One Of My Favorite Missiles, Mated To A Pig... The Phoenix Missile meets the F-111 Aardvark.

[K'Tesh]

The Phoenix Missile meets the F-111 Aardvark.

 

[Hobie1dog]

amazing technology, thanks

 

[teepot]

The F111B was canceled by the Navy in favor of the F14. It never went into production. Funny story. When we were at RAF Lakenheath I read an article in one of the local newspapers. The article stated something about an F111B flying out of Lakenheath. I called the paper and told them the F111B was never produced. The lady I was talking to asked how I knew that. I told her my information was from Janes. She said ok but they didn't print a retraction. My wife and I got to fly a F111 simulator. I could fly it alright but kept crashing when I tried to land it. The F111 was a great plane. One of the fastest we had. I've talked to air crew about the TFR. Imagine, 100' above the ground, supersonic and in the dark. With the TFR set to hard. Must have been some ride. During the first Gulf War only the F111 and F117 could drop LGB's. Most of the F117 pilots flew F111's before going to the F117. My wife received a VHS tape of some of the LGB strikes during that War. We still have it. Just can't watch it. Near the end of the War since we were running out of targets the F111's started picking off tanks. I saw a video from Sandbox News on You Tube comparing the NGAD fighter to the F111. In it he comments that the NGAD fighter has a lot of similarities to the F111. I've got a lot of F111 pictures from airshows at Lakenheath and Mildenhall.

 

[Art Upton]

r. We still have it. Just can't watch it.

Is that due to not wanting to see it, or you don't have a VHS player anymore?

 

[cwbullet]

The F111 is one of my all time favorite planes. I personally think we retired ti too early.

 

[RokitFlyr]

Funny, I just watched that video last night. I was interested in the test paint of the Phoenix.

 

[cwbullet]

Why was the phoenix a one plane missile?

 

[K'Tesh]

Why was the phoenix a one plane missile?

Likely had something to do with someone selling them to Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (the Shah of Iran). When his government was overturned by followers of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a number of them, as well as the F-14 Tomcats in Iran's Air Force fell into Khomeini's force's hands. To deny the Iranians the chance to use them against us in any conflict the F-14 was retired and later destroyed when they reached the end of their service. I suspect something similar took place with the missile.

 

[ReynoldsSlumber]

Why was the phoenix a one plane missile?

Can think of a few reasons:

• A difference between Navy carrier fleet air defense and Air Force land-based defense that meant you didn't need it, like land-based anti-aircraft missiles in remote forward bases?
• The big ol' radar that the F-111B/F-14 needed to carry, and the dedicated crewperson to operate it
• The cost, at $1M per copy in circa 1980 dollars

 

[cwbullet]

Can think of a few reasons:

• A difference between Navy carrier fleet air defense and Air Force land-based defense that meant you didn't need it, like land-based anti-aircraft missiles in remote forward bases?
• The big ol' radar that the F-111B/F-14 needed to carry, and the dedicated crewperson to operate it
• The cost, at $1M per copy in circa 1980 dollars

$1M - wow. I forgot that.

 

[ReynoldsSlumber]

$1M - wow. I forgot that.

Oops, I was off by double, it was half a mil in 1974. Still...

 

[lakeroadster]

Oops, I was off by double, it was half a mil in 1974. Still...

​

 

[cwbullet]

Oops, I was off by double, it was half a mil in 1974. Still...

Still a lot of cash.

 

[teepot]

Is that due to not wanting to see it, or you don't have a VHS player anymore?

No VHS player now. We were watching either a documentary or a news show about the first Gulf War a long time ago. In one scene there is a room with tables with a lot of brass sitting there. My wife exclaimed there is Colonel K...., wife said don't use her name. She was the OIC of the target intel shop and my wife's boss. My wife knew most of the F111 air crew because she briefed them. I would watch a video about the War or about the 111's and then ask her if she knew a person. She would. Small world. Here is a funny thing. When she retired from being a contractor I got a plaque that said, The Order of the Mushroom. As in kept in the dark and feed, well you know.

 

[cwbullet]

No VHS player now. We were watching either a documentary or a news show about the first Gulf War a long time ago. In one scene there is a room with tables with a lot of brass sitting there. My wife exclaimed there is Colonel K...., wife said don't use her name. She was the OIC of the target intel shop and my wife's boss. My wife knew most of the F111 air crew because she briefed them. I would watch a video about the War or about the 111's and then ask her if she knew a person. She would. Small world. Here is a funny thing. When she retired from being a contractor I got a plaque that said, The Order of the Mushroom. As in kept in the dark and feed, well you know.

The Order of the Mushroom. Gotta love pilot humor. Almost as good as Doctor Humor.

 

[teepot]

Here are a few F111 pictures. One is the Pave Tack pod. It's an electro-optical targeting pod. It has a laser designator and forward looking infrared camera. It's housed in what is called a canoe. That pod was what let the F111 use LGB's. Then there is a GBU 15 TV guided bomb. The bomb has a camera in the nose. It transmits the image back to the plane and the WSO flies the bomb into the target. If any of you remember when Saddam started pumping oil into the Gulf a F111 dropped one on the pumping station. The cameras view was shown on the news. The last one is a picture from the pod looking backwards during a practice bombing run at Saylor Creek range near Mtn Home AFB. And the impact. When our wing left Lakenheath going to Saudi a little bird suggested I stand at the end of the runway at O dark 30. One F111 after another screamed over my head at less than 100' in full afterburner. Each one had two 2000lb LGB's, two GBU 15's and two Sidewinders. I had never seen one with Sidewinders before. That experience probably contributed to my hearing loss. It also gave me goose bumps. It was a sight I'll never forget.

 

[CTimm]

Some pics of Phoenix on an F-4, F-14, F-111.

 

[teepot]

From the Land of Oz