F-111 "swing-wing" fighter-bomber
- Thread starter XEROX
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Aussie Digger
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The F-111 you mean? Well it's a long range strike bomber, now only operated by the Royal Australian Air Force. It's used for deep penetration strike, battlefield strike, maritime strike and Close Air Support tasks. It is armed in Australian Service, with Mk 82/84 and BLU-109 air to ground bombs, GBU-10/12/24 LGB's, AGM-142 "Popeye" air to surface standoff missiles, AGM-84 Harpoon Anti-Ship missiles and AIM-9 Sidewinders.
Here's an F-111 armed with GBU-10 LGB and AGM-142 (underneath anyway).
Here's one with GBU-10 LGB and crew.
Here's a top view of an F-111 armed with a Sidewinder air to air missile.
The F-111 is very fast but is not capable of Mach 3. It IS capable of sustained Mach 2.5 speeds, and is capable of very high speeds at both high and low levels. For about all you'd ever want to know about F-111's, www.f-111.net is very helpful.
Here's an F-111 armed with GBU-10 LGB and AGM-142 (underneath anyway).
Here's one with GBU-10 LGB and crew.
Here's a top view of an F-111 armed with a Sidewinder air to air missile.
The F-111 is very fast but is not capable of Mach 3. It IS capable of sustained Mach 2.5 speeds, and is capable of very high speeds at both high and low levels. For about all you'd ever want to know about F-111's, www.f-111.net is very helpful.
That's the Ardvark with it's wings at minimum sweep.
Originally thought of as a "do it all" aircraft for both the USAF & USN.The USAF wanted a strike aircraft, the USN a fleet defence fighter.The Ardvark excelled in the former and the latter was cancelled at the prototype(F-111B) stage.Aussie F-111s differ from their USAF cousins by having the longer span wing of the F-111B with it's 8 weapon stations, whereas the USAF variants(A-F) had smaller wings with only 4 weapon stations.An EW/ELINT version was also built but was retired in the 90s, even though it gave better or equal performance to the EA-6B, with only a crew of two compared with the latter's crew of four.
Sustained speed was Mach2.5 at medium-high altittudes.
Maneauverability is um! not upto mark and it relies on it's speed and advanced sensors to go in quick, deliver it's load accurately and get out even quicker.
BTW it was the first series production aircraft in the world to use VG and the first with a turbofan powerplant.
Originally thought of as a "do it all" aircraft for both the USAF & USN.The USAF wanted a strike aircraft, the USN a fleet defence fighter.The Ardvark excelled in the former and the latter was cancelled at the prototype(F-111B) stage.Aussie F-111s differ from their USAF cousins by having the longer span wing of the F-111B with it's 8 weapon stations, whereas the USAF variants(A-F) had smaller wings with only 4 weapon stations.An EW/ELINT version was also built but was retired in the 90s, even though it gave better or equal performance to the EA-6B, with only a crew of two compared with the latter's crew of four.
Sustained speed was Mach2.5 at medium-high altittudes.
Maneauverability is um! not upto mark and it relies on it's speed and advanced sensors to go in quick, deliver it's load accurately and get out even quicker.
BTW it was the first series production aircraft in the world to use VG and the first with a turbofan powerplant.
