:

F111

SR-71 pilot tells when he revealed Blackbird’s true top speed

by Till Daisd January 3, 2024

‘At some point in the evening, the F-111 guys began to press me, in a good-natured way, for classified information about the SR-71. Probably the most frequently asked Blackbird question is, how high and how fast does it really fly?’ Gil Bertelson, former SR-71 Blackbird pilot

No reconnaissance aircraft in history has operated globally in more hostile airspace or with such complete impunity as the SR-71, the world’s fastest jet-propelled aircraft. The Blackbird represented the highest point in aviation technology development during the Cold War due to its performance and operational accomplishments.

The SR-71 could cover 100,000 square miles of land per hour while traveling at Mach 3+, or three times the speed of sound, or more than 2,000 mph, at an altitude of 80,000 feet.

Now, the question that people ask most often when discussing the SR-71 Blackbird is probably, “How high and how fast does it really fly?“

In the book SR-71 Blackbird Stories, Tales and Legends by Richard H. Graham, Lieutenant Colonel (Ret) Gil Bertelson, a former SR-71 pilot, recalls:

‘When I first joined the SR-71 program, there was one permanent operating location for SR-71s at Kadena AB. The unit at Kadena was known as Detachment 1 (or Det 1) of the 9th SRW. Habus were deployed to Det 1 for six weeks at a time, and each crew made the trip four to six times a year. About twice a year, there was a requirement to temporarily activate an additional Det at RAF Mildenhall in England. Although we’d had two SR-71s permanently stationed at RAF Mildenhall since 1981, it wasn’t until April 5, 1984, that Prime Minister Thatcher formally announced SR-71s would be permanently based at Mildenhall. This unit was known as Det. 4 of the 9th SRW. Dets 2 and 3 of the 9th SRW were U-2 operating locations at Osan AB, Korea, and RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus, respectively.

The incredible story of the SR-71 Blackbird that flew an eleven-hour-long mission from Kadena to the Persian Gulf and back

‘There was a significantly different flying environment between the two detachments. The weather was almost at opposite ends of the spectrum. The missions were not quite as “routine” as many of the Okinawa missions.

‘Because of the more demanding missions at Mildenhall, each new SR-71 crew had to fly its first operational sorties at Kadena. Every SR crew lobbied long and hard to get on the schedule for Mildenhall. And London was not far away!

‘Frank Stampf, my RSO crewmate on the SR-71, and I were fortunate to get on the schedule for Mildenhall after only two trips to Okinawa. For both of us, it was like going home. Just before entering the SR-71 program, Frank had been stationed at RAF Alconbury for about four years as an RF-4 crew dog. And I had been stationed at RAF Lakenheath for a couple of years. As the “crow flies,” Alconbury is only 30 miles from Mildenhall, and Lakenheath is only 3 miles from Mildenhall. We were both anxious to visit the old flying buddies we had known and worked with in our careers before we became Habus.

‘On one occasion, I arranged to meet several of my F-111 friends at Lakenheath Officers’ Club for dinner. We met in the bar and had a few drinks (as a real, live, dyed-in-the-wool teetotaler, I assume I was drinking grapefruit juice or 7-Up). We shared numerous laughs while trying to outdo each other with tales of unequaled courage and great feats of airmanship. I’m sure our hands were getting a good workout—pilots gesticulate a lot!

‘At some point in the evening, the Aardvark (F-111 nickname) guys began to press me, in a good-natured way, for classified information about the SR-71. Probably the most frequently asked Blackbird question is: How high and how fast does it really fly? That question was being actively pursued that night at Lakenheath.

‘I need to back up about a year and a half to set the stage as to why they seemed intent on pushing that particular question. In most Air Force buildings, at least the flying squadron buildings I used to frequent, there were numerous locations where the base fire marshal had posted information regarding fire classifications and appropriate reactions upon discovering different types of fires. These posters were displayed in the restrooms, in the halls, near the duty desks, in the crew briefing rooms, and next to all of the fire extinguishers. I can’t remember all the specifics other than there was one fire classification identified as a category or type 3.

‘At some point in my application for assignment to the SR-71, I was requested to go to Beale for my “tryout” for the Blackbird program. The whole process, from departing Lakenheath until returning back to Lakenheath took about two weeks. During the visit to Beale, I heard and read a number of times that the unclassified speed of the SR-71 was listed as Mach 3-plus. A “3+” patch is displayed on flight suits worn by SR-71 squadron crewmembers.

Remembering Gil Bertelson, the SR-71 driver that saw three sunrises on one particular Blackbird mission

‘When I arrived back to Lakenheath, I was really pumped up and excited about the prospects of being selected to fly the SR-71. I didn’t want to forget the experiences I had at Beale or to lose sight of my goal. To help me remember and to keep my attention focused on what I wanted to do, I began adding a black grease pencil + sign to all of the 3s on the fire code posters. There were many added + signs around the base that the very diligent safety officer in 493rd Tactical Fighter Squadron actually called the base fire marshal to get information about this “new classification.” When he was told there was no such thing as a code 3+, he finally figured it out and started looking for me. I was given a “cease and desist” order and one by one, he began erasing my “unauthorized” + signs.

‘Now back to the “O” Club a year and a half later. My dinner partners remembered the fuss over the posters and figured now was an appropriate time and place to get the real scoop as to how high and how fast the Blackbird really did fly. They were curious as to what kind of speed that little + sign actually equated to.

‘I played along for a while, dragging out the inevitable answer of Mach 3-plus, which, when all was said and done, was all I really could tell them anyway. I finally got them leaning in toward me as we sat around the dinner table. I did a pretty good acting job as I began nervously looking around the room be sure no one else was eavesdropping on what they thought would be a classified conversation.

‘I have to momentarily divert again. A wonderful aviation poem was written the early days of powered flight. The author is John Gillespie Magee Jr. The poem is entitled “High Flight.” Some of you may remember this poem being recited by Orson Wells late in the evening by TV stations that were about to sign off the air for the night. Yes, there actually was a time when television didn’t operate 24 hours a day. As Orson Wells recited this poem with his marvellously deep and resonant voice, the final TV pictures for the day were that a T-38 dashing in and out of clouds and doing aileron rolls, etc. It was a combination of sight and sound that stirred the blood and emotions of everyone who had the slightest interest in airplanes and the wonders of flight. The poem is as follows:

“Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,

And danced the skies on laughter, silvered wings;

Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth

Of sun-split clouds—and done a hundred things

You have not dreamed of—wheeled and soared and swung

High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,

I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung

My eager craft through footless halls of air.

Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue

I’ve topped the windswept heights with easy grace

Where never lark, or eagle flew.

And while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod

The high untrespassed sanctity of space,

Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.”

‘Back to the “O” Club again. With the guys leaning in to hang on every word I was about to speak, I said something like, “You’ve got to promise not to tell a soul what I am going to tell you now. If you do, I’ll deny it till the day I die. I’m sure you know I shouldn’t be talking about this at all. You know how high the pile will be that they’ll stick me in if you tell anyone else.” As they gathered closer to make sure they didn’t miss anything, I said, “I can’t specific numbers, but I can give you a point of reference you can use to figure it out. You know the part in ‘High Flight’—where it talks about putting out your hand to touch the face of God?” Well,” I added, “when we’re at speed and altitude in the SR, we have to slow down and descend in order to do that.”

‘So, the word’s out. Feel free to share this information with anyone you’d care to tell. You can even use me as the source document. I’m retired now, so who cares?’

Photo by Lockheed Martin and U.S. Air Force

January 3, 2024 0 comment

History

Combat Lancer: The F-111’s first flight

by Till Daisd September 20, 2023

written by Till Daisd

On March 25, 1968, the F-111A began its combat career with a night of strikes, starting with a 500kt, 500ft solo attack that fully displayed the F-111A’s prowess

The first Air Force version of the TFX (for “Tactical Fighter Experimental”), the most divisive of all the joint-service “commonality” airplanes developed during the McNamara era, and intended as “cost-effective” substitutes for aircraft acquired through conventional acquisition processes, saw deployment planning begin at PACAF in the fall of 1967.

The F-4, OV-10, and A-7 programs showed that commonality might succeed if it were carefully planned and implemented, but with the TFX, as told by Richard P. Hallon in his book Rolling Thunder 1965-68, McNamara had tried the impossibility of creating a successful aircraft by combining intrinsically incompatible requirements.

Key to meeting all these was a large variable-geometry wing that fully extended to generate the lift necessary to achieve long-range and long-loiter but swept sharply back to reduce drag, permitting a supersonic dash. In 1963, Congressional investigators found that the McNamara team had rejected the recommendations of service and NASA professionals when it selected General Dynamics over a more highly regarded Boeing design.

After being put through rigorous flight testing, the TFX exposed significant performance and safety flaws, many of which required redesign. The Navy was forced to create a replacement, the Grumman F-14A Tomcat, which first flew nearly a decade after the F-4 had first taken to the skies because the F-111B carrier-based variant, which was significantly overweight and dangerously underpowered, never entered fleet service.

Notwithstanding its flaws, the Air Force F-111A program had a lot of potential since it combined attack avionics on par with those of the A-6, a terrain-following radar (TER) coupled to an autopilot, and a low-level supersonic dash similar to that of the F-105. On March 17, 1968, St. Patrick’s Day, Combat Lancer, formally Det 1 of the 428th TFS, a six-aircraft operational test and evaluation force of the Air Force’s new General Dynamics F-111A, landed at Takhli.

On March 25, the F-111A began its combat career with a night of strikes, starting with a solo attack that displayed the aircraft’s prowess to the fullest extent at 500 kt and 500 ft. With an F-111A SN 66-0018, Colonel Ivan Dethman and Captain Rick Matteis departed from Takhli, flew over Nakhon Phanom, and then lowered their altitude to 500 feet in preparation for a strike on the Vung Chua truck park and storage area on Hon Co Island. Before leaving over the Tonkin Gulf, Dethman and Matteis dropped 12 M117 750 lb bombs with drag-retarding fins.

Regrettably, three were lost very quickly—two from mechanical issues and the third from an SA-2—and only one crew was saved. This shoot-down was so critical that then-Soviet military minister Andrei Grechko personally briefed Leonid Brezhnev on it. There was no doubt that the F-111A needed improvement. Despite the arrival of three extra F-111As to make up for lost aircraft, Combat Lancer saw little more action in Southeast Asia before flying back to Nellis AFB in the middle of November 1968. Having reached maturity, the F-111A returned to Vietnam in 1972 and, during Operation Linebacker, proved to be a lethal and extremely effective night attacker.

Almost exactly two decades later, the outstanding F-111F proved to be a pillar of Operation Desert Storm thanks to its increased power and Pave Tack self-designating attack system.

Rolling Thunder 1965-68 is published by Osprey Publishing and is available to order here.

Photo by: U.S. Air Force

September 20, 2023 0 comment

Cold War

A former F-111 WSO recalls his Operation Linebacker II ejection over North Vietnam.

by Till Daisd June 22, 2023

written by Till Daisd

“If I had been superstitious at all, I probably wouldn’t have flown the mission at all. Every one of the previous F-111s lost had a call sign ending in 3, and they had all gone down on a Monday night. December 22 was a Monday, and our call sign was Jackal 33,” Bill Wilson, former F-111 WSO

When the North Vietnamese captured Bill Wilson, one of his captors pointed accusingly at him and yelled, “YOU! F-One Eleven!” and “WHOOOOSH!” while swiping the palm downward. It was a straightforward eloquence that captured the North Vietnamese people’s fear and amazement of the swing-wing marauders who arrived in the night, unannounced, and with precise precision to plant their seeds of destruction. Wilson had been piloting the F-111 for just over a year when he received his “Golden BB.”

The F-111 was developed to fulfill a need for a new tactical fighter bomber from the U.S. Air Force. It was originally known as the TFX (Tactical Fighter “X”). The USAF’s desire for a new air superiority fighter and the Navy’s demand were combined by the Department of Defense in 1960. The F-111A had its first flight in December 1964, and the USAF received its first production versions in 1967. The Navy’s F-111B program was suspended in the meantime. There were 566 F-111s manufactured in total throughout all series, with 159 of them being F-111As. The F-111 was known as the Aardvark informally, but the name wasn’t given to it formally until it was retired in 1996.

The airplane has intriguing wings with variable geometry. The wings may be swept forward while in flight for takeoffs, landings, or slow flight, and rearward for high-speed flight. The F-111 could also strike targets in adverse weather by flying at a very low altitude.

The USAF tested the F-111A operationally in Southeast Asia in the spring of 1968, with varying degrees of effectiveness. According to former F-111A weapon system officer (WSO) Bill Wilson in Lou Drendel’s book F-111 In Action, the USAF sent the F-111A back to Southeast Asia in 1972 for Operation Linebacker II after fixing initial issues.

“My last mission was by far the most memorable, though the memories are anything but happy. It was our second mission of Linebacker II. Our first mission was the strike against Hoa Lac Airfield on the night of December 18. Following that mission, we had a break of four days to allow the operations people to distribute the missions equally among all of the crews. During that break, I made the mistake of asking the Ops Officer for a mission to “downtown”. We had never been to any of the targets close to Hanoi, and both Bob [Wilson’s pilot, Capt. Robert Sponeybarger] and I was curious about the area. We had confidence in the F-111 and our tactics, and I guess we were eager to prove that we could challenge the most formidable air defense system ever devised and survive. It was not the first dangerous mission I had volunteered for, but I later promised myself that it was the last.

“The target we were assigned was the river docks right in the center of Hanoi. Now, “downtown” was a euphemism used to describe the magic ten-mile radius of the most intensive air defenses around Hanoi. I really hadn’t expected to be sent right to the center of it!

“We took off from Takhli about 2100, climbed to a medium altitude, and proceeded up through the Plain des Jars area of Laos into the Gorilla’s Head area of North Vietnam, where we began our let-down to penetration altitude.

“This was December 22, which was really the height of the battle. The enemy was not as exhausted as he would become a week later, and the air defense crews were at their sharpest. We had been striking all around the Hanoi area, and, in fact, the river docks had been hit previously. Most of the strikes had been coming in from the southeast, since this gave the crews a more direct route out of the area, and minimized their exposure to the defenses. We figured that they would be looking more closely at these southeast approaches, so we planned our run-in to the target from the north. After stabilizing in the TFR mode, we crossed into North Vietnam at 500 feet. The closer we got to Hanoi, the more we hugged the terrain. Our last leg before turning south was on the north side of Thud Ridge, which gave us complete masking from the air defense radars. When we came around the corner and turned south, we broke out of the weather. We were at three hundred feet, and there was a broken overcast above, with a full moon showing through the breaks in the clouds. Hardly the ideal F-111 weather. Visibility under the overcast was unlimited, and we could see the lights of Hanoi in the distance. We picked up our final run-in heading at Duc Noi, about 10 miles due north of the target. At this point, we were doing about 480 knots, and my impressions of the world outside the airplane are fragmentary, limited as they had to be since I was spending the majority of my time on the radar. I remember that they never did turn the lights off. They were welding the superstructure of the Paul Doumer Bridge, which we used for our radar offset in the final attack phase. We started to pick up some AAA fire, mostly 37-57mm stuff, five miles before we got to the target. It was the typical stuff, coming up in clips of five, red and orange golf balls and, though there was a lot of it, it was all behind us since they didn’t have us on the radar and it was all directed at our sound. At that time I remember feeling a little let-down. since I had expected much heavier resistance. We had seen bigger stuff… 85 and 100mm… on a previous mission to Thai Nguyen. We later learned that the enemy had stopped shooting the big guns at low-level high-speed targets because the rapid rate of traverse required was throwing the gun crews off the gun mounts and injuring them, and they had no hope of hitting us anyway. [As Drendel explains, many of the civilian casualties claimed by North Vietnam to have been inflicted by U.S. bombers were actually self-inflicted by the large caliber shells detonating at low altitudes and spewing shrapnel indiscriminately about the countryside.]

Aardvark Down: former F-111 WSO tells the story of his ejection over North Vietnam during Operation Linebacker II — 1st Lt. William Wilson, an F-111A weapon system officer in the 429th Tactical Fighter Squadron, ejected over North Vietnam when his aircraft was hit during a Linebacker II mission. After evading for a week, Wilson was captured. Wilson and the pilot, Capt. Robert Sponeybarger were both released at the war’s end

“But, though they weren’t coming close to us with their AAA, they were quite effectively tracing our path in the sky. They had developed the tactics of blasting away with small arms fire… straight up… along this path, in the hope of getting a lucky hit. Two nights previous to our mission, one of the airplanes had come back with a hit in the extreme rear of its tailpipe. The previous night an airplane had returned with a hit in the stabilator. It seemed that they were getting the hang of their new tactics. And if I had been superstitious at all, I probably wouldn’t have flown the mission at all. Every one of the previous F-111s lost had a call sign ending in 3, and they had all gone down on a Monday night. December 22 was a Monday, and our call sign was Jackal 33.

“Our weapons system pickled off the twelve 500 pounds Snakeyes as we roared over the docks at better than 550 miles an hour. With the F-111’s sophisticated system, and the good radar offset we had gotten from the Doumer Bridge, there was never much doubt that we would hit the target, and we could see the docks exploding as we rolled off the target and headed for the turning point for our initial leg back to base. As soon as we looked back in the cockpit, we saw that we had a utility hydraulic failure light. We didn’t think much of it at the time… we hadn’t felt any hits on the airplane, and we had gotten one of these lights on a previous mission. It was more of a minor irritation than anything else. But less than a minute later, we got the right engine fire warning light. We went through the bold-face procedures, shutting the engine down. (Boldface refers to the instructions for emergency operations that appear in the flight manual.) I called Moonbeam, reporting that we were off the target and had lost an engine, and they acknowledged the call.

“We had just reached the first set of foothills and I had told Bob that we could start to climb when I heard him say: “What the hell…!” I looked up from the radar to see him moving the control stick like he was operating a butter churn, and I saw that the entire warning-caution light panel was lit. There was no doubt about our next move, and with Bob’s command, “Eject! Eject!”, we fired the capsule rockets.

Everything worked as advertised, and it was a smooth ejection. When the parachutes opened, we were in the overcast, so we didn’t see the airplane hit, but we did see the glow of the explosion, and when we broke out we could see the wreckage burning fiercely. We came down on the side of a hill, and the capsule rolled over onto my side. But it was a really nice landing… like someone had raised your chair a couple of feet into the air and dropped it… and we both exited from Bob’s side completely unhurt. It was probably about 2230 when we hit the ground.

“Fortunately, we had attended a jungle survival school a couple of weeks previously, and the lessons learned were still fresh in our minds. We had been told to separate as soon as possible since it was much easier for one person to hide than two. We would try to stay within a few hundred yards of each other to make the rescue as quickly as possible when the Jolly Greens got to us… and we never doubted that they would come. We both had survival radios, and they were working just fine. It was the last I was to see Bob for more than a month.

“It was the beginning of the wet season in North Vietnam, and though the area we were in was not a thick jungle, the tall grass was quite wet, which made for a high degree of discomfort in the cool temperature. I found what I thought was a good hiding place, and settled down to wait for daylight and our rescuers.

“The North Vietnamese were out in force by 0430 the next morning searching for us. I had picked a hiding place right next to what was apparently one of the main trails up the side of the hill, and I spent most of the day literally frozen in place. I was so motionless that I wound up with a pinched nerve in my arm, which was under me all day. Shortly after dark, the last search party of the day came up the trail and paused next to my hiding place. They had a portable radio and were listening to Radio Hanoi, which I had assumed was knocked off the air by the bombing. After what seemed like an eternity, they moved off down the mountain.

“I spent the next two nights moving to new hiding places. The weather in our area was so bad that we didn’t even see an airplane that we could call on our survival radios. On the third day, a flight of Sandy A-7s came into our area. Since Bob was closer to the top of the mountain, he did all the talking, relaying whatever I had to say. The clouds were still too low for them to come down through, but we were able to talk to them, and they pinpointed our position. Unfortunately, at the end of our transmission, I heard rifle fire from Bob’s position.

“Bob had been hiding in some vines, and the North Vietnamese had apparently heard him talking. One of them came crashing down the hill and just by chance stepped on him. The startled Vietnamese backed up and fired. Luckily, he missed, but that brought the rest of them down on Bob. The volleys of fire I had heard were signals that they had caught an American. They trucked him off to Hanoi, and I was left alone… almost. The patrols in my area continued.

“On the fourth day, the A-7s returned, pinpointed my position, and then said that they were low on fuel and would go out to a tanker, gas up, and return. Well, by the time they got back, the weather had socked me in and they couldn’t get back down.

“The next day the weather cleared, and the bombing of Hanoi resumed in earnest. I spotted a big V of A-7s outbound from their target and called them, but they wouldn’t answer. Apparently, they reported the call to the Sandies though, because it wasn’t long before they were over me. After determining my position, they left to get a helicopter.

“As luck would have it, there was just one .50 caliber gun position in the area, and a helicopter flew right over it on his approach to my position, and they really hammered him. His refueling boom was all but shot off, the co-pilot was seriously wounded, and they were leaking fuel. To his credit, the pilot still tried for the pick-up. I had not given them real explicit instructions on my position though, and they came to a hover about twenty feet from me, on the steep side of the hill. I decided that it was now or never, and made a run for the penetrator, which was on the end of the cable. Just as I was about to make a grab for it, I lost my footing, and the downwash from the big HH-53 knocked me to the ground. I did a backflip and rolled down the hill. When I got up, the helicopter was leaving. I can’t really blame them… they were pretty well shot up and may have thought that I had been hit by ground fire. As it was, they just barely made it out to a Lima Site in Laos, where the backup Jolly Green picked them up. I later learned from the Combat Cameraman on that helicopter that the North Vietnamese were running towards them, firing their AK-47s, while they hovered over me.

“Why the North Vietnamese didn’t really comb the area I’ll never know… they must have known the helicopter was trying to get someone. But they didn’t, and I moved again that night.

“By this time, the two pints of water that had been in my survival gear were long since gone, and I was getting mighty thirsty. The light misty rain that fell most of the time only served to keep me wet, cold, and miserable. The jungle instructors had told us about the water vines and bamboo that existed in North Vietnam, but they had neglected to tell us that they were dry until well into the wet season. I drilled into several of these looking for water, but only found cool air. While I was hiding the next day, several Vietnamese came up the trail close to where I was. I would swear that one of them spotted one of those drilled bamboo, and exclaimed: “LOOK! AMERICAN!” Anyway, whatever he said precipitated a search of the area. I heard one of them coming my way and tucked everything in. I had lost my mosquito net in the jump for the helicopter, and that had provided most of the camouflage for my face. I put my gloved hand over my face and held my breath. I heard and felt the grass being parted over my head, but again my luck held and he didn’t see me.

“Shortly after that, a flight of F-4s came into the area and called me on the radio. The flight lead spotted my position and told me to move to a better area for pick-up. Rather than give instructions that the North Vietnamese might overhear and understand, he told me to move from Nellis to my home. Nellis AFB is where we had been based, and we had lived in Las Vegas, which is almost due south of Nellis. But I have always considered Iowa my home, and that, of course, is almost due east of Nellis.

“The next day there was a 10,000-foot overcast, and the A-7s punched down through it and found me again. The leader called me and said: “Hey, did you know you were right up against a house?” Well, I didn’t of course, and I moved away from it while they strafed the house and environs. They picked up a lot of return fire and told me that I was going to have to move to an area that was not quite so hot. In the meantime, they dropped a survival package that contained water, food, and batteries for my survival radio, which was getting weaker every time I used it. They gave me directions to the package and headed home.

“I knew it was a hot area because I had heard AK-47s firing at them from pretty close to my position. I had to decide whether it was best to just get the hell out of that area as quickly as possible, forgetting the water in that package, or to go for that water. By this time, I was really thirsty, and the vote was 51 to 49 in favor of the water. I cautiously made for the area in which they had said the package had fallen. Suddenly, I came to a pretty well-beaten path. I looked both ways and stepped gingerly across. The tripwire they had strung at the edge of the trail was practically invisible, and the explosive cap that announced its disturbance was the first indication that I had snagged it. I dove into a thicket of brush, but they had heard the cap go off, and the area was swarming with them in no time at all. It didn’t take them long to spot me. Then they just stood around jabbering and pointing at me. Finally, they got some guy to come up and tap me on the shoulder. I knew it was all over.

“I stood up and made a gesture of surrender, and they were all over me. Funny thing, the first thing to come off was my Seiko watch… then they got around to my gun and knife. They stripped me down to my underwear and boots and marched me down the hill to a base camp they had set up as a holding area to await a truck to come out from Hanoi and get me. I had been on the ground, evading them, for a week.”

Photo by Ken LaRock / U.S. Air Force

June 22, 2023 0 comment

History

Operation El Dorado Canyon, a long-range F-111 strike mission that destroyed Libyan terrorist training camps

by Till Daisd May 17, 2023

written by Till Daisd

Operation El Dorado Canyon, the Air Force’s longest combat mission flown by a tactical aircraft at the time, was hailed as a triumph

On April 14, 1986, at 5:13 p.m., President Ronald Reagan gave the order for U.S. Air Force (USAF) F-111F Aardvarks from the 48th Tactical Fighter Wing (TFW) to depart from Royal Air Force (RAF) Lakenheath.

As explained by Tech. Sgt. Matthew Plew, 48th Fighter Wing Public Affairs, in the article Remembering Operation El Dorado Canyon: 30th Anniversary, the airstrike was in response to the terrorist bombing of the La Belle Discotheque in West Berlin on Apr. 5 that claimed the lives of two U.S. soldiers and wounded more than 200 people.

The “El Dorado Canyon” operation marked the culmination of massive combined operations and international military cooperation aimed at ensuring the total destruction of terrorist training facilities connected to the attack in the Libyan nation of Africa.

As stated by Capt Gregory Ball, USAFR, Ph.D., in his article 1986 – Operation El Dorado Canyon, the relationship between the United States and Libya has been strained since the 1960s due to allegations of terrorism, arms smuggling, and espionage.

In 1986, tensions between the two countries reached a breaking point.

The United States severed diplomatic ties with Libya in January of that year. After Libyan forces fired surface-to-air missiles against Navy planes in March, the U.S. Navy replied. The U.S. authorities assigned Libya responsibility for the deaths of four passengers who perished on April 2, 1986, when a bomb detonated aboard TWA flight 840 over Argos, Greece. Terrorists finally bombed the La Belle Discotheque on April 5.

Operation El Dorado Canyon was started when the United States claimed to have “exact, precise, and irrefutable” evidence of Libyan involvement.

U.S. KC-135 and KC-10 tankers from the RAFs Mildenhall and Fairford, as well as five EF-111s from RAF Heyford, joined the strike force as they departed on their 7,000-mile roundtrip journey while flying in perfect radio silence. Due to flight constraints, the F-111s had a 3,500-mile mission that required four aerial refueling stops each way.

Two USS Coral Sea and USS America aircraft carriers launched A-6E Intruders, EA-6B Prowlers, F/A-18 Hornets, and A-7 Corsairs to give the Aardvarks more air-to-air defense and more air-to-ground support as they flew over Libya.

Ball notes that at 6:54 p.m. eastern standard time, the Navy support aircraft supplied the surface-to-air missile (SAM) suppression while the EF-111 aircraft started electronic countermeasures against the Libyan air defenses.

While 13 F-111s attacked the Aziziyah barracks in Tripoli and the Sidi Bilal terrorist training center, Navy strike aircraft hit Benina Airfield and the military installations in Benghazi around 7:00 p.m.

Five Aardvarks carried out the mission’s final attack, which targeted the military airfield in Tripoli. Sadly, only four of the F-111s were able to effectively drop their bombs. Seven additional people missed their targets, while six had mechanical issues or were prevented from dropping due to strict rules of engagement (ROE).

Captains Fernando L. Ribas-Dominicci and Paul F. Lorence perished when one F-111 with the call sign “Karma 52” lost contact over the Gulf of Sidra after departing the target area.

By 7:53 p.m., all Navy aircraft had reached their carriers; however, one F-111 had to make a detour to Rota, Spain, due to an overheated engine while returning to England.

As the longest combat mission flown by a tactical aircraft for the Air Force at the time, the mission was regarded as a success.

Ball did note that there was some dispute, though. First, the U.S. Navy asserted that its resources might have been used to complete the entire operation.

Second, the commander of the 48th TFW thought that the original plan of a small group of F-111s had become too large, which made him think that there was little chance of surprising the Libyan defenses and that the quantity of aircraft would give air defenses time to focus on the second wave of attackers. However, supporters of the larger strike force thought the danger was worthwhile because it would cause the targets far more damage.

37 persons were killed and 93 were injured as a result of the incident. Furthermore, when Muammar Gaddafi of Libya appeared on television 24 hours later to denounce the strikes, he was clearly disturbed.

Today, an F-111 is prominently displayed in the RAF Lakenheath airpark as a reminder of the base’s illustrious past. A monument honoring the members of the 495th Tactical Fighter Squadron (TFS) is located across from the 48th Medical Group hospital, and a plaque honoring Ribas-Dominicci and Lorence bears their names.

The following video explains the organization and conduct of Operation El Dorado Canyon.

Source: U.S. Air Force and Air Force History Support Division

Artwork courtesy of AircraftProfilePrints.com

Photo by Tech. Sgt. Matthew Plew / U.S. Air Force

May 17, 2023 0 comment

Accidents and equipments

When an F-111 of the Royal Australian Air Force did a belly landing

by Till Daisd May 8, 2023

written by Till Daisd

The loss of the aircraft’s port main wheel soon after takeoff was the cause of the incident

In the video in this post, a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) F-111 emergency lands at RAAF Base Amberley after experiencing wheel failure during takeoff.

The F-111C A8-143 was the aircraft that was involved in the incident, which occurred on July 18, 2006. It is noteworthy that the loss of the plane’s port main wheel shortly after takeoff was the cause of the disaster.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that after two hours of planning, during which they dumped fuel in nearby Moreton Bay, the F-111 aircrew members—Flying Officer Peter Komar, a novice pilot, and Flight Lieutenant Luke Warner, an experienced navigator—were instructed to try a belly landing after the tower informed them of the missing wheel.

The F-111 aircrew explains in the video that as their damaged jet descended, they lowered the aircraft tailhook, which picked up a cable and assisted in bringing it to a stop. As the jet rolled on its belly along the tarmac, it generated a shower of sparks.

On September 6, 1973, the F-111 CA8-143 was delivered to the RAAF. In 1980, it was upgraded to RF-111C reconnaissance standard. The aircraft was never fixed after the belly landing, and its rudder and fin are still on display at RAAF Base Amberley.

THAT TIME A ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE F-111 PERFORMED A BELLY LANDING

The RAAF F-111s’ history is pretty fascinating.

In 1963, the Australian government bought 24 F-111C aircraft. The first of these was delivered to the RAAF on September 4, 1968, while the remainder were finished between 1968 and the beginning of 1969. But soon after, the whole fleet was grounded in the United States while severe flaws in the F-111’s design were fixed. The 24 aircraft were finally accepted by the RAAF in 1973, and between June 1 and December 4 of that year, four groups of them were flown to Australia.

Four F-111C aircraft were converted to RF-111C reconnaissance planes. Between October 1979 and April 1979, these modifications were made to the first, A8-126, in the United States. Between July and September 1980, Australia changed the other three.

As attrition replacements, the RAAF acquired four ex-U.S. Air Force (USAF) F-111As in 1981. These planes were delivered to the service in 1982 and later upgraded to F-111C specifications.

To prolong the useful life of the type, the Australian government opted to buy up to 18 former USAF F-111Gs in 1992. The RAAF eventually received 15 F-111G aircraft, which were delivered in late 1993 and early 1994. Additionally, three other ex-USAF F-111Gs were kept in the U.S. for Australia but were never delivered.

On December 3, 2010, the RAAF retired its F-111 fleet. During the service life of the type, eight F-111s (seven F-111Cs and one F-111G) were destroyed in accidents, which resulted in the deaths of ten airmen.

Photo from screenshot video

May 8, 2023 0 comment

Military

The F-111 Aardvark

by Till Daisd December 18, 2022

written by Till Daisd

For the bulk of the Cold War, the F-111 Aardvark served as the U.S. Air Force’s premier strike aircraft. From Vietnam onward, it participated in almost all wars until it was replaced by the F-15E Strike Eagle. It also performed a limited number of missions as a strategic bomber for Strategic Air Command. One of the first joint service aircraft, the F-111 was designed to meet the needs of the U.S. Air Force for a swing Wing strike bomber and the U.S. Navy for a long-range interceptor.

Two strong but fuel-efficient TF-30 turbofan engines with revolutionary afterburner technology were the core of the F-111’s construction. The fuselage can hold fuel for sorties up to 2500 miles in length and bomb payload weighing up to 31,000 pounds. with an additional thousand miles added by external tanks. The enormous aircraft weighed more than twice as much loaded as it did empty, at 20 tons. The F-111’s designers had a difficult task on their hands: they had to create an aircraft that could fly at very high speeds and still take off or land on a short runway.

Smaller wings would reduce drag, allowing an aircraft to travel quicker, but they would also reduce lift, forcing an aircraft to fly faster before takeoff, necessitating a longer runway. For instance, the F-105 Thunderchief, the other supersonic fighter bomber of the time, had extremely short wings and needed airstrips over a mile long for takeoff, which limited the number of airfields it could fly from.

Designers of the F-111 used a cutting-edge technique known as variable geometry or swing wings. These allowed the wings to create the most lift during takeoff and would tuck inward during mid-flight to reach higher speeds. The technology was initially utilized in the F-111, one of the numerous significant designs. The two-man crew was seated side by side in a cockpit pod. When they wanted to leave, a rocket lifted the pod into the air, and it subsequently descended to the surface on a parachute, much like a space capsule.

The pioneering new terrain-following radar on the F-111, which recorded the landscape directly in front of the aircraft and then automatically changed the flight path to prevent a collision, was a significant innovation. This made it possible for F-111s to fly at low altitudes of as little as 200 feet above the ground and at high speeds without crashing, even at night or in severe weather. The F-111 was given the nickname “Aardvark” because of its prowess in the dark and while hunting. F-111s did demonstrate some potential, being capable of exceeding Mach 1.2 at low altitudes or more than double that. While flying at a high altitude at Mach 2.5, the landing strip only has to be 2,000 feet long.

It was the first tactical aircraft from the United States to fly over Europe without refueling in the middle of the flight. However, because the F-111’s design was oriented toward meeting Air Force requirements, the carrier-based Interceptor variant of the F-111B struggled in tests to go faster than Mach 1. Everyone lost out financially as the costly force compromise that was the naval version was finally abandoned. However, many of the F-111B’s more promising design features were carried over to the F-14 Tomcat.

F-111s took part in Operation Desert Storm during the 1991 Gulf War. More successfully than any other U.S. strike aircraft employed in the operation, F-111Fs accomplished 3.2 successful strike sorties for every unsuccessful one during Desert Storm.

Nearly 80% of the laser-guided bombs used in the battle were dropped by the squadron of 66 F-111Fs, including the penetrating GBU-28 bunker-buster. More least 1500 Iraqi tanks and armored vehicles were said to have been destroyed by F-111 aircraft, whose anti-armor mission was known as “tank blinking.”

The Australian Air Force used the F-111 until 2010, during which time it earned the nickname “the pig.” After receiving a batch of 24 F-111Cs in 1973, the Australians went on to purchase an additional 15 FB-111s and four F-111As. The F-111s gave Australia the ability to project military force across the wide expanses of the Pacific Ocean, increasing its diplomatic clout even if they were never employed in actual conflict. Pigs were the pride of Australian airshows, where they commonly performed the “dump and burn” maneuver, in which fuel was thrown out the back and ignited with the afterburners.

Combat over Syria, Chechnya, Libya, Afghanistan, and Ukraine has seen active employment of them. A Turkish F-16 shot down a Russian Su-24 attacking Syrian rebels in 2015, sparking a significant diplomatic controversy.

There were 563 total F-111s produced; following the F-111A, the F-111D and E models improved the Aardvark electronics and engine inlets and boosted engine thrust. A different model, the FB-11, had upgraded engines and was two feet long to carry more fuel. 75 of these aircraft were used by strategic Air Command troops.

The F-111C, which was only offered to Australia, combined design features from the FB-11 and the F-111E. The final F-111F featured updated radar, engines with 35% greater performance, and a paved attack infrared targeting pod that let the crew locate targets on the ground and hit them with precision-guided explosives. At a cost of $1.5 billion, 42 F-111 were transformed into unarmed EF-111A Raven electronic jamming platforms beginning in the middle of the 1970s. The essential component of the EF-111 was an ALQ-99E jamming pod, which sent out radiation that rendered nearby radars inoperable and allowed entire formations of aircraft to fly by undetected in its wake.

The Raven was known to its pilots as the “Spark-Vark” because when the Jammer was active, it’s current literally made the hairs on their heads stand as it crackled through the aircraft. The EF-111 may be distinguished by the receiver pod on the tail fin. Between 1967 and 1998, the F-111 served the USAF in operational roles. Prior to being converted to the F-111G and handed to air combat command, the FB-111s were operated by Strategic Air Command from 1969 until their retirement in 1993.

December 18, 2022 0 comment

History

The F-111: A versatile aircraft that can handle any mission

by Till Daisd November 8, 2022

written by Till Daisd

One of the first things pilots always point out is that no matter how bad the weather, the F-111 will get you there. The reason for this is a variety of systems designed to ensure safety and success in all conditions.

The F-111’s radar system can scan through clouds, rain, fog, and snow to find threats. Ground-mapping radar helps pilots land safely on short strips or in difficult terrain conditions like mountains or jungles while terrain-following radar (TFR) keeps them safely above the ground at night or in low visibility conditions by keeping them at a fixed distance above the earth’s surface. A TFR also means that even if you’re flying at night and looking out your window all you’ll see is blackness so it can be disconcerting for some pilots who don’t have experience with this type of navigation tool since they rely on visual cues from outside their aircraft instead of relying on instruments inside their aircraft.

Being an aircraft whose performance is measured in terms of its purpose, it has been exceptionally well received by its users.
The F-111 is a versatile aircraft that can handle any mission. It is easy to fly, reliable, and easy to maintain. The F-111 was used for air-to-air combat during the Vietnam War, but it was also used for air-to-ground combat.

The F-111 has a crew of two and is one of the first aircraft to use terrain-following radar. It was designed as a supersonic bomber, but can also be used as a fighter bomber and even as a supersonic fighter bomber.

The terrain-following radar is a system that can be used by pilots to fly at extremely low altitudes. It works by keeping the aircraft at a constant distance from the ground, thus allowing pilots to fly under clouds and avoid enemy radar detection or missiles. A pilot would use this feature when flying over enemy territory at night, where visibility is limited by cloud cover or darkness.

The F-111 was designed by General Dynamics (now Lockheed Martin). The original plan called for four different versions of this plane: F-111A Tactical Bomber, F-111B Smaller tactical bomber with less range and payload, F-111C Intermediate-range fighter designed for air defense roles, and lastly an Advanced Tactical Fighter that would replace all other versions in service.

This plane had several design flaws which made it difficult to operate including a lack of room inside the cockpit where pilots had limited visibility due to lack of space between seat backs!
Terrain Following Radar or TFR is an onboard system that allows a pilot to fly at extremely low altitudes by measuring the terrain below and displaying it on a screen for him.

The radar feeds information on the height, shape, and slope of the ground directly under the aircraft. This enables the pilot to fly the plane at very low levels without having to look out of his cockpit window, thereby greatly reducing his exposure to enemy fire. In addition, as he flies in this manner, he can keep himself well below cloud cover so that he cannot be detected by enemy radar or missiles.
This allows him to fly under cloud cover and avoid enemy radar detection and missiles.

You may have heard of low-level flights before. It’s a type of flight where aircraft fly at very low altitudes, usually less than 200 feet above ground level.

Low-level flights are used when enemy radar and surface-to-air missiles are expected to be present, as these threats can be avoided by flying at such low speeds and altitudes. The F-111 is able to fly at these altitudes with no difficulty because of its powerful turbofan engines—which give it an advantage over slower aircraft that might not have been able to achieve the same speeds without stalling or running out of fuel.

It is also equipped with electromagnetic interception gear which locates enemy anti-aircraft and missile guidance radars and gives a warning to the pilot so that he can take avoiding action. This is an important feature in a combat aircraft. The F-111 has a computer that detects the source of electromagnetic radiation and calculates the bearing and distance to it. The pilot can then avoid action by turning away from this source of electromagnetic radiation.

The F-111 carries a sophisticated navigational system that will enable it to find its way back home even when there are cloud banks over large areas or when airfields have been bombed out of operation by enemy aircraft or missiles. This navigational system enables the F-111 to attack targets without any visual reference points such as cities, towns, lakes, or rivers as landmarks for navigation purposes. Besides all this, it has two engines and an internal bomb bay which allows it to refuel mid-flight without needing an external source.
In addition to being able to fly at supersonic speeds and carry weapons, the F-111 can also serve as a reconnaissance aircraft or even as a tanker for other planes during combat missions!

The F-111 is a versatile aircraft that can handle any mission. It’s capable of flying in any weather conditions and at low altitudes, which means it has a wide range of capabilities. The aircraft can fly fast and far, making it ideal for both close air support missions and long-range bombing runs. No matter how far or how high you need to travel from your base of operations, the F-111 has got your back!

From North Vietnam to Serbia, the F-111 was fruitful in its lifetime. Furthermore, its capabilities cannot be matched by newer designs in the US’s arsenal. While its ability as a bomber is still unrivaled, other UAVs perform better when taking on the reconnaissance aspects of the mission. All this proves that it is still a viable weapon today, with many supporters from both supporting and line forces in the USAF. With its impressive capabilities and history at just 27 years old, it is unlikely the F-111 will ever be decommissioned by the USAF or RAAF anytime soon, even with newer drones coming into service.

The F-111 aircraft experienced various technical and operational problems but managed to serve with distinction until the A variant was retired in 1998. It formed an essential part of the US Air Force’s power projection capabilities for three decades, and it continues to form an important part of the Brazilian Air Force’s fleet to this day. Despite its age and numerous design flaws, the F-111 is still used efficiently and effectively in a variety of roles. With support from NASA, its capabilities are set to increase even further in the near future.

November 8, 2022 0 comment

History

The only F-111 lost during Operation El Dorado Canyon

by Till Daisd February 24, 2022

written by Till Daisd

The sixth aircraft on the Bab al-Aziza target, an F-111F 70-2389 with the callsign “Karma 52,” mysteriously disappeared

Operation El Dorado Canyon, a code name for the operation, was carried out in retaliation for the terrorist bombing of the La Belle Discotheque in West Berlin on April 5, which left two American soldiers dead and more than 200 others injured.

All but one aircraft made it back to the base.

The sixth aircraft on the Bab al-Aziza target, an F-111F 70-2389 with the callsign “Karma 52,” mysteriously disappeared. The crews of multiple aircraft witnessed a fireball strike the sea in the harbor area, and many believed the F-111F had been struck by a missile, as stated by Peter E. Davies in his book F-111 & EF-111 Units in Combat. By the time the jet hit the water, the escape module housing the pilot Capt Fernando “Nando” Ribas-Dominicci, and his WSO Capt Paul Lorence had not yet deployed. The F-111 ‘Remit 31’ pilot saw the crash and said, “It was a smear across the water.” I was brought back to my experience of seeing napalm in Vietnam. Additionally, one of the EF-111As could see it:

`From our vantage point just off the coast of Tripoli, we saw F-111Fs pass under us as most of them had their afterburners as they ingressed at 550-600 knots. At the time Fernando went down I saw what appeared to be a fireball skipping across the water on ingress.’

Following a few seconds later, “Karma 53” (F-111F 71-0889) noticed a flash and fireball immediately in front of them and thought it was an F-111 being struck by a SAM. After that, they had to make a quick turn to escape getting struck by a SAM themselves.

One of the tankers orbited in vain for “Karma 52” before returning home as dawn broke. By that evening, searches by P-3 patrol planes and a US Navy submarine had been suspended, and by April 17, it had been determined that the crew of “Karma 52” had been killed in action.

The sad story of ‘Karma 52’, the only F-111 lost during Operation El Dorado Canyon

It’s possible that the ECM pond on “Karma 52” failed to protect them. Many of the then-AN/ALQ-131 ECM pods, which were installed beneath the aircraft’s rear fuselages for missile defense, had malfunctioned, according to post-mission inspections, as a result of the mission’s protracted beating from high-speed airflow. When the pods were later examined, components did indeed fall out of many of them.

Capt. Lorence’s final fate is unknown; only his helmet washed up on the shore. An autopsy performed after the pilot’s body was returned to the US via the Vatican in 1989 revealed that he had drowned while unconscious. Capt. Ribas-Dominicci was a member of Lakenheath’s elite Standardization and Evaluation unit, and the year before, when another F-111F experienced an undercarriage issue, burst a main-gear tire on landing, and ran off the runway, he narrowly escaped having to eject.

Some of their coworkers believed that the decision to expand the Bab al-Azizia element to nine aircraft may have had a role in “Karma 52’s” loss.

Actually, Lakenheath planners rather favored a six-aircraft strike on the relatively tiny Bab al-Azizia site, three against the training camp, and nine to bomb the somewhat bigger and more open Tripoli airport objectives.

The longer, more intense assault that was planned on Gaddafi’s compound would leave the aircraft vulnerable to its strong defenses for over four minutes. Despite Lt Col Pastusek and Col Bob Venkus, vice-commander of the 48th TFW and an important player in the planning, objecting, Lakenheath’s wishes were rejected. To do as much damage to this obvious target as possible, the nine-aircraft attack on Bab al-Azizia was demanded. Attack strategies have to be quickly revised to prevent conflicts with the meticulously planned route developed with the US Navy. The strategy for refueling was also enlarged.

The initial plan’s deviation provided the Libyans with “a succession of single-file targets — ducks in a row,” as former 48th TFW WSO Maj Jim Rotramel put it. At Lakenheath, anxiety levels spiked in response to this possibility. The risk to the final three-aircraft cell (‘Karma’) increased but the likelihood of precise hits by aircraft flying after those that had successfully dropped bombs was significantly decreased.

To his great surprise, the Third Air Force commander, who was aware of the numbers issue but was unable to persuade his superiors to change their minds, informed the highly experienced Vietnam veteran “Karma leader” that it would be acceptable to abandon his attack if the defenses proved to be too effective. For the leader of “Karma,” this total reversal of standard USAF doctrine was shocking. The “Liberty Wing” had to follow the predetermined course of action despite being aware of its possibly catastrophic defects.

The names of Ribas-Dominicci and Lorence are inscribed on a plaque that is located today across from the 48th Medical Group hospital and honors the members of the 495th Tactical Fighter Squadron (TFS).

Photo by U.S. Air Force

F-111 & EF-111 Units in Combat is published by Osprey Publishing and is available to order here.

February 24, 2022 0 comment