THE F-111 AARDVARK ALL WEATHER TACTICAL STRIKE AIRCRAFT "BEYOND CHALLENGE" 23844

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Created by General Dynamics, this film was created to promote the F-111 Aardvark, a tactical strike aircraft, that could be used in all types of weather.
The General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark was a supersonic, medium-range tactical strike aircraft that also filled the roles of strategic bomber, reconnaissance, and electronic warfare in its various versions. Developed in the 1960s by General Dynamics, it first entered service in 1967 with the United States Air Force. The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) also ordered the type and began operating F-111Cs in 1973.
The F-111 pioneered several technologies for production aircraft, including variable-sweep wings, afterburning turbofan engines, and automated terrain-following radar for low-level, high-speed flight. Its design influenced later variable-sweep wing aircraft, and some of its advanced features have since become commonplace. The F-111 suffered a variety of problems during initial development and several of its intended roles, such as an aircraft carrier-based naval interceptor with the F-111B, failed to materialize.
USAF F-111 variants were retired in the 1990s, with the F-111Fs in 1996 and EF-111s in 1998. The F-111 has been replaced in USAF service by the F-15E Strike Eagle for medium-range precision strike missions, while the supersonic bomber role has been assumed by the B-1B Lancer. The RAAF was the last operator of the F-111, with its aircraft serving until December 2010.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit www.PeriscopeFi...

[@claycook5773]

I was an F-111F Aircraft Commander at RAF Lakenheath from March of 85 to March of 88. There is practically nothing you can do in an airplane that is more fun than going REALLY fast and REALLY low and trying to drop good bombs while doing so. Early in my time there, we'd fly through northern Scotland at night on the TFRs, and it was jet black outside and so it was a rather technical exercise, monitoring the system. The real revelation came later in the year when we'd fly through the same mountains in the endless twilight of a Scottish summer evening. Then I could actually see what the TFRs had been taking us through! It was terrifying! Also amazing to know that the Vark could do it. I miss them.

[@BlueBeeMCMLXI]

I think it's wonderful you were keeping the Jocks down ... good man! LOL.

[@socaljarhead7670]

I spoke to an F-111D pilot years ago at Edwards. He sad that model was hugely problematic but when it worked right, boy there was nothing like it at the time. He said it took a while to get used to flying hands off (the stick he said didn’t move either) at 500 knots at 100 feet AGL and seeing the tops of the mountains and hills ABOVE him as they went through a valley. Amazing aircraft!

[@claycook5773]

The F-111 fleet was divided into two versions. There were the analog versions, the F-111A and F-111E, and the digital versions, the F-111D and F-111F. Those on the way to the F model at RAF Lakenheath trained on the D model stateside first. Yes, the D was truly leading edge in many ways. It had a true HUD (the F only had a sight) as well as flat panel displays. Sadly, those technologies reach exceeded their grasp, and when the final F version came out, things retreated to older but more reliable technologies. Yes, the first TFR training flight was astounding! Hands off at 500kts and 200 ft above the ground was a mind blowing experience. It took a lot of "cross-talk" between the two crewmembers to keep up with what the automation was doing, and yes, sadly, there were accidents but it really was remarkably reliable. And, when it wasn't going to be reliable, generally there was plenty of warning. Once, while deployed to Zaragoza AFB in Spain, we challenged another unit of F-16's who were also deployed to a local bomb comp. The day dawned cool and misty with a hard overcast. The F-16's had to cancel due to weather. We flew all our sorties. Clearly the Vipers could do many things the Varks couldn't in other arenas, but dropping bombs in the weather was our home. Also, generally, any flying close to the ground greatly increases the risk of accidents. I believe that because the Vark's spent more time down there, we were more disciplined and more comfortable in that space. It was not for the faint of heart. @@socaljarhead7670

[@hckyplyr9285]

Did you take part in El Dorado Canyon?

[@claycook5773]

I did not. I watched them depart, believing they were participating in an exercise going on at that time. When we saw that supposedly "exercise" sorties were in fact carrying MK-84 Paveway LGB's we realized what was going on. The tension between the US and Libya wasn't a secret. We did not know about the restriction on flying over France. We pulled out some maps and drew relatively straight lines to and from and expected them back in about 7 hours. As it happened, they were only reaching the target in 7 hours. It was a long night. It was a long time ago. @@hckyplyr9285

[@Simmer4Decades]

I didn’t even know about the F-111 until the raid on Libya in 86. When news broke, I went to get my big book of airplanes and showed my parents what is looked like. From there I studied it and from what I learned, I agree that for its time, it was amazing.

[@s1dfk4123]

If the pilot's good, I mean if he's reeeally sharp, he can barrel that baby in so low... you oughta see it sometime. It's a SIGHT. A BIG plane like the F-111... VARRROOMM! Its jet exhaust FRYIN' CHICKENS IN THE BARNYARD! -Buck Turgidson, LTG, USAF

[@schr75]

Does he have a chance? Hell yeah he´ll have a chance.

[@ypaulbrown]

good Ole Buck....my Hero.....

[@marstondavis]

There's NO fighting in the war room!

[@redcloudshaman2509]

For me this is very nostalgic. The opening shot showing the camouflaged F111 with LN on the tail, is from RAF Lakenheath, Suffolk England. That was my very first duty base as a young airman. I was ground support, and frequently driving around the runway and when those birds came in for a landing, it was just magnificent to watch.. As they came in over the fence, and I was on the proper point in the runway, it looked as if they were going to land on top of my vehicle as I was driving!!! Thank you for posting this video!!!

[@opiec8871]

When I was stationed in then West Germany, my unit was out in the field. We were atop a large mountain when I noticed something heading straight for us from the valley below. Turned out to be an f-111. It was flying rather slowly and was extremely close the ground as it flew over us. I could see the wings sweeping. One of the coolest things I ever saw.

[@jagboy69]

Spangdahlem or Bitburg???

[@hugodesrosiers-plaisance3156]

That is seriously one beautiful, elegant looking airplane.

[@downunderrob]

In the RAAF, it was nicknamed The Pig. And it was a Dark day when we retired ours. And a Black day when we BURIED most of them. So dont bother looking in the Davis-Monthan AFB Boneyard for them.

[@russcole5685]

I feel your pain, i miss seeing them visiting us hete in New Zealand. I asca kid used to see them very often at Ohakea

[@gmwhaley0961]

Actually buried them ?

[@russcole5685]

@@gmwhaley0961 yes, because of containing aspestos

[@gmwhaley0961]

I worked at MCclellan AFB in Sacramento as a painter, I remember working on the last one or two before they were phased out from depot maintenance there, I grew up near MCclellan as a kid and remember them thundering out of there nonstop!

[@maynardcarmer3148]

I remember back in the day when syndicated columnist Jack Anderson was bad-mouthing the -111; but then he also bad-mouthed the A-10 Warthog, so there you are.

[@DigbyOdel-et3xx]

I'm a generation that lived through the Cold War , my era 70's and 80's. It was a very interesting era especially for those who appreciated our militaries. And most for fans of military aviation as i did. There were so many types and variants of military aviation both US/western and the USSR. It was quite exciting to learn about all those great aircraft of the Cold War.

[@DigbyOdel-et3xx]

The music is so appropriate for this era of film. The narrator had a great voice, we called it a smokers voice for many men who smoked had the deeper type voice. The F-111 has always been a cool combat jet that fulfilled its role ably. 😎👍

[@darrelneese5676]

I was stationed at Pease AFB from 81 - 84 as the Senior MICAP Controller in Base Supply. I had my challenges finding parts for this plane. Still had a lot of respect for it and the crew who flew and maintained it.

[@OldCBnGuns]

Thanks for your service especially in the cold New England winters. Not many people under 50 know what was at Pease and the important mission it conducted.

[@darrelneese5676]

@@OldCBnGuns Thank you for the recognition. Yes, some of the winters were brutal. It was beautiful otherwise and I loved the history.

[@creepingjesus5106]

I remember camping in a field near USAF Edzell, here in Scotland in the late 80s. I watched a trio of F-111s coming in to land, and if course into the wind in landing configuration they were surprisingly quiet. Until they got almost over us and went full vertical climb on reheat! My mate hadn't seen them and actually hit the deck with his hands over his head. We heard them then, to say the least. He'd got back up by the time they looped around, and they gave us a cheery waggle of the wings, so we waved back. Whoever those pilots were, they must've been laughing their arses off!

[@markhamersly1664]

My boss, for 13 years while I was flying for the Army Reserve as a Sr Aviator and working for a USAF contractor on classified contracts on all models of the Aardvark (ECM, avionics weapons delivery, etc.), was Colonel Tom C Germscheid. Tom was one of the original Combat Lancer pilots flying F-111As from Takhli RTAFB in 1968; he retired as the Wing King of the 27th TFW at Cannon AFB, NM. A great leader, understated, relaxed and VERY professional. Hammer USAF SSgt; US Army CW4/SrAviator; INS/ICE/CBP, ret.

[@Jonsonsan]

After seeing this advertisement, I really need an F111!

[@tholmes2169]

Yeah I’m ready to trade in my F4 Phantom on this bad boy

[@newdefsys]

Why have just one when you can have two !

[@Jonsonsan]

@@newdefsys Yeah you're right! Maybe I should wait until the next "buy two pay one" deal

[@Jonsonsan]

@@tholmes2169 Is that possible? Do you think they'll take two f104Gs with minor damage in trade? I found them in my garden a long time ago....

[@edwardburek1717]

RAF Upper Heyford was used quite prominently in this film. A few years ago, there was an exhibition about Upper Heyford at Banbury museum, and there was quite a lot of Aardvark ephemera on display, let me tell you.

[@christopherbrett]

As an Australian, I can say the RAAF loved ‘The Pig’… At RAAF air shows…the finale was always the ‘dump & burn’ spectacular! An awesome aircraft & tears were indeed passed, when it retired!

[@videointercepter]

I was in tech school in Tulsa in 84-86 and there were F-111's and A-7's at the ANG. The F-111 is amazingly big.

[@beth1966]

I was a engine mechanic at Lakenheath 81 to 84. The TF30P100 engine burned fuel at a rate of60,000 pounds per hour in afterburner. Ground engine runs at night we’re exciting. I got a ride for an hour while TDY at Incirlik…..that was pretty exciting too!

[@socaljarhead7670]

I always found it fascinating the stark contrast in appearance of the F-111 in the landing configuration as opposed to the high speed low drag setup. When on final with all its feathers out and that John Deere tractor main gear, it looks like an ungainly turkey. With wings swept back it looks very much like an arrowhead just cutting itself through the sky…

[@EdmontonRails]

The role of the F-111 remains unfilled to this day in the US air force. Many aircraft can strap a bomb load under their wings and hit targets in good weather, but none can take that load as far as the F-111 or brave the conditions it flew through just above the ground.

[@shadowopsairman1583]

F-16 and F-15 say hold my beer.

[@russcole5685]

​@@shadowopsairman1583not without support. F111 payload is huge in comparison.

[@socaljarhead7670]

Flying at high speed down on the deck in anything other than an F-111, Tornado, or a Buccaneer is not a pleasant experience. The wing loading on the F-15E is such that it’s like riding in the back of a truck on a rough dirt road. You can barely read the instruments it’s so bumpy.

[@EdmontonRails]

@@shadowopsairman1583 The F-15 struggles to externally carry what the F-111 carried internally. Without internal payload and swept wings there is a loss of efficiency and range. The concept of magical 'every-role' aircraft is a defense contractor scam.

[@adirondacker007]

I was carpet bombed with dead tree limbs by an FB-111 out of Plattsburgh AFB when I was 14. I was working on my brother's logging crew, felling trees at the time. My brother was skidding a hitch of trees to the header, and had the next hitch cut and ready to go, so I stopped to gas and oil my saw. The birds were singing, the squirrels were doing their thing. I half expected Snow White to show up singing... instead an FB came through at treetop level and dropped about a face cord of limbs around my head. I was duly impressed.

[@2dub2steady]

Vark Vark Vark

[@Nighthawke70]

Well, sure, with all the propreganda there was put out around it. And the performance record it had in SEA, when it worked. Yeah, when it all worked. The FB-111 was a borderline Hangar Queen. It had problems with the radar, the fire control, but namely the terrain following system. If the system ran for as long as 12 hours, it would glitch, throwing accuracy off by as much as 25 miles. SAC didn't have much choice but to integrate it into their SIOP package, for they had no supersonic capability until the B-1 came online. It stayed in the alert force for a long time until the Bone was fully integrated and equipped with the SNIPER target pod. Then it was retired quietly, until the EF-111 Raven was left. Then as the Electric Bug, the EF-18 came up, even that joined the others in the Boneyard.

[@Shooting-Journey-Guy-Mike]

Hehe, yeah these guys sure didn't ask Major John Boyd what he thought of it. Or why the very last slide in one of his aerial attack study presentations was the only one featuring the F-111 and the only one that the pentagon weenies quickly classified top secret. According to the biography I read, the final sets of slides showed the results of calculating the performance envelopes of various US aircraft against their Soviet counterparts. The F-4 Phantom shouldn't get into a turning fight against a Mig-19 below a certain altitude, etc. Previous slides had explained and shown the data that these conclusions were based on. The final slide showed conclusively that due to weight and wing loading the F-111 could not prevail in any sort of dogfight against anything in the Soviet inventory, at any speed or at any altitude. You could "boom and zoom" in a relatively straight line and if you had enough speed differential you could probably escape if you missed, but in any turning fight ever the F-111 would lose. The Pentagon hated it, but the math wasn't wrong. It was too late to drop the "F" designation but to my knowledge the F-111 was never seriously fielded in the fighter role. In this video you'll spot two AIM-9 Sidewinders on the outer pylons, but this was very rarely done operationally. I think they knew the Russians would be keen to watch this little video so they hung the Sidewinders on there to give Ivan something else to worry about. While developing the plane as a "fighter bomber" the USAF had tried out putting two Sidewinders in the internal bay and swinging them out on a trapeze arrangement upon launch, but this was never adopted as it was so bulky and complex that even the technology obsessed developers knew it was beyond dumb. I would be very interested to hear from former F-111 pilots on how much they actually trained with the APQ-113 radar in the air-to-air mode and how often they flew with Sidewinders or even theoretical Sidewinders during their practice.

[@Real_Steve_Sharpe]

@@Shooting-Journey-Guy-Mike That's some really good info Mike, thanks for taking the time to share. From what I understand the F-111 could have been the greatest fighter in the history of powered flight if not for some niggly little issues.. Like between the cockpit position, its layout, and the clamshell escape pod you couldn't even see what was in front of you, let alone what's behind you. Also having the turning circle of a a Japanese oil tanker with a busted rudder. Plus having such a huge amount of thrust that whilst you can go supersonic and push through to Mach 2.2, you have to submit a written request at least 20min beforehand. Is any of that close to the truth, or have I been mislead?

[@socaljarhead7670]

The -111 could push 2.6 at altitude. The limiting factor was the windscreen temperature as that would be first to melt. A buzzer would go off and then a timer would initiate indicating how much time you had to slow down before the windscreen could become damaged or in fact completely fail.

[@craig4867]

Australia wishes they still had the F-111 🗺️

[@hoilst265]

Australia got F-111s for exactly one reason: to piss off Indonesia. Also, one of Aus's greatest songwriters designed it.

[@MrDastardly]

F-111, a beautiful aircraft.

[@ypaulbrown]

fantastic aircraft...

[@briandavis812]

sublime

[@pauljensen5699]

Hello WarThunder players!

[@SouthFloridaThrifter]

My dad flew one of these, although his main bird was C-130s.

[@karmpuscookie]

Rubbish.

[@DigbyOdel-et3xx]

​@@karmpuscookie Why would you say that? This kid's dad could have been an F-111 driver that later in his military career transferred to flying C-130's.🤔

[@mattpierre891]

"One of the best of all time!" The commentary is a little "optimistic". First btw.

[@regularkcereal]

No you’re not

[@rockets4kids]

These films are basically propaganda for appropriations purposes.

[@colRobinOlds]

I mean... Isn't it? One of the best for sure.

[@melchristian8876]

Merry Christmas 🎄🎁

[@shankariarcot2459]

When was this footage made?

[@colonelkurtz2269]

Gaddafi's favorite plane.

[@pf6797]

Is it strange id kind of like go see an F-111 merge with a Foxbat and see what happens? 😅

[@miguellogistics984]

The most expensive plane the Navy did not want. The M16 of the sky. (Yes McNamara was in on it) If it were not for the quarter spike inlet variable contours, the plane would not feed the engines at supersonic speed. The need for low level for accuracy was a nagging reality for AF since Operation Market Garden if I recall. The reality played out day in and day out with the B29s over Japan. Any accuracy with High Altitude strategic bombing was a fable due to the disparate wind currents at separate altitudes. Thus you end up with JDams and this real beauty right here, and she has to be all weather, for at 20 stories off the ground, you are way under the weather. She is the only jet in flight shown in the Original "Red Dawn", and it was a beaut of a shot. Her unarmed RC variant was the only one with a Fighter Kill to her reputation, a Maneuver Kill. Escape pod was not a real exciting idea at 200 feet and often less. Inline arrangement for crew offered a looser individual ejection sequence and protection from Rocket motors, dual vertical stabilizers (14/18/22/35) allowed some wider margin for error in ejection eliminating the possibility of impacting a big rear fin when trying to escape. And so Aardvark went the way of the Dodo bird.

[@BlueBeeMCMLXI]

Dangerous is sexy. Get them before they even know you are there... LOVELY.

[@DigbyOdel-et3xx]

The SU-24 was the closest thing the USSR had to compete in the same type role the F-111 did

[@gettotheGate]

40 Second Boyd sends his regards.

[@peterparker9286]

Ladies and Gents... Wait until You see a flying dorito. 〰️〰️〰️ \ / \ / V

[@davidhudson5452]

Suicide Bomber They are something to see

[@TomcatMK]

F, but not Fighter - logic.

[@randht]

What makes this the “free world “?

[@rifleshooterchannel208]

Cold War era lingo to describe non Soviet aligned nations.

[@justeunfan3364]

Both sides presented themself as perfect against the evil other. In the west it was "free world againt communist dictatorship", in the east "people caring communist against devil selfish capitalists".

[@tholmes2169]

Countries that actually had food and didn’t have a gulag waiting for you.

[@texaswunderkind]

*Free World = not communism* Mao Zedong's "Cultural Revolution" in China between 1966-1976 killed two million people in its purges and reeducation camps. Up to 17 million people passed through the Gulag system in the Soviet Union from 1930-1953, with another two million perishing. The Democratic-Capitalistic system of the West may not be perfect, but at least it doesn't pile up dead bodies like cordwood.

[@BlueBeeMCMLXI]

A place where a dumb kid can grow up a commie and still be loved.

[@DNModels]

In retrospective, this video is pure propaganda. Beautiful jet though. Swing wing all the way.

[@mobiusone_8483]

👏👏👏👏