The General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark was one of those planes that really seemed to do better than its time. Designed to be beautiful yet intimidating, it combined remarkable velocity, avant-garde technology, and a flexibility that enabled it to solve the tasks that even the combined capabilities of the other airplanes could not.
Created during the uneasy days of the Cold War, it was a car of doubts, both the Navy and the Air Force trying to share one single plane, thus eventually giving rise to the concept of the most original, unpredictable jet that was going to bring conflict to the aviation history of the military.
The beginning of the story dates back to 1962 with the Tactical Fighter Experimental program, or TFX for short. The Pentagon’s idea was one aircraft that could do deep strike, air superiority, and nuclear delivery all at once. Theoretically, low costs and simple logistics were the advantages of this single design.
Reality, however, was much different. Meanwhile, the Navy was in the market for a lighter, more agile aircraft for operations on carriers; on the other hand, the Air Force was leaning towards the plane by speed, range, and payload.
Finally, due to landing and weight problems, the Navy backed off while the Air Force continued with its plan. As a result, the F-111A was destined for tactical bombing, whereas the FB-111A was designed for long-range strategic nuclear missions. General Dynamics succeeded in obtaining the contract, and by 1964, the initial production aircraft were already being manufactured.
Among other features, the F-111 was distinguished by its swing-wing. The pilots were empowered to move the wings to a position of more than 70 degrees for supersonic dashes or to unfold them to as little as 16 degrees for takeoff, landing, and slow flight.
In this way, the Aardvark gained the most marvellous attribute of flexibility—it could be shooting over 2.2 Mach one moment and then flying almost invisibly just several feet over the ground next to a forest to avoid radar the next…
The plane was just a pocket of innovations. The first came from the terrain-following radar, which allowed the plane to fly fast right above the ground even during a storm at night. The avionics system of the F-111, in addition to the aircraft communication function, combined navigation, targeting, as well as a few other unprecedented systems.
The safety feature was not less revolutionary either: unlike separate ejection seats, a detachable escape pod was the place for both the pilot and the co-pilot that could act as a survival capsule on land or water if need be.
Two Pratt & Whitney TF30 afterburners were each able to give the F-111 a total of more than 25,000 lb of thrust, which, among other things, ensured that the plane’s performance was outstanding, and it could go for a distance of more than 2,500 nautical miles if it only used the on-board fuel.
The impressive payload was no less impressive because 24 conventional or nuclear weapons, among which precision-guided bombs and AGM-69 SRAM missiles, were the ones being carried, was the maximum. The smart turning pylons kept the supplies and weapons that were in contact with air flowing on the vehicle regardless of the position of the wing.