Identify this grounded jet?

Parked on the side of the road on I30 in Texas. Any guesses?
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Well, obviously an F-111, but it must have an interesting story.
Where??

 

Somewhere between Dallas and Texarkana, on the westbound frontage road. I don't recall the exact place.

 

I'm not 100% certain if its the same one, but I saw one on my way to Mount Vernon a couple years ago.

I always thought they were fake though.

 

I have also seen this jet before. My grandparents live in Texarkana, and saw it a few times last year driving by.

 

Odd place to leave an Aardvark laying around.

Always thought those pigs were a good looking airplane. But sometimes pretty just doesn't perform.

Good example of what is wrong with military procurement.

 

Actually, it flew for a long time and did quite well;

"On 14 April 1986, 18 F-111s and approximately 25 Navy aircraft executed Operation El Dorado Canyon by conducting air strikes against Libya. The 18 F-111s belonging to the 48th Tactical Fighter Wing flew what turned out to be the longest fighter combat mission in history. The round-trip flight between RAF Lakenheath, United Kingdom and Libya of 6,400 miles (10,300 km) spanned 13 hours."

"In Desert Storm, F-111Fs completed 3.2 successful strike missions for every unsuccessful one, making it 47% more capable than the next leading strike aircraft."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Dynamics_F-111

 

Ok, the F-111 reference was enough to find the jet on the internet.

http://www.f-111.net/t_no_K.htm

Turns out this is a test unit, and was never a complete plane.

 

Doesn't change the fact that it was a turd. It was dreamed up by Robert MacNamera and he tried to push it off on the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. The Navy and Marine Corps managed to wriggle out from under it and run the other way screaming. GD had so much of Uncle Sams money in the project somebody had to buy it so it was up to the Air Force.
It was too heavy, too slow, and broke too much. Neither the airplane, it's powerplants or it avionics package ever lived up to its promises.
It was considered one of the true turds of the Viet Nam air war and was held up as a shining example of how not to go about producing or purchasing a new piece of equipment for the military.

It is true that after about thirty years of fooling with it and completely re-equiping the electronics they finally made it into a usable airplane but it still fell short in performance. With a crew of 2 it was a pretty good smart weapon delivery vehicle. It was also used widely as an ECM aircraft and called "Raven" in that role.

 

Stopped in there a couple months ago and heard the story in person. It's a decent surplus store and the museum they have is definitely worth taking a look at.

 

My father gave me a cyclic stick from an F-111 that he had milled and threaded a piece of stainless into to fit my gear shift.

It was awesome for road rage!

 

This stick comes off of a _________
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NO WAY!!!! Where did you get that??????

 

theres a frame of an F4 in san antonio, just off Nacogdoches road, right past the parkway. i think the guy is trying to restore it?

 

It's molded after the F-4 Phantom and F-100 Super Sabre... some extra touch up work and a surplus Thrushmaster control stick, it looks and functions the part!
Real Phantom sticks are difficult to find.

~Edit for pic upload~
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What do the buttons do?

 

That's really cool. Brings back all the "rat a tat tat" freeway kill memories!

 

You are absolutely correct on the F111 nee' LBJ. It was a piece of crap. I was on Boeing's proposal team for that competition and the air force people said that we had it hands down...until LBJ and MacNamarra got into it make sure that it was built in Dallas (that's in LBJ Texas). GD made all the mistakes that they could in the design of their offering and believe it or not they had to hire a bunch of Boeing engineers to help them after they "won" the competition. It was over weight and under speed and never did what it was supposed to do. One Mugly Utha.

 

Didn't us Brits order them in the sixties to replace the cancelled TSR2 and then cancel that order when we had economic problems in favour of the cheaper Phantom - I think our airframes may have ended up in Australia
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They do nothing. I know what I want them to do, it's just that some microprocessor work might be involved.

Would like the pickle button to toggle; mirrors L/R, radio seek & volume controls, then have the HAT switch move the mirrors up or down, have the radio <<, >> etc.
Trigger - machine gun noise
Rack release button - missile noise

, you know, fun stuff combined with HOTAS

 

They are actually widely available - look at Banaire's website for a lot of different stick grips..

My stick grip is marginally functional in my airplane, although the trim hat and gun trigger is not used.; here's how it is wired:
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You bet they did. The Aussies fly the 111 and absolutely love it. I knew an Aussie 111 driver who couldn't say enough about the 111's low altitude performance. Called it a 'Cadillac', and, as the post above notes, the Aardvark has held its own in recent operations.

 

I guess it's just another example of how the military makes the best of what's thrust upon them. I recall that the F-111 had its share of growing pains and I did not envy any of the maintainers either, especially since I had "graduated" from the Phantom to brand new F-15s and A-10s.

Looks like mine may have come out of the same mold
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The TSR2 was a better airplane, but again, politics reign. I'm not pedaling sour grapes re F-111. MacNamarra tried to make one airplane work like a Ford for three different missions and when the politicians got into the picture they didn't care what the airplane did just so it s built in Texas. It was too heavy for carrier ops, the Marines thought that it didn't meet mission requirements, and the airforce got left holding the bag. GD designed the intakes in a configuration that Boeing threw out on day one. The rest of the airplane bumped into one problem after another , none of which were really resolved to the optimum. The airplane could have been a lot better but then those who bought it didn't have anything to compare it to . Mac Namarra admtited that he made a terrible mistake in trying to make one airplane do three different missions. Boeing engineers saved GD's butt from a complete bomb but just barely.

 

Australian F-111 "Dump & Burn" at the Avalon air show!!
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