GENERAL DYNAMICS F-111 AARDVARK TERRAIN FOLLOWING RADAR TRAINING FILM 80074

[@IdahoBruce-r3g]

I saw this film in training school at Lowry AFB in 1973. Got my dream assignment to Mtn Home AFB Idaho and the rest was history. Literally. Remember, these were designed in the days of discrete components - no microchips. No disk drives, either. All computer test station mass storage was on punched and mag tape.

[@RockDodger]

I sat in an F111 at RAF Fairford back in 86 on a day trip on army cadet summer camp. I’ll never forget it. Epic plane

[@TakeDeadAim]

My grandfather was the lead EE on the F-111's TFR while at GD. He'd previously worked on the B-58's TFR for Convair(both at Carswell). He was the 2nd or 3rd person called whenever one was lost. I remember he told me many years ago that one of the reasons they had so many "growing pains" was that they were transitioning from tube to transistor and primitive digital technology and had to integrate the three. He said it was as much a test bed as a functional fighter. At the time of his retirement in 1972 (After thirty years with Consolidated/Convair/GD) he was the civilian equivalent of a full bird colonel....whatever that is in the GS world. I still have manuals, pictures, tie tacks, cuff links, pins and other memorabilia from both the B-58 and the F-111 projects. At his retirement he was given a nicely framed picture of the F-111 with about 300 signatures of people who worked for him as well as the pilots. It hangs in my "man cave" to this day!

[@curleycampbell9636]

My ex father-in law was in charge of this project at GD. LOL, he even had electronic ignition on the old 58 pickup. Was a great guy.

[@TakeDeadAim]

I'm sure my grandfather knew him then! He was the lead EE for the TFR and spent a lot of time between Carswell and Wright Patt where they did a lot of work on it as well. I'd like his name to see if he's on his retirement picture with about 300 signatures on it...

[@steven2212]

An F-111 was lost on 12 February 1969 when it impacted Mount Pequop, West of Wendover, Nevada, which was covered in deep snow. The snow deceived the Terrain Following Radar by absorbing the TFR radar energy, and hence making the mountain invisible to the system. It was not until June 1969 that the crashed aircraft was found.

[@longboardfella5306]

This is one reason Tesla has removed radar. If you can use near infrared such as modern digital cameras they are not deceived by water or fog. Australia where I’m from has a love affair with these beasts. We’re sorry to have had to retire them. Awesome

[@steven2212]

@@longboardfella5306 They gave them a proper burial...literally buried them. Fabulous gesture instead of cutting them up.

[@fishbones8698]

@@steven2212 going to be an interesting fund for any future archaeologists

[@andreinarangel6227]

Soooo.....Mount Pequop was covered with over 500 feet of snow???

[@fishbones8698]

@@andreinarangel6227 I think it's more like the snow was doing a bit of radar absorption

[@skyedog24]

Picture tube wow brings back a certain smell around any set.

[@jamiet2262]

When I was in the Air Cadets (British) back in the late 90's, we had a High ranking RAFofficer with more stripes on his shoulders than he knew what to do with pop down to tell us some stories. He said he was sent over to the US to help "The Yanks" and "sort out their Terrain FINDING Radar issues." I think what he meant to say was he was attached to the USAF evaluation unit when Britain was looking at buying F111's. He did manage to influence a few procedures and they were taken on by the USAF. Although the UK RAF didn't buy the F111s we had a fare share based here. Lovely J

[@terryharris5025]

Was stationed at Mt Home AFB from 1971 to 1975. Was ground maintenance in the hydraulic shop. Great plane to work on.

[@BELCAN57]

"After the TFR has been " warmed up". Ah, the good old days.

[@allgood6760]

Cool plane.. Legend 👍

[@fridayray8891]

Great airframe...however, lots of electronics issues..But The 111 was way ahead of its time ...

[@MatthewBaileyBeAfraid]

I had a professor when I went back to school in the 00s to complete some classes needed for grad school, who had worked on the computers for the F-111, and the F-14. The F-111 computers were electromechanical, analog, where they had HUGE function-coils that were wound to provide the solutions for different functions based upon the input from a variety of different systems to keep the aircraft at the set altitude. He showed some photos of the coils, and he wasn’t kidding about how large they were (some 6’ to 8’ long, with a varying radius through the length of the function, with some of them having function-coils driving the input to other function-coils). The F-14 Computers he worked on were principally for the Phoenix Missile Targeting System. He used to have a web-site about it, but I can no longer find it.

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

Nothing can be ahead of it's time. All it can be is at the leading edge of technology.

[@Batters56]

I would say this is filmed at the Tonopah Test Range?

[@alwayscensored6871]

My fav plane. You got a new sub.

[@89128]

It's radar couldn't tell if a mountain was covered in snow. It told the pilots open area ahead. Several crews died as the plane slammed into a snow covered mountain.

[@mr_beezlebub3985]

That is unfortunate.

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

As snow is just frozen water it's not surprising.

[@manuwilson4695]

Americans mate...Too GOOD!!! 👍

[@ronaldderonde]

Part of those electronics is now fitted in my new car. Adaptive cruisecontrol,emergency stop,automitic parking sensors etc.

[@HAL_9001]

I know I've watched this before. Did you guys find a better copy or something?

[@PeriscopeFilm]

You have a great memory. Yes, we re-scanned this film -- using a much better scanner so the image and audio is greatly enhanced. So how come you are not yet a subscriber if you've been watching all this time?!

[@HAL_9001]

@@PeriscopeFilm I think this was the first film of yours that I watched. Old, niche stuff like this is why I subscribed.

[@davidhudson5452]

saw it fly standing on ridge scared shit out of us it was close

[@elaineproctor9415]

TRF killed my father and his navigator in 1982 on the side of a mountain in the Isle of Skye. He had more flying hours in the F-111 than any other pilot at the time so they had to actually do an investigation instead of blaming the pilot.

[@_.J._.]

Year ?

[@publicmail2]

TFR failure causes a 3G pullup automatically.

[@badguy1481]

The B-52 had a (what I consider) a very simple and primitive terrain following system in the 1960's. But it was NOT automatic. It required the pilots to manually follow the projections. In the early 70's a newer, video system, was installed... but it also required pilot following inputs.

[@Popesontour]

Well the Navy went with Grumman and rightfully so, the Vaark had a lot of growing pains and that radar wasn't up to snuff. The system in the 14 could track and attack 26 individual targets a must when facing Soviet numbers. That was the whole point of the Phoenix system. Backfire bombers in huge numbers and escorts attacking the fleet. Now with Russia flexing muscles I bet someone in some readyroom is thinking what will we do? The older pilots who transitioned from Tomcats to 18s and 35s wish the old 14 was still on the ready 5!

[@ramonnoodles7840]

The F-111B used the exact same AWG-9 radar that the F-14 would use, so I get the feeling that you don’t really know what you’re talking about here

[@IgnoredAdviceProductions]

@@ramonnoodles7840 Hi ramon

[@ramonnoodles7840]

@@IgnoredAdviceProductions helo

[@cameronalexander359]

Too many TLA's (three letter acronymns)

[@944play]

Clearly I'm not a USAF boffin, because I don't understand the advantage of flying under the enemy's radar if it necessitates a dependence on one's own active radar. 🤔

[@fishbones8698]

A SAM site can't lock onto you using your own radar. Also, flying under the radar doesn't even work anymore.

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

At the time of development radar had one flaw - at low level there was a narrow channel where it couldn't get a clear picture of what was out there. So attacking ground attack aircraft would exploit this weakness. Using any radar or radio emissions from the attacker would announce the attacking aircraft, but as Fishbones stated you can't lock a radar guided SAM on to these transmissions but if you can track these emissions you have a chance to use AAA, MANPADs or heat-seeking SAMs along that track. As with all things technical advances in technology have removed this narrow channel.

[@robertmiles9942]

It was definitely good enough for the era. For several reasons, opposition air defense systems were generally not as nimble against high-speed, terrain-following penetration aircraft, even if you did know they were coming. It made things tougher for air defense patrols as well, who would need to search smaller areas masked by terrain, largely visually because look-down radar was a rare thing, and when you did spot them they were already going mach 1+. At night...

[@andreinarangel6227]

....and then they crashed into a mountain in North Vietnam.

[@IgnoredAdviceProductions]

And yet it was one of the best strike aircraft of that war

[@godsbeautifulflatearth]

The Earth is not a spinning globe but is in fact Flat, Stationary and Non-Rotating, fixed on Pillars and under the Firmament which separates the waters above from the waters below. Praise God~🙏👑🕊️

[@mikemcguire2635]

Get help...

[@Ed-eq8ui]

Hey flat-earther. Do that trick again, the one where you start typing and your whole brain disappears

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

Welcome fellow believer in Odin.

[@erickrobertson7089]

Everyone is free to believe what they wish. That being said, when you do reach the end of the earth, please write back and tell us where the end is for the benefit of the rest of us.

[@catladyforeverlaurig8042]

@@Ed-eq8ui hey how about watch this video again. Its literally showing it.. it shows the terrain, mountains, hills, valley's.. WE ARE NOT MONKEYS SPINNING ON A MAGIC BALL @1038mph , ORBITING the sun @66,000mph and chasing the sun @600,6600 mph through the VAST UNIVERSE! Are we SPINNING? Nope.

[@jamiet2262]

When I was in the Air Cadets (British) back in the late 90's, we had a High ranking RAFofficer with more stripes on his shoulders than he knew what to do with pop down to tell us some stories. He said he was sent over to the US to help "The Yanks" and "sort out their Terrain FINDING Radar issues." I think what he meant to say was he was attached to the USAF evaluation unit when Britain was looking at buying F111's. He did manage to influence a few procedures and they were taken on by the USAF. Although the UK RAF didn't buy the F111s we had a fare share based here. Lovely J

[@jamiet2262]

When I was in the Air Cadets (British) back in the late 90's, we had a High ranking RAFofficer with more stripes on his shoulders than he knew what to do with pop down to tell us some stories. He said he was sent over to the US to help "The Yanks" and "sort out their Terrain FINDING Radar issues." I think what he meant to say was he was attached to the USAF evaluation unit when Britain was looking at buying F111's. He did manage to influence a few procedures and they were taken on by the USAF. Although the UK RAF didn't buy the F111s we had a fare share based here. Lovely J