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FB-111A - Pictures and Armament?


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1 hour ago, Hajo L. said:

So, no tanks on the pylons close to the fuselage? (Propably because of the distance between the tank-stabilizers and the fuselage when having wings swept back, right?)

 

 

HAJO

Doesn't sound like it. According to Scott, an accurate loadout for your late 80's- 1990 dark vark scheme would be stations 2-7 tanks (pigeon toed), 3-6 tanks, 4-5 B83 or B61 and 2 SRAM's internal.

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Here is the Flight Manual for the FB-111A:

 

http://www.avialogs.com/index.php/en/aircraft/usa/generaldynamics/fb-111/to-1f-111ba-1-flight-manual-fb-11a.html

 

you could have tanks on the inboard pylons but as mentioned they weren't used operationally, probably only used for ferry flights. Also as you check the manual you'll see that they had fuel pylons and weapon pylons so you couldn't take a fuel tank off and put a weapon on it, you need the proper pylon.

 

Jari

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Stations 2 & 7 had an integrated pylon with the tank (single unit) ..... there was a separation line on the upper pylon, about 2 inches below the wing where, when the tank was jettisoned from the aircraft, that stub of the pylon was what was left behind ....never witnessed that actually happening...... the tank with pylon was bolted inside the wing ...we would go out and assist the tank farm guys with the tank installations if they were short on people .....then we would run the voltage checks and stray voltage checks on the tank pylon and then connect the gas generator cannon plug and safety wire it so it could not back off or disconnect in flight. We were always told that if the wings were swept back past a certain point that the tanks would self-jettison ..... who knows? maybe they were pulling our legs :-) gullible weapons guys ....LOL ......I am sure as Mr Vark pointed out, that it would be the left seater's preference as to when to kick those big a$$ tanks off the jet.

 

Stations 4 & 5 .....when the wings were fully swept back were veryy tight space-wise with the fuselage sides ....hence, the slant 4 configurations on stations 4 & 5 when flying a BRU-3 with multiple weapons. Never saw a tank loaded on 4 & 5, though I'm sure it was technically possible.  Even if we had a SUU-20 or SUU-21 on 4 or 5 and the wings were pulled way back it was really difficult to get access to the inboard side of the pylon. I think on stations 3 & 6, when flying a tank, the fuel shop guys would have to install an adapter in the rear pylon area to provide a conduit for the fuel to flow up to the wing, I think it was nicknamed a 'milk bottle'. When I was at Lakenheath and we were tasked to install a BRU or a SUU on 3 or 6 and we found a milk bottle installed, we would have to request it to be removed before we could route and hook up the umbilical cables for the BRU or SUU. Fun times.

 

Tanks on 2 & 7 were jettisoned via a gas generator that was built into the integrated pylon, whereas the tanks installed on station 3 & 6 would be hung on the MAU-12 bomb rack installed in the pylon and the loaders would install gas-generated impulse carts in the bomb rack.

 

Scott

 

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3 hours ago, Piker38 said:

I have two pairs of F-111 tanks from Ozmods/Scaledown.  The package states they are for the F-111A/C/D/E & F variants.

How do they differ from the tanks they sell for the FB-111A/F-111G ?

 I bought a pair of them, (OZ CONV 4803) and they are just the Academy tanks cast in resin. Inaccurate, and heavy to boot. They also list SDA 48010 and ADA 48011, but I'm not willing to spend the money on that gamble... The real question is this, just why did they even market the 4803, when the F-111 series only used ONE type of fuel tank (600 gal)?

 

 Now a happy owner of two Monogram A-10 tanks. 

 

PS Brad Robinson from Australia was going to make some Beautiful tanks, but, alas, it seemed to fall through....http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234910594-new-accurate-f-111-tanks/

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16 hours ago, Piker38 said:

I have two pairs of F-111 tanks from Ozmods/Scaledown.  The package states they are for the F-111A/C/D/E & F variants.

How do they differ from the tanks they sell for the FB-111A/F-111G ?

 

The FB-s used different (more pointed) pylons than the F-s. I think the only difference in the kits is the fairing that goes between the tank and pylon.

 

13 hours ago, IAGeezer said:

 I bought a pair of them, (OZ CONV 4803) and they are just the Academy tanks cast in resin. Inaccurate, and heavy to boot. They also list SDA 48010 and ADA 48011, but I'm not willing to spend the money on that gamble... The real question is this, just why did they even market the 4803, when the F-111 series only used ONE type of fuel tank (600 gal)?

 

 Now a happy owner of two Monogram A-10 tanks. 

 

PS Brad Robinson from Australia was going to make some Beautiful tanks, but, alas, it seemed to fall through....http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234910594-new-accurate-f-111-tanks/

 

I don't recall which tank set I have, but it was the original Scaledown set, now owned by OzMods, but they are basically correct and, as you can see here, they're larger than the Academy F-111 and Monogram A-10 tanks (the Hobby Boss tanks are simply hideous).

 

I was an F guy and never flew FBs, but they were more similar than not. The 'milk bottles' were required to transfer fuel from the tank to the jet. We usually only flew with tanks during 'Salty Nation' exercises just to make sure they worked. Not a fun sortie as they extended our normal 2.7-hr sortie to about 4.0 hours!

 

The way the UK-based F-111E/Fs trained was to always hang the SUU-21 practice bomb dispensers on the inboard pylons (4&5) and always use the nuke circuitry to drop the practice bombs--so we were always verifying that that stuff worked in case it was ever needed. The outboard pylons (3&6) could be clean or fitted with a BRU-3A/A multiple bomb rack (we never carried TERs).

 

As an interesting sidelight, when we first started flying GBU-15s they were mounted on the inboard pylons (I don't remember why or who thought that was a good idea). After a couple of pilots forgot they were there, swept the wings too far back and the bomb's wings poked holes in the fuselage, they started mounting them on the outboards!

 

One last thing, the pylon loadings were always symmetrical with the exception of the 3A/6A AIM-9P pylons. So whatever was hanging from pylons on one side, the same thing was loaded on the other wing.

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Thanks for the input, Jim!

 

Since I also got an AMT F-111F and plan to build it soon as well, the information about the "F" is very much appreciated! I plan on hanging gthe F-111-TER on the inboard pylons with 4 Durandals (or could I put 6?), GBU-15s on the outboard pylons and a data-pod for guidance on the aft fusalge station. 

 

 

HAJO

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1 hour ago, Hajo L. said:

I plan on hanging the F-111-MER on the inboard pylons with 4 Durandals (or could I put 6?), GBU-15s on the outboard pylons and a data-pod for guidance on the aft fusalge station. 

 

Lakenheath quickly pawned off the Durandals on Upper Heyford--a waste of resources to have PGM-capable aircraft flying down a runway straight-and-level to drop those things.

 

You can hang what you want off of your model. If you want to see what was actually carried in combat, see this. We never planned to carry mixed loads except for a few special instances (e.g., GBU-10E/B with a Mk 84 warhead and GBU-10J/B with a BLU-109 warhead).

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6 minutes ago, mrvark said:

 

Lakenheath quickly pawned off the Durandals on Upper Heyford--a waste of resources to have PGM-capable aircraft flying down a runway straight-and-level to drop those things.

 

Plus, maybe not the most survivable mission?

 

Did the E’s ever use this weapon in DS?  

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Thanks for the updates!

 

From a more technical standpoint: Would 6 Durandals on the inner pylon "work" or do they interfere with the fuselage when wings are swept back?

 

@11bee: Survivable mission: The RAF Tornados did something very similar when they attacked iraqi airfields with the JP-233. But it also took a relatively heavy toll on them...

 

 

HAJO

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Hajo

The FS colors you want are:

FS 34086 Green Drab,

FS 36081 Euro I Gray,

FS 36118 Gunship Gray.

The scheme on the 1/72 Hasegawa FB-111A sheet is 100% correct IAW the supplement in the TO.  I referenced this because I built the kit soon after it was released in 1989.  I was in the 509 AMS/509 BW at the time and made some decals for the tail marking of the State of New Hampshire, unfortunately I could not do the nose door art at the time.  This diorama with the FB is nearly 29 years old and has crossed the Atlantic Ocean 2X in household good shipments with no damage.  If you see the 1/72 Hasegawa kits BUY THEM, they are the best, I have about a dozen in the stash and when I see them at shows I automatically buy them.  Hasegawa seems to release them every 10 years or so and they do not release all the versions.  The last ones released were about 5 years ago,  F-111C/G commemorating the Australian Retirement.  No telling when they will release the kits again.  I am waiting for the definitive 1/48 kit like many others.  I have built 2 Academy kits with all the resin that was/is available and have a Frankenvark planned using Academy, HobbyBoss, & all the resin again.  Having maintained the F/FB, EF-111 for 17 years I can say we were the Freckled Faced, Red Headed, Bastard step child that could get the job done, we just weren't photogenic.

 

John

 

 

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11 hours ago, Hajo L. said:

Thanks for the updates!

 

From a more technical standpoint: Would 6 Durandals on the inner pylon "work" or do they interfere with the fuselage when wings are swept back?

 

6 on the outboards, slant-4 on the inboards

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On 11/27/2017 at 1:59 PM, mrvark said:

The FB-s used different (more pointed) pylons than the F-s. I think the only difference in the kits is the fairing that goes between the tank and pylon.

 

That makes sense.  Thanks for confirming.

I shall have to alter the pylon fairings on mine two tank sets to fit my FB-111 build.

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On ‎11‎/‎26‎/‎2017 at 2:33 PM, Hajo L. said:

Do the colours of this B-1 match the scheme of the dark FB-111A?

 

FIwpnR5.jpg

 

 

HAJO

 

It's a Bone down in the weeds.   :rolleyes:  Can't believe somebody hadn't posted that already.

 

Regards,

Murph

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3 hours ago, Hajo L. said:

Various pictures of the "Dark Vark"-scheme show both black and grey radomes. Any explanation for these differences in the color?

 

By the time they reached Cannon FB-111A 68-0294 and F-111G 67-7194 had experimental radomes of 36081 gray fitted beginning about 1990. However, the black radomes remain standard.

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