F-111 Website

silver-eagle

silver-eagle

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~John
One of the planes I really love, I remember watching them flying out of Pease AFB, NH, back in the '80s. There is a waterpark which was/(IS) directly under the departure end of the runway.
Of course, PEASE AFB is one of the best examples of re-use having emerged as Pease International Jetport.
Check out F-111.net.
 
I believe Ron Levy (frequent contributor to this and other boards) was an F-111 pilot.
 
Ron;
It doesn't matter to me. I know you have a history with them and I hope what you had was good, but they are still one of the best birds in the sky. It's a shame they got retired out of the US inventory so soon.
And THANK YOU for your contribution.
 
Paul Allen said:
What's Vark WSO stand for?

Thanks
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If he tells you, then he has to kill you. :)

I'll give you the first part. 'Vark means Aardvark, what the F-111 was called. As for WSO, this is from an online acronym dictonary. See if you can guess!

WSO WAN Systems Organization (Intel)
WSO Washington Standardization Officers
WSO Weapon System Operator/Officer
WSO Weather Service Office
WSO Western Sydney Orbital (Sydney, Australia metro area road network)
WSO Wilcox Solar Observatory
WSO Williams Students Online
WSO Windows Startup Online (Histon, UK)
WSO Wing Staff Officer
WSO Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra
WSO Wire Serving Office
WSO World Safety Organization
WSO World Service Office (Narcotics Anonymous)
WSO World Sikh Organization
 
I figured it was weapons or warfare officer, but I wasn't sure about the "S".
 
WSO is a weapons systems officer. He's the one that makes the pilot look good.
 
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silver-eagle said:
WSO is a weapons systems officer. He's the one that makes the pilot look good.
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There's an old story about that one. Seems the first F-4 WSO to be shot down by the North Vietnamese is being interrogated. "You F-4 pilot, yes?" asks the NVA officer. "No, I'm an F-4 WSO," he says. "Never heard of 'WSO' -- what means 'WSO'?" "Well," says the WSO, "I do all the preflight mission planning, select the weapons for the assigned target and choose the best delivery tactic, tell the pilot when to take off and where to fly, operate all the navigation/communication and electronic countermeasures equipment, identify the target and point it out to the pilot, release the weapons, tell the pilot where to find the tanker and how much fuel to take, show him how to get home, and write all the post-mission reports." "Ah, so," says the interrogator, "you what they call 'Aircraft Commander'!"
 
I'd appreciate learning the names of any crew members who distinguished themselves flying the the F-111, or who flew the F-111 and distinguished themselves later. For an article in AF magazine.
Walt Boyne
waltboyne@gmail.com
 
WaltBoyne said:
I'd appreciate learning the names of any crew members who distinguished themselves flying the the F-111, or who flew the F-111 and distinguished themselves later. For an article in AF magazine.
Walt Boyne
waltboyne@gmail.com
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The Walter Boyne... Welcome aboard sir. Your documentaries and contributions to aviation are very appreciated.
 
Barry Smith is a friend in Dallas who has been a successful aircraft broker for many years.

WaltBoyne said:
I'd appreciate learning the names of any crew members who distinguished themselves flying the the F-111, or who flew the F-111 and distinguished themselves later. For an article in AF magazine.
Walt Boyne
waltboyne@gmail.com
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One of my instructors in college used to be an F-111 WSO. It was great. We covered about 25% of the material and the rest was telling "war stories" about flying in the F-111. I wish there was a book written on the Libyan raids. I think that would have been a good read.
 
The Aardvark was my first program as an Engineer in the USAF. Lived thru all the engine/inlet, wingbox, avionics, etc problems not to mention the Early (and stupid) Deployment to Nam dictated by Fort Fumble (The Pentagon), and the impossible job of trying to meet USN requirements.

Once we jacked up the TF30 big enough to match the original Thrust/Weight the airplane was designed for, a non trivial task in itself, and fixed the inlet, etc, it was a HELL of an airplane.

Cheers
 
Velocity173 said:
One of my instructors in college used to be an F-111 WSO. It was great. We covered about 25% of the material and the rest was telling "war stories" about flying in the F-111. I wish there was a book written on the Libyan raids. I think that would have been a good read.
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I have an El Dorado Canyon War story! I qualified as a 'mission ready' EF-111 EWO (Electronic Warfare Officer - like a WSO, only smarter ;) ) in the 42ECS at RAF Upper Heyford in late March, 1986.

On the last day of March 1986 two things happened. I was looking forward to my promotion party as I was to 'pin on' Major the next day. Also, a Bedford Lorry from RAF Cranwell towing a Rapier Missile launcher ran over the Morris Mini driven by my wife, injuring her.

I went on leave of course, and came back to work about ten days latter to find the squadron in a tizzy, although I wasn't sure why. A day or so latter I was 'read in' to the Libya Mission. I saw the list of crews who were to fly the fly the mission and their backups. We were planning on starting 8 EF-111's, launching (IIRC) six, and four would fly the mission.

I figured that if I could somehow serve poisoned fish to at least nine or ten other EWOs I'd be able to fly to the mission.

It was exciting being read in, but my only actual contribution was to copy the approach plates for airports along the router and make them into little booklets. To do this, I risked cutting off a finger in the huge paper cutter we had in our flight planning room.

Sadly, in 20 years in the Air Force that was as close to combat as I ever came. :mad2:
 
JimNtexas said:
I have an El Dorado Canyon War story! I qualified as a 'mission ready' EF-111 EWO (Electronic Warfare Officer - like a WSO, only smarter ;) ) in the 42ECS at RAF Upper Heyford in late March, 1986.

On the last day of March 1986 two things happened. I was looking forward to my promotion party as I was to 'pin on' Major the next day. Also, a Bedford Lorry from RAF Cranwell towing a Rapier Missile launcher ran over the Morris Mini driven by my wife, injuring her.

I went on leave of course, and came back to work about ten days latter to find the squadron in a tizzy, although I wasn't sure why. A day or so latter I was 'read in' to the Libya Mission. I saw the list of crews who were to fly the fly the mission and their backups. We were planning on starting 8 EF-111's, launching (IIRC) six, and four would fly the mission.

I figured that if I could somehow serve poisoned fish to at least nine or ten other EWOs I'd be able to fly to the mission.

It was exciting being read in, but my only actual contribution was to copy the approach plates for airports along the router and make them into little booklets. To do this, I risked cutting off a finger in the huge paper cutter we had in our flight planning room.

Sadly, in 20 years in the Air Force that was as close to combat as I ever came. :mad2:
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Great story. Nothing to be sad about serving 20 yrs and no combat. Your job in fast jets is as dangerous as most of the people serving in today's combat theaters. I've flown in the worst places in both Afghanistan and Iraq, and I had just as many close calls when I trained students to fly over lower Alabama. I've actually lost more friends during peacetime training accidents than combat related accidents.
 
Velocity173 said:
I've actually lost more friends during peacetime training accidents than combat related accidents.
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I think that is historically typical -- certainly is for me. And the only time I ever got shot at was over Eastern Kentucky in an RF-4C.
 
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