Forum: Military Aircraft of the Cold War

FB-111A from Pease in the '80s performing a "Zippo"!

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Oh man, that brings back memories. The FB-111 was a staple of the London (Ontario) Air Show back in the 1980s. IIRC, this shot was taken there in 1985.

Nice photo dvg.

Thanks - You are correct of the origins of that photo too.

Thanks darkvarkguy. As a kid/teen, I attended London religiously. It was a long drive but well worth it. The military demo line ups in those days were unreal – F-15/F-16/F-14/F-18 (CF-1 Cool

/FB-111/AV-8B/A-7/RF-4/F-5(CF-5)/KC-135/C-141 etc all in one day. The static line-up reliably featured over 100 military jets – sometimes exotica like Mig-29s/Victor tankers/an AN-124 and so on.

Anyways, the Pease based FB-111s were always there and usually with a flying demo. They even made it up in 1991 just a few months before they were disbanded and handed over to TAC. Even though I've gotten well past *favourite* jets, the FB-111 has got to be my “favourite” jet to this day.

Yeah, mine too. I loved Crewing them and love bragging about their capabilities even to this day.

Darkvarkguy, I can see by your sigs that you crewed F-111Gs. Was there really any difference between the FB and G that made all the difference. I talked to a G crew in 1991 in Ottawa and they were just “happy to fly the plane.” I think they were Cannon based. Anyways, I was glad to see the FBs even if they were just gray Gs. Too bad they retired those aircraft so soon, even after all the updates.

The first two F-111G conversions were completed in early 1989. The program was originally scheduled to continue at a rate of approximately twelve conversions per year so some were converted after arriving at Cannon I believe. I got out right in the middle of it all. The first F-111Gs and FB-111As were transferred from SAC to TAC between June and December 1990. Even though the conversions began in late '89 (but they weren't actually referred to as 'G' models until they were assigned to TAC - Cannon AFB). AFAICR (it's been 20 years), the FB-111A's nuclear delivery was retained, and it's conventional weapons release system was updated (they could always carry conventional just some Fire Control tweaks to make them compatible with all the TAC weapons). Other improvements included the installation of a Have Quick UHF radio and some new ECM stuff. They had already completed the AMP program which gave them state-of-the-art Avionics and Navigation, including Ring-laser gyros, so the fit was pretty seamless. Then Australia bought 15 'G' models from there to supplement their 'C' models. What's ironic is that the 'G' model was more advanced than their 'C' models, yet they flew the 'G' primarily in a training capacity! Australia retired the remaining 'G' models in September of 2007 I believe.

I spoke to the 111 driver at London in '85 just before his launch - he said "watch for the last pass", so I had an idea what was coming (lighting the dumped fuel had been prohibited in the States for quite a long time.)

As I said, I knew what was coming, and he made a great pass, but the airport fire department had no idea what was going on and met the jet - which they obviously thought was in trouble - at EOR ready to put out a fire.

Mike

Forum: Military Aircraft of the Cold War

Something to 'light off' the new year!