This was posted on the WOR website yesterday... cannot get the photo link to work. It's an Aardvark in mid air refueling. "Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum July 27 at 7:00am · ‪#‎WOTR‬ ‪#‎Onthisdayinaviationhistory‬: In 1996 an aircraft retires and finally gets a name. On a typically hot and muggy North Texas day, four U.S. Air Force (USAF) F-111s took off from Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth on a final trip to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona. The trip marked early three decades fo service for the F-111. Before the flight took off dignitaries from the USAF and Lockheed Martin were on hand to both retire the venerable aircraft and, possibly even more important, give it an official name. It is believed that the F-111 was the only USAF aircraft to go through its entire service life without an official name. Created in 1962 when the Department of Defense awarded a contract to General Dynamics to develop a supersonic aircraft for both the Air Force and Navy, a total of 562 aircraft were delivered, including 24 for the Royal Australian Air Force. In keeping with the original concept of the F-111 being a multi-service aircraft, it was the first in history to incorporate multi-role features and the first production aircraft with a “swing wing.” The movable wing gave the F-111 short takeoff and landing capability as well as supersonic speed at both high or low altitudes. Noted for its long-range, high-speed weapons delivery, and terrain following radar, the F-111 gained a fearsome reputation. At the retirement ceremony Maj. Gen. Lee A. Downer, Director of Operations, Headquarters Air Combat Command, officially named the F-111 the “Aardvark.” Tactical Aircraft Systems President Dain Hancock said of the F-111 “This aircraft taught us a lot about integrating sophisticated systems to work as one system, to help the pilot do his job better. The F-111 did, of course, evolve into six different models for the different roles it has performed for the U.S. Air Force. All of these lessons have served us well in the F-16 and F-22 programs, and they will surely find application in the next-generation Joint Strike Fighter program that we are now pursuing.” An electronic warfare version, the EF-111A Raven, remained in USAF service until 1999. Australia retired their F-111Cs and F-111Gs in 2010. Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum - Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum" Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum's photo.
Yup, I went to that retirement in 96. Still have the medal on my keychain that they passed out at the ceremony.
Pretty cool low pass video that I hadn't seen before..... Also shows the building damage that can be cause by a supersonic aircraft in close proximity. I gotta imagine it's a bit rough on the ears as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_Mh3dsln9M
That was great lol. Thats one of those cases where you have to just be like "ok guys what happened here stays here lol" "Now lets hit the home depot!"
That's some damage just by flying past! I was at Evans Head in January for annual aviation event.. RAAF Training base and bombing range in WW2 and still actively used for exercises from time to time with airspace closure.
ha, that kicked the buildings ass. when we would get up in control tower at Smokey Hill Range the F-4, A-7, and A-10's would usually do a low flyby at end. 3rd to 5th grade I lived in small town west of Topeka that was low level flight path B-52's mostly under 1,000 feet. Windows would break a few times, but usually just loud and vibrate.
