F-111 "swing-wing" fighter-bomber

[XEROX]

I have been searching for images of Bombers, and i come along this "rare" beuty,

can anyone give me info on the A/C and about its wing


All i know is that it flys at mach 3 and "swings its wings" when its drops its load

any more pictures out there plz show :alian

[Aussie Digger]

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).



http://www.defencetalk.com/pictures/albums/userpics/agm142_c.jpg

Here's one with GBU-10 LGB and crew.

http://www.defencetalk.com/pictures/albums/userpics/normal_F-111%20with%20GBU-10%202.jpg

Here's a top view of an F-111 armed with a Sidewinder air to air missile.

http://www.airtoaircombat.com/images/gallery/f111_010.jpg

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.

[XEROX]

The one i was looking at, the wings actually move

[umair]

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.

[P.A.F]

the pilots sit side by side and when they eject the whole bloody cockpit comes down with the pilots.

[XEROX]

I have some images, ill put them in the gallary section

[P.A.F]

thanx ;)

[XEROX]

now how do i bring those images into this forum

[WebMaster]

now how do i bring those images into this forum


http://www.defencetalk.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=16148#16148

[XEROX]

cheers

[XEROX]

http://www.defencetalk.com/pictures/albums/userpics/WINGS%20SWEPT%20PERPENDICULAR%20-%20F-111.jpg (http://www.defencetalk.com//pictures/displayimage.php?pos=-3292)


http://www.defencetalk.com/pictures/albums/userpics/FORWARD%20SWEPT%20WINGS%20OF%20F-111.jpg (http://www.defencetalk.com//pictures/displayimage.php?pos=-3291)


http://www.defencetalk.com/pictures/albums/userpics/F-111%20AT%20MACH%203.jpg (http://www.defencetalk.com//pictures/displayimage.php?pos=-3294)

[XEROX]

btw - i dont think this bomber went into serial production

[P.A.F]

bloody hell man. now thats what you call stealthy. :)

[XEROX]

im trying to load the 3rd picture which shows the wing "turning inwards"

[P.A.F]

that would be great ;)

[XEROX]

look at the 3rd picture, amazing isnt it!!

[P.A.F]

no thats what you call a weapon of mass destruction. :D: . any country with somin like this would rule. anyways thanx alot for that man. ;)

[XEROX]

i guess we all asume then they did not go through for serial production :(

[P.A.F]

if it did then i would have been the next black bird.

[XEROX]

but wasnt blackbird ment for recons only

[P.A.F]

no. it also was nuke capable but it mainly fired cruise missiles. ;)

[XEROX]

it was used during the cuba crisis right??

[XEROX]

Am i right to asume the "F-111" was under development during the same time as the B-2

[P.A.F]

i'm not sure but it is sure a old plane now.

[XEROX]

It could have to expensive or to complex to develop on a full scale program

[gf0012-aust]

The F-111 was originally conceived in the 60's under the TFX programme.

BTW, an RAAF F-111 "shot down" an F-16 in some DACT exercises asgainst the USAF some years ago. The F-111 took the fight down to sea level and had superior deck speed, it managed to turn into the Viper and shoot it on an overshoot. - Not bad for a long range nuke bomber (which is what they were originally designed to carry as well)

The RAAF also looked at the F-111 for it's nuke weapons delivery capability as at one stage Aust was intent on becoming a nuclear power. (officially abandoned in 1972)

[gf0012-aust]

Am i right to asume the "F-111" was under development during the same time as the B-2

No. It was developed in the 60's around the same time as the TSR.2 (which was the RAAFs preferred strike bomber option at the time)

[gf0012-aust]

no. it also was nuke capable but it mainly fired cruise missiles. ;)

No. Cruise missiles were not part of it's weaps loadout. Mainly freefalls, LGB's etc...

[P.A.F]

sorry GF. i was talking about the black bird which is now retired. ;)

[umair]

Wrong on that one too PAF.The SR-71 had no role as a bomber/missile carrier.There was however a version(A-12? Gary :help ) which came before the dedicated recon type, configured for a strategic bomber intercept role.(These were later converted to the recon version)

[P.A.F]

no umair there was a version of black bird that carried cruise missiles. i remember reading a book on it. try and get more info ;)

[umair]

That was not a cruise missile carrying version, it was a "drone" launching version.The blackbird series never carried cruises.

Here, a link detailing all Blackbird versions
http://www.sr-71.org/blackbird/index.htm

[XEROX]

But still the development of the F-111 fighter bomber during the 60s/70s did sound Adventurous for that time i suppose ??

[umair]

The pics u posted PJ are not of the F-111.Probably someone's concept of a next generation tactical bomber.

[XEROX]

so it was not part of the TFX programme??

[gf0012-aust]

But still the development of the F-111 fighter bomber during the 60s/70s did sound Adventurous for that time i suppose ??

Yep, if it wasn't for the lessons learnt from the F-111, we never would have seen the F-14 and quite possibly the Russians would not have developed the flipper Migs as well (which were attempts to copy the swing wing concepts embodied in the F-111)

[gf0012-aust]

Wrong on that one too PAF.The SR-71 had no role as a bomber/missile carrier.There was however a version(A-12? Gary :help ) which came before the dedicated recon type, configured for a strategic bomber intercept role.(These were later converted to the recon version)

Umair is correct. The A-12 was going to be the interceptor version of the SR-71. It had long range strike and air intercept missiles (no guns).

The nose cone on the A-12 is very different to the SR-71. It is not "chined" into the body.

[unknown_3x]

hey guys we don need to discous the weapons in other hands we have to make weapons for our own hand ....so we must make something which is not come first in american or jew or brit mind first .....ok tell me do you ppl think americas f22 raptor or lightning a(lock head make) can be shot down with JF-17 (pak/china) ...naah i don think so coz biggest thret is not india its a jew and american loby for us :)

Admin: Change your tone or have your posts deleted. Veiled racism won't be tolerated in here.

[SABRE]

hey guys we don need to discous the weapons in other hands we have to make weapons for our own hand ....so we must make something which is not come first in american or jew or brit mind first .....ok tell me do you ppl think americas f22 raptor or lightning a(lock head make) can be shot down with JF-17 (pak/china) ...naah i don think so coz biggest thret is not india its a jew and american loby for us :)

Hmmm.

If u put a dumbass in a F/A-22 Raptor & a Master Fighter pilot in JF-17. JF-17 will probably shoot it down :D:

[unknown_3x]

hey ppl tell me if pakistan is gettin one kool plane from china (ADVANCED STEALTH) fighters ....thay look like f22 raptor and lightning......china have many kool replicas of world famous fighters ...well my point is we need some kool stealth fighters to kick some bad ass in skys :) :smokingc: :D

[unknown_3x]

but this is sure we cant match the american technology in many years ..(maybe we can when thay ground them) LIKE F16...now we need some single wing air crafts for our sky boys .....and tell me if pakistan have some stealth tech in plan......WE MUST TAKE IT SERIOUS :cop

[Magoo]

The A-12 version of the Blackbird was the CIA only recon version. 12 aircraft were built.

Three YF-12 interceptors which could carry three nuke tipped anti aircraft missiles were built but it never entered service operationally.

Three M-21 aircraft were built to carry the D-21 'Tagboard' drone, but this program was cancelled after a crash.

The SR-71 was a USAF recon aircraft, and never carried weapons.

The pics posted on page 1 of the foward swept stealth jet are of the 'Switchblade' concept which was patented by Northrop Grumman in 1995. There have been various reports that the aircraft flew but did not enter service due to 'issues' with the swept wing design.

AS for 'unknown_3x's "jew" comment. what the hell was "veiled" about that??? He should be booted for good for that crap! :mad

Magoo

[gf0012-aust]

Magoo, people get warnings first. Then we take it from there.

News just in is that the YF-23 Black Widow may be resurrected as an interim fighter bomber.

I always did like the YF-23 over the F-22, so it will be interesting to see how serious they are about having it for a long range strike role.

A-12 and YF-12 were fundamentally the same aircraft - it's just that the recon internal pod would be evacuated from the weaps bays.

I'll drag out my SR-71 refs to confirm. I managed to score a couple of excellent ref works on the breed while I was in Germany last year - unfort they're all in German. ;)

[Magoo]

Magoo, people get warnings first. Then we take it from there.

News just in is that the YF-23 Black Widow may be resurrected as an interim fighter bomber.

I always did like the YF-23 over the F-22, so it will be interesting to see how serious they are about having it for a long range strike role.

A-12 and YF-12 were fundamentally the same aircraft - it's just that the recon internal pod would be evacuated from the weaps bays.

I'll drag out my SR-71 refs to confirm. I managed to score a couple of excellent ref works on the breed while I was in Germany last year - unfort they're all in German. ;)

Hmmm...ok. I would have thought such a dumb comment warranted a send-off without the benefit of a yellow card first! Oh well, your call I guess.

There are strong indications that a development of the YF-23 has been flying for some years, and may in fact be based at TTR in the Nevada desert in near squadron strength along with an F-16 cover squadron.

The A-12 was a single seater and had a much smaller nose cross section. The YF-12 had a totally different forward fuselage which was about 2 ft longer, had a WSO (Weapons Systems Officer) in back, a radome with a big radar in it (forerunner to the AWG-9 in the F-14), and missile bays in the chines. The GAR-9 missiles were the forerunner of the AIM-54 Phoenix. Maybe uyou were thinking of the M-21 which had the camera pack behind the pilot removed to make way for an LCO (launch control officer).

GF...I'd like to get in touch with yourself and Aussie Digger off this forum if you feel so inclined. I'm based in Sydney and would be interested in opening up some Aussie specific dialogue away from this forum which is obviously heavily aimed towards the sub-continent!.

Cheers

[gf0012-aust]

Hmmm...ok. I would have thought such a dumb comment warranted a send-off without the benefit of a yellow card first! Oh well, your call I guess.

There are strong indications that a development of the YF-23 has been flying for some years, and may in fact be based at TTR in the Nevada desert in near squadron strength along with an F-16 cover squadron.

The A-12 was a single seater and had a much smaller nose cross section. The YF-12 had a totally different forward fuselage which was about 2 ft longer, had a WSO (Weapons Systems Officer) in back, a radome with a big radar in it (forerunner to the AWG-9 in the F-14), and missile bays in the chines. The GAR-9 missiles were the forerunner of the AIM-54 Phoenix. Maybe uyou were thinking of the M-21 which had the camera pack behind the pilot removed to make way for an LCO (launch control officer).

GF...I'd like to get in touch with yourself and Aussie Digger off this forum if you feel so inclined. I'm based in Sydney and would be interested in opening up some Aussie specific dialogue away from this forum which is obviously heavily aimed towards the sub-continent!.

Cheers

Feel free to PM me. As for non sub continent section, I guess that is another opportunity for the Web to consider - it would certainly broaden the "reader base" ;) Although for the interim I guess things could be slotted into Social and Political (as it it's designed to allow wide ranging discussions)

I've just had a trawl through my SR-71 books and I stand corrected. As per prev, the A-12 was "un-chined" (sic), and also shorter in absolute length. Tis strange as I would think that an autonomous interceptor (as in independant of GCI) would have had the larger nose for larger radar systems - much like its bigger sisters. I still think that it is one of the lost opportunities of aviation history. It would have had a better power to weight/thrust ratio though.

The XB-70, F-108, YF-12, SR-71 would have been an amazing quartet.

[Aussie Digger]

Yep, feel free to PM me too Magoo.

[WebMaster]

Magoo, welcome!

Many times a warning in their replies or through PM is enough to make them realize their mistake. If they do not improve on that, we show them the door. I do agree with you that there are too many topics on subcontinent, please feel free to open threads on any issues not related to the South Asia rim.
We just have too many indian and Pakistani members. :alian

Enjoy!

[Salman78]

F-111 is a beautiful strike aircraft but it has run out of steam now.