Discussion
The F-111 was the last true member of the Century series. The F-4 Phantom was to be called the F-110 Spectre by the USAF, but was already the F4H-1 in the US Navy, so the F-4 name was retained.
Later members of the century series were the Russian & Chinese 'Constant Peg' aggressor squadron aircraft, and the F-117 Nighthawk 'stealth fighter', although it is of course a bomber.
From Wikipedia, this is the 'Constant Peg' list:
YF-110B Soviet MiG-21F-13
YF-110C Chinese Chengdu J-7B (MiG-21F-13 variant)
YF-110D Soviet MiG-21MF
YF-113B Soviet MiG-23BN
YF-113E Soviet MiG-23MS NATO:"Flogger-E"
YF-114C Soviet MiG-17F
YF-114D Soviet MiG-17PF
Back to the F-111. At one time BAe Filton had a contract with the USAF to conduct fatigue detection on the F-111 wing pivots. This involved taking the airframe down to -40°C in a special cold hangar, then ringing the relevant parts of the airframe. If a crack was present it would sound different.
Once the work was done and the USAF came to collect the aircraft, their party trick was to take off, point the nose vertical and stay that way until they levelled out at 30,000ft.
Later members of the century series were the Russian & Chinese 'Constant Peg' aggressor squadron aircraft, and the F-117 Nighthawk 'stealth fighter', although it is of course a bomber.
From Wikipedia, this is the 'Constant Peg' list:
YF-110B Soviet MiG-21F-13
YF-110C Chinese Chengdu J-7B (MiG-21F-13 variant)
YF-110D Soviet MiG-21MF
YF-113B Soviet MiG-23BN
YF-113E Soviet MiG-23MS NATO:"Flogger-E"
YF-114C Soviet MiG-17F
YF-114D Soviet MiG-17PF
Back to the F-111. At one time BAe Filton had a contract with the USAF to conduct fatigue detection on the F-111 wing pivots. This involved taking the airframe down to -40°C in a special cold hangar, then ringing the relevant parts of the airframe. If a crack was present it would sound different.
Once the work was done and the USAF came to collect the aircraft, their party trick was to take off, point the nose vertical and stay that way until they levelled out at 30,000ft.
Edited by GliderRider on Monday 4th November 23:01
In 1962, the US Navy and the USAF adopted a common aircraft designation system. This was an initiative under the new Secretary of State for Defense under Kennedy, Robert Macnamara. As a result, the numbering system from 1962 more or less was rewound back to 1 for each type of new project.
Some existing but "newish" aircraft i.e that were just entering service around 1962, were given new designations. The Phantom in US Navy service had been designated the F4H. This was because the previous designs for the US Navy by the McDonnell corporation had been the F1H Phantom, the F2H Banshee and the F3H Demon. F4H was the next McDonnell designator in line.
The F-111 is a bit of a mystery as the project was given the go ahead AFTER the new designation system had been decided on so it should really have been a low "F" number - or possibly been given a "B" designation, as it was a bomber rather than a fighter. It should really have been the General Dynamics B-1.
Another mystery is why the much later Lockheed F-117 was given that designation. It first flew in 1977, years after the old "century" series of fighter numbers had been discontinued. And it shouldn't have been an "F" anyway, as it was a bomber. It really should have been the B3. If the assignment of type numbers had been logical, we should have had -
General Dynamics B1 (not F-111)
North American Rockwell B2 (not B1)
Lockheed B3 (not F-117)
Northrop B4 (not B2)
Useful run down of the rather messy history post 1962 here -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1962_United_States_T...
Some existing but "newish" aircraft i.e that were just entering service around 1962, were given new designations. The Phantom in US Navy service had been designated the F4H. This was because the previous designs for the US Navy by the McDonnell corporation had been the F1H Phantom, the F2H Banshee and the F3H Demon. F4H was the next McDonnell designator in line.
The F-111 is a bit of a mystery as the project was given the go ahead AFTER the new designation system had been decided on so it should really have been a low "F" number - or possibly been given a "B" designation, as it was a bomber rather than a fighter. It should really have been the General Dynamics B-1.
Another mystery is why the much later Lockheed F-117 was given that designation. It first flew in 1977, years after the old "century" series of fighter numbers had been discontinued. And it shouldn't have been an "F" anyway, as it was a bomber. It really should have been the B3. If the assignment of type numbers had been logical, we should have had -
General Dynamics B1 (not F-111)
North American Rockwell B2 (not B1)
Lockheed B3 (not F-117)
Northrop B4 (not B2)
Useful run down of the rather messy history post 1962 here -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1962_United_States_T...
I always thought that the F-117 designation was to throw people off the scent of it's existence. It's existence had been rumoured for years before it was actually made public and everyone assumed it would be the F-19. It was always rumoured to be a fighter and it was thought it's development came after the F-18.
So, that's why I thought they came out with F-117, just to throw people.
So, that's why I thought they came out with F-117, just to throw people.
AshVX220 said:
I always thought that the F-117 designation was to throw people off the scent of it's existence. It's existence had been rumoured for years before it was actually made public and everyone assumed it would be the F-19. It was always rumoured to be a fighter and it was thought it's development came after the F-18.
So, that's why I thought they came out with F-117, just to throw people.
That was definitely part of the plan. So, that's why I thought they came out with F-117, just to throw people.
Even the F-35 is "out of sync". The 35 number came out of its "X" (Experimental) designation of X-35. It should have been an F-27 or something along those lines.
It's fixable... said:
I thought the F-111 series of aircraft were named "Aardvark" ?
Unofficial name, until it's retirement in 1996 - https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Yr6HCwAAQBAJ&a...EF-111As were Ravens.
FourWheelDrift said:
It's fixable... said:
I thought the F-111 series of aircraft were named "Aardvark" ?
Unofficial name, until it's retirement in 1996 - https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Yr6HCwAAQBAJ&a...EF-111As were Ravens.
FourWheelDrift said:
Unofficial name, until it's retirement in 1996 - https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Yr6HCwAAQBAJ&a...
EF-111As were Ravens.
Maybe officially, I thought ‘Spark Vark’ was the approved term? Kind of similar to the F16 - the ‘Fighting Falcon’ only on paper, everyone calls it the Viper!EF-111As were Ravens.
My memory of the '80's was that they were just referred to as F-111 or EF-111 whenever we talked about them I always thought Aardvark was the Aussie name for them.
Working on a busy visiting aircraft section in North Wales we used to get about one F-111 in per week with an engine out, usually due to a bird strike, and several more just for fuel and lunch. We'd occasionally get an EF-111 in and whilst I recall that Raven was the official name for them, the crews just used to call them EF-111's.
F-111's were just called F-111 by ground crew and aircrew alike and it was only air traffic/ ops that used to call them 'Fox treble ones' to everyone's amusement.
Working on a busy visiting aircraft section in North Wales we used to get about one F-111 in per week with an engine out, usually due to a bird strike, and several more just for fuel and lunch. We'd occasionally get an EF-111 in and whilst I recall that Raven was the official name for them, the crews just used to call them EF-111's.
F-111's were just called F-111 by ground crew and aircrew alike and it was only air traffic/ ops that used to call them 'Fox treble ones' to everyone's amusement.
Never heard the F111 referred to as anything but F111 or The Pig down here in Australia.
If you’re ever down here there’s a few examples in museums. Fighterworld in Newcastle north of Sydney has one you can get very close to as its not roped off and you can get a cockpit tour for a donation. Amazing aircraft to look over.
If you’re ever down here there’s a few examples in museums. Fighterworld in Newcastle north of Sydney has one you can get very close to as its not roped off and you can get a cockpit tour for a donation. Amazing aircraft to look over.
For almost the entirety of its active life under test and development and with the USAF (1964 to 1996), the F-111 had no formal name, apart from the electronic warfare conversions which were known as the Raven. However, the aircraft had a number of unofficial nicknames (as many planes do), the two most common being Aardvark and Pig. "Aardvark" actually means "earth pig" in Boer - so you can see where the "pig" name came from. I don't think it was entirely complimentary either.
Right at the end of its service life with the USAF, it finally was given Aardvark as its official name.
Right at the end of its service life with the USAF, it finally was given Aardvark as its official name.
aeropilot said:
FourWheelDrift said:
It's fixable... said:
I thought the F-111 series of aircraft were named "Aardvark" ?
Unofficial name, until it's retirement in 1996 - https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Yr6HCwAAQBAJ&a...EF-111As were Ravens.
Wasn't it designated F-111 because it was developed out of the TFX project which was designed to produce a common aircraft for both the USAF and US Navy? The Navy version would be the fleet defence fighter (which eventually materialised as the F-14 Tomcat) and the USAF was wont to hang bombs of things that were notionally fighters anyway e.g. F-100 Super Sabre, F-105 Thunderchief and even the F-104 Starfighter could carry ordnance for blowing up the Viet Cong.
GliderRider said:
Back to the F-111. At one time BAe Filton had a contract with the USAF to conduct fatigue detection on the F-111 wing pivots. This involved taking the airframe down to -40°C in a special cold hangar, then ringing the relevant parts of the airframe. If a crack was present it would sound different.
Once the work was done and the USAF came to collect the aircraft, their party trick was to take off, point the nose vertical and stay that way until they levelled out at 30,000ft.
Working at Filton, my father knew when interesting stuff like this was scheduled and so would pack us in the car to watch it. I remember going down one evening to watch the first A340 to take off from Filton having, I guess, flown in from Toulouse which was fun. Looked amazing for an airliner when you’re so used to just seeing 747s. The F111s made an incredible noise though they’d often use reheat too despite the length of Filton runway really being quite long enough...Once the work was done and the USAF came to collect the aircraft, their party trick was to take off, point the nose vertical and stay that way until they levelled out at 30,000ft.
Edited by GliderRider on Monday 4th November 23:01
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