'Aussies @ Nellis'

[Panther_99FS]

http://www.nellis.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/photos/041109-F-8732E-004.jpg

http://www.nellis.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/photos/041109-F-8732E-003.jpg

http://www.nellis.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/photos/040309-F-8732E-005.jpg

http://www.nellis.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/photos/040309-F-8732E-006.jpg

http://www.nellis.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/photos/040309-F-8732E-007.jpg

[Navy Chief]

Are they still flying F-111's?

NC

[Panther_99FS]

Are they still flying F-111's?

NC

Yep :)

[Navy Chief]

Lord, I thought they were all in the boneyard.........

Great pictures.

I've been to Nellis too. great time.

[redriver6]

what are those tail-less missle thingies?

[Panther_99FS]

what are those tail-less missle thingies?

Data pods for the range...

[wombat666]

Are they still flying F-111's?

NC

And far more effectively than the 'other' user ........ :173go1:

[Navy Chief]

And far more effectively than the 'other' user ........ :173go1:

The ONLY experience I had with F-111s was through Egress Mechanic school at Chanute AFB, way back in 1978. I was in, for a short time, the Indiana Air Natl. Guard, with the 181st TFG. They sent me to school there. The F-111 was part of the syllabus. Very interesting aircraft. Only one I ever knew where the entire cockpit would jettison, complete with chutes and floats. Fascinating.

NC

[Brian_Gladden]

Got a funny Vermont story about the 111's ejection system.

Back in the late 70' until they retired them, FB-111's were based out of Platsburgh AFB, across the lake from VT. A normal training sortie was to fly from Platsburgh to Montpelier VT (Where I am, roughly) and then turn northeast to enter the Yankee 1 MOA. Usualy following the US Rt. 2 highway (Not much of a highway... 2 lanes of rural road) anyway, one night they pushed the bird into burner and started swinging the wings back...

Except that only one wing started to sweep.

To say the airplane went out of control is an understatement.

Crew ejected the pod safely and began decending.

Picture this. You're a VT farmer, asleep in bed when you hear a huge explosion from one of your fields. You jump out of bed, look out the window and see a huge fire burning. Tell the wife to call the fire department and the troopers and you head downstairs.

As you hit the front porch you hear a crashing noise from the big tree in the yard and suddenly this... thing, drops to the ground next to your pickup truck.

After a moment of blinking your eyes, the canopy opens and this guy wearing flight gear leans out and yells, "Excuse me, Sir? Can I use your phone?"

True story. A buddy of mine was Air Force Security at Platsburgh at the time and since the plane came down in his home town, he got to lead the detail to the crash site.

He spent a cold November night watching a smoking hole in the ground, less than a mile from his parents house while the flight crew sat in the farmers kitchen drinking coffee and eating homeade pie. :faint:


Brian

[redriver6]

And far more effectively than the 'other' user ........ :173go1:

yep...we never quite perfected the IRMAS (InfraRed Missle Attraction System):icon_lol::icon_lol: