'111 Veteran

Recently, I realized that I haven’t been maintaining and nurturing this blog as much as I should be.  To help acclimate myself to the Christmas season, I decided to adorn this blog in festive colors of green and red.

During Veterans Day, I met a veteran FB-111  crew chief from the 509^th Bombardment Wing at Pease Air Force Base, New Hampshire.  Murph served with the 509th from 1982 until 1990 with a brief one year stint at Suwon Air Base, Korea during that time. I was amazed by some of the war stories Murph told me.

For example he told me that after the April 1986 raid on Libya, Operation El Dorado Canyon, aircrew of the 509^th were placed on cockpit-alert in support of Strategic Air Command's Single Integrated Operational Plan (S.I.O.P.) and Emergency War Orders.  I suppose this was only a contingency to preempt any threats to national security as a result of the Libya raid.

An FB-111A Aardvark in the alert shelter at Pease Air Force Base,  New Hampshire. Via FB-111A.net

The second interesting story was about an FB-111 that came back from a mission.  Apparently the aircraft had flown such a low TFR (terrain following RADAR) profile that it came in contact with the top of pine trees.   Pine needles were actually found on the bottom of the aircraft.

The TFR patch.  Via CodeOne Magazine.

Thanks Murph, I salute you!

TFR

The view from an F-111.  Photo via F-16.net

The F-111 was designed to fly low and fast! The aircraft's terrain following radar system allowed the F-111 to fly low in order to avoid threats such as enemy radar, anti aircraft artillery (AAA), and surface to air missiles. 

It was not uncommon for the F-111 to fly several thousand feet to several hundred feet above ground level (AGL).  This type of flying later become known as TFing.

The fight crew can decide how many g-forces will be exerted on the aircraft by switching a button and selecting either hard, medium or a soft ride.

Here are two videos from You Tube.   The first example shows an F-111F TFR mission from Mountain Home Air Force Base Idaho on September 7, 1973. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3sIwGvkLlY


The second video shows a Royal Australian Air Force F-111 Pig making a low pass at Evan's Head Range, New South Wales, Australia  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8124lhm6d7o

An F-111 flying TFR in Southeast Asia