Stupid me, closed out Global Security, will post here in about 3 minutes. Here we go:
Nicknamed 'Aardvark' because of its long, slightly upturned nose, the F-111 evolved in response to a joint services requirement in the 1960s for a long range interceptor (US Navy) and deep-strike interdictor (USAF). The F-111 was a multipurpose tactical fighter bomber capable of supersonic speeds. The aircraft was one of the more controversial aircraft ever to fly, yet it achieved one of the safest operational records of any aircraft in USAF history and became a highly effective all-weather interdiction aircraft. The F-111 provided many firsts among weapons systems. It was the first production aircraft with variable swing wings that could be swept back or brought forward to increase efficiency. It also had the first terrain-following radar, allowing it to fly at night at high speeds and low altitudes, as well as the first crew escape module. The aircraft was produced in seven different variants with the first production aircraft delivery in October 1967 and the last delivery in September 1976. F-111's are no longer in the Air Force inventory but were a major part of the fighter force for many years.
The Tactical Fighter Experimental (TFX) Program called for developing a single aircraft to fulfill a Navy fleet defense interceptor requirement and an Air Force supersonic strike aircraft requirement. The mission requirements were impossible to achieve, especially since planners placed priority upon the Air Force requirement, and then tried to tailor a heavy land-based aircraft to the demands of carrier-based naval aircraft. The naval version, the F-111B, was never placed into production. The Air Force aircraft was produced in a variety of models, including the F-111A, F-111D, F-111E, and F-111F fighter-bombers; the FB-111A strategic bomber; the F-111C for the Australian Air Force; and an EF-111 electronic warfare version. The US Air Force versions were retired in 1996, but the Australians plan to operate their fleet until well into the twenty-first century.
This aircraft was one of the more controversial aircraft ever to fly, yet it achieved one of the safest operational records of any aircraft in USAF history and became a highly effective all-weather interdiction aircraft. The last four F-111Fs in the United States Air Force returned to their birth-place for the F-111's retirement and naming ceremony 27 July 1996 at Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems in Ft Worth, Texas, where the first F-111 rolled out of the (then) General Dynamic's mile-long plant Long known unofficially as the "Aardvark," the name became official at the ceremony
(which I will be requesting again in a couple of weeks
