Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Thanks for the link.  I worked on the Avionics Systems for 17 years.  -D, -E, EF, & FB.  We knew the Vark was an awesome aircraft, it was not glamourous for airshow air displays, but the down & dirty work is where it excelled.

 

John

Link to post
Share on other sites

Cool article, lots of interesting info. F-111's in  that S.E. Asia camo scheme always looked good to me. In fact S.E. Asia camo scheme looked good on all USAF combat aircraft.

 

I knew the Vark was a  good  especially low level bomber. A dog fighter I knew it was not, but I did not know it was such a pig in terms of air combat maneuvering.

 

All in all still a slick jet. The 1986 Libyan Raiders  history is one of the Vark's best stories IMO.

Link to post
Share on other sites
4 hours ago, Gordon Shumway said:

 The 1986 Libyan Raiders  history is one of the Vark's best stories IMO.

Great as in you have to admire the bravery of the flight crews.  As far as being a testament to the effectiveness of the -111, from the linked article:   

 

"But let's look at the raid on Libya: 24 aircraft launch, several break and return, one crashes. Out of the three targets targeted by the aircraft that made it to the target area, only three aircraft hit the target—one on each target. All the others missed.  It was terrible when I look back on it, but hats off to the crew who flew it!"

 

Not exactly a great endorsement for the aircraft. 

 

I'd say the F-111's finest hour was flying into North Vietnam solo during Linebacker II.  

 

 

Edited by 11bee
Link to post
Share on other sites
8 hours ago, Gordon Shumway said:

I knew the Vark was a  good  especially low level bomber. A dog fighter I knew it was not, but I did not know it was such a pig in terms of air combat maneuvering.

 

Makes you wonder about how the the Navy's "B" would have performed in service, especially when compared to the A2A capabilities of the Tomcat.

 

Several other good articles linked off that page, I also enjoyed the one about the Navy's experience with the F-16N in dissimilar combat training.

Link to post
Share on other sites
3 hours ago, habu2 said:

 

Makes you wonder about how the the Navy's "B" would have performed in service, especially when compared to the A2A capabilities of the Tomcat.

 

Several other good articles linked off that page, I also enjoyed the one about the Navy's experience with the F-16N in dissimilar combat training.

Part of the F-111 image problem is that it wasn't a fighter, per se, certainly not an air-superiority fighter. The F-111A was a bomber. The F-111B was a missile truck (I don't think that there is a letter designation for that) optimized to shoot down enemy bombers and cruise missiles (big radar, six heavy missiles, long time on station, dash speed to engage the threat as far from the carrier as possible). The F-14 was a fighter, albeit big, that could do 75% of the Phoenix fleet-air-defense mission as an overload. The F-111B would have been better at the Phoenix mission (bigger radar dish, longer time on station, bring back all six Phoenixes, less wind-over-deck for launch and recovery) and potentially a replacement for the A-6 with a different suite of avionics. The carrier air group's air-superiority mission would have to have been fulfilled by something that looked like a Super Hornet.

Link to post
Share on other sites
4 hours ago, venom said:

we need a new tool 48 family of varks .great read !

 

Andrew

 

Yep, I've been saying this for years. Apart from the !/72nd Hasegawa kit fans of the Vark have been severely short changed when it comes to scale representations of this aircraft.

13266102_1104288946284121_5787662824030810469_n.jpg

Link to post
Share on other sites
8 hours ago, habu2 said:

 

Makes you wonder about how the the Navy's "B" would have performed in service, especially when compared to the A2A capabilities of the Tomcat.

 

Several other good articles linked off that page, I also enjoyed the one about the Navy's experience with the F-16N in dissimilar combat training.

The Tomcat was a bit over-rated in A2A as well (especially the A version).  Like the F-111B, it was never intended to be a dogfighter, it was supposed to be a long endurance missile truck that could take out hordes of Backfires that were threatening it's carrier. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...