Flying Earth Pig!

Historical Background

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the USAF and the US Navy were looking for a new aircraft that suited their needs. The USAF was looking for a long-range interdictor/strike aircraft able to penetrate Soviet air defences at low altitude and high speeds while the Navy was looking for a long-range, high endurance fleet air defence/interceptor aircraft to protect its carriers from long-range anti-ship missiles. Both of these requirements shared the same features: the need to carry heavy weapons and fuel loads, high supersonic speeds, twin engines, two crewmembers and possible use of variable-geometry wings. A month after Robert S. McNamara became the Secretary of Defense in January 1961, he directed the services to study a single aircraft that could satisfy both requirements. In June 1961, McNamara ordered the Tactical Fighter, Experimental (TFX) project to carry on despite the efforts of the services to keep their projects separate. The TFX was based largely on the Air Force's requirements and a Request For Proposals was provided to the industry in October 1961. Two months later, proposals were received from Boeing, General Dynamics, Lockheed, McDonnell, North American and Republic, with Boeing and General Dynamics selected to submit enhanced designs. Both companies submitted their enhanced proposals in April 1962. The Air Force favoured Boeing's submission while the Navy found both submissions unacceptable. Further updating of the proposals found the Boeing's proposal being accepted. In November 1962 however, McNamara selected General Dynamics' design due its greater commonality with Air Force and Navy versions and the contract was signed by General Dynamics in December 1962.

The TFX, now designated F-111A (Air Force) and F-111B (Navy) used the same structural components and the Pratt & Whitney TF30-P-1 turbofan engines. They featured a side-by-side crew seating in an escape capsule as required by the Navy. The Air Force version carried the AN/APQ-113 attack radar and AN/APQ-110 terrain-following radar and optimized for air-to-ground weapons delivery. The F-111A first flew on 21 December 1964 and initially there were compressor surge and stall issues in certain parts of the flight regime. This caused NASA, the Air Force and General Dynamics to redesign the inlet between 1965 and 1966. Cracks were also discovered in the wing attach points in 1968; despite that, one aircraft crashed in 1969 due to this problem. The attachment structure also required a redesign and testing to ensure adequate design and workmanship. Even though declared operational in 1971, flight test still continued until 1973. The F-111B was cancelled by the Navy in 1968 due to increased weight and performance issues and the need for further fighter requirements. However, the AWG-9 radar, AIM-54 Phoenix missile and the TF30 engine was retained for the F-14 Tomcat programme.

With the cancellation of the F-111B, the F-111 existed as an all-weather attack aircraft capable of low-level penetration of enemy airspace. The main features of the F-111 were variable-sweep wings, terrain-following radar, crew escape capsule and an internal weapons bay. The last-mentioned can fit two M117 750-lb bombs, one nuclear free-fall bomb, extra fuel tanks or a M61A1 Vulcan cannon. The last was removeable and was fed by a 2,084-round capacity ammo drum (the cannon was however rarely fitted). For external loads, the F-111 can be fitted with up to four underwing pylons under each wing, with the inner two being able to rotate with the sweep of the wings. Each pylon had the capacity of 5,000 pounds. The F-111 cannot carry ordnance under the fuselage but two stations were available for ECM or data-link pods. The Australian F-111C and the later F-111F version can carry an AN/AVQ-26 Pave Tack pod which can be rotated inside the weapons bay when not in use.

Deliveries of the  F-111s began on 17 July 1967 to the 474th Tactical Fighter Wing based at Cannon AFB, New Mexico and in early 1968, the 474th TFW relocated to Nellis AFB. The USAF then decided to send a small detachment of F-111s to South-East Asia to test the type under combat conditions. Known as the Combat Lancer program, six F-111As of the 428th Tactical Fighter Squadron left for Thailand on 15 March 1968. The missions would involve solo low-altitude, nighttime operations over North Vietnam. Such missions would be undertaken at low level (down to 100 feet) utilising the terrain-following radar and other targeting features under real-world scenarios. The first mission went successfully on 18 March 1968 but the the aircraft went missing for the next two missions. Two replacement aircraft were sent from Nellis but one of them also went missing afterwards. 51 other missions however went without a problem but the Combat Lancer program was halted on 22 April 1968 and the detachment returned stateside in November 1968. The losses caused a controversy, with the F-111 being called 'McNamara's Folly'. It was then established (and confirmed by surviving F-111 crews) that a tailplane problem could cause a sudden and uncontrollable pitch-up and roll, which in turn caused the aircraft to break up in flight. The cause of the other two losses were poor mounting of the M61 cannon and pilot error.

When the Easter Invasion by North Vietnam commenced in 1972, the F-111s of the 474th TFW returned to South-East Asia. 48 aircraft from the 428th and 429th TFS arrived at Takhli on 27 September 1972 as part of Constant Guard V operation. The first combat mission, just hours after arriving, resulted in another loss, and in turn, resulted in another suspension. In the next 60 days, three more F-111s were lost. During Operation Linebacker II in December 1972, the Aardvarks flew again, with two aircraft lost. The 428th and the 429th TFS were then absorbed into the reconstituted 347th TFW and flew on missions over Cambodia until 15 August 1973. Between September 1972 and August 1973, the Aardvarks flew 4,000 combat sorties, suffering the loss of seven aircraft (the six mentioned above plus another lost in an accident). The missions were mostly flown, especially during Linebacker II, at night and during the monsoon season, which grounded most attack aircraft (with the possible exception of the A-6 Intruder). The F-111 later took part during Operation El Dorado Canyon in 1986 and Operation Desert Storm in 1991.

The F-111A was further developed into the D, E and F versions. The F-111C is a variant of the F-111A as ordered by the Royal Australian Air Force with longer wings and strengthened landing gear. The USAF Strategic Air Command operated FB-111A strategic bomber armed with AGM-69 SRAM missiles. With the introduction of the B-1B Lancer, the FB-111A became surplus to the SAC and they were reconfigured for tactical use and redesignated F-111G. There was also an electronic warfare version, the EF-111A. Nicknamed by its crews as the 'Aardvark' because of the F-111's long, droopy nose resembled an aardvark's, the nickname was made official at a ceremony marking the retirement of USAF's F-111s on 27 July 1996.

The Kit

Italeri kit No. 1232, released in 2002, wasn't really a new kit. It was actually a reboxing of the ESCI kit from 1988. Despite its age, the kit has very nice details with crisp, engraved panel lines. While not up the standards of resin cockpits, the kit interior still have reasonable details. The canopy parts are separate and allows one to pose it in either open or closed positions. And, as usual with variable-geometry aircraft model, the wing swing hinge was included, which allowed wing movement. For external stores, Italeri included eight M117 750-lb bombs typically carried during the Vietnam War. The bombs however were hung from regular MERs and not the BRU-3/3A specifically made for the F-111. There were also two ALQ-87 ECM pods, to be fitted to their respective stations underneath the fuselage. Decals were included for three aircraft, all in T.O 114 (SEA) camouflage. They are for:

1. 429th TFS, 474th TFW, Takhli, Thailand 1972 (Constant Guard V)

2. 428th TFS, 474th TFW, Nellis AFB, Nevada 1978

3. 4481st TFS, 474th TFW, Takhli, Thailand 1968 (Combat Lancer)

The decals were well-printed and looked sharp. There were however no stencil decals except for some 'essential information' stuff; an aftermarket decal sheet is needed for the stencil datas.

Construction

The cockpit parts were first painted on the sprue. Italeri mentioned that the main colour is FS 36440. Having built a number of USAF aircraft, plus looking at photos of the cockpit, I'm convinced that the actual cockpit colour was FS 36231. I painted the colour using Gunze Aqueous H317. The detail inside the cockpit is of the typical 1980s issue kit - rather light on detail but what were provided were reasonable enough. All the dials, instrument panels and seat belts were provided as decals. The seats themselves has sufficient but inadequate detail. The cockpit was then assembled and set aside while I moved on to the nose wheel bay. Italeri had you assemble the nose landing gear, set it inside the well and glue the wheel well to the nose. I believe this is a recipe for broken parts, and after looking at the assembly sequence, I decided to just cement the wheel well only, with the landing gear parts cemented later. After cementing the cockpit module and the wheel well on the right forward fuselage half, I filled some plasticine inside the nose cavity for ballast; this was aided by the size of the nose, allowing easy filling.

I then moved on to the rear fuselage and the wings. The wings consists of bottom and upper halves, with a hole already drilled into each of the bottom half (more on this at the 'Finishing' chapter). As usual with swing-wing aircraft models, there were guide teeth for the inner wing side. The wings were aligned and the fuselage halves were cemented, and not without some awkward moments! There were gaps in the fuselage sides (because of the swing-wing design) and those would be attended later. The next step is concerned with the mating of the forward and rear fuselage assemblies. The model was put on its back for this stage. While there is a lip on the upper rear fuselage assembly to mate with the forward fuselage, the rest of the connection was made up of three panels; the bottom one had holes drilled first in order to accommodate the ALQ-87 pylon and the M61 cannon fairing later.The fit of the side panels to the forward fuselage was not very good and putty had to be used here. The exhaust cans and the extreme tail were assembled and because of its location, the tail was painted first and cemented onto the model. The horizontal and vertical tailplanes were cemented together with the intake assembly, cannon fairing and the ventral fins. Again, the fit wasn't good between the intake and the rear fuselage.

Painting and Decaling

I did not decide which markings to apply at this time. It wasn't a problem as all the marking options have the same camouflage patterns. The black nose and bottom was painted using Tamiya X-18 Semi-Gloss Black. The upper camouflage colours were FS30219, for which I used a mixture of Tamiya XF-59 Desert Yellow and XF-64 Red Brown; FS34102 was Tamiya XF-67 NATO Green and XF-13 JA Green was used for FS34079. Then it was time for decals with the Constant Guard V aircraft chosen for the markings. Having used a number of Italeri kit decals, I am pretty confident that this kit's decals would behave the same, and indeed they were, although the tailcode decals were translucent, showing the colours underneath them. The kit decals however lacked the numerous stencils and for that I used TwoBobs' 'Combat Lancer' decal sheet. Being printed by Microscale, they are really thin and have good register although some of them looked oversized, especially for the geometric shapes on the nose. All of them settled well with a bit of Mr Mark Softer. There were plenty of leftovers that can be used for another F-111 (and I did use the USAF insignia for my F-105 Thunderchief). Although not mentioned in the instructions, the leading edge of the wings were painted silver, after looking at contemporary photos of the Aardvark.

Finishing

I first painted the exhaust cans Steel and Burnt Iron and once dry they were cemented onto the model. Next, I painted and assembled the landing gear and its doors. Once the model got on its feet, I proceeded with the armament and ECM pods. The MERs are to be painted white according to the instructions, but photos show them to be black, so XF-1 was used to paint them. As for the weapons, Italeri provided just eight M117 bombs to arm the model. While OK, the kit-supplied ordnance was 'lighter' than the normal weapons loadout of an Aardvark. There were two more pylons in the kit but Italeri marked them as 'Not for use'*. I then cut some Tamiya tape, fixed them along the sides of the fuselage to cover the sliding portion of the wings. Not really sure of their colour, I painted them XF-13. The model then received the usual sludge wash and was then sprayed with Flat Clear.

Conclusion

The defunct ESCI had released some pretty detailed kit in the 1980s and as can be seen in Italeri's 2002 reboxing of the F-111A, it can still hold its ground against its rivals. The parts fit nicely (except for that fuselage panels and the intakes) and the problem of the gaping, uh, gap in the fuselage can actually be overcome with extra work, Another letdown was the ordnance options, but I think many modelers can live with that. Overall, it was quite a painless build.

*According to the F-111.net website, during the Combat Lancer deployment, the F-111 carried six M117s on one MER under each wing for a total of twelve, or 24 Mk. 82 500-lb bombs on four pylons (six per pylon), or four Mk. 84 2,000-lb bombs. In addition, the M117s were no longer carried during Operation Linebacker/Linebacker II. Essentially, the ordnance load depicted by the kit was inaccurate for Linebacker/Linebacker II missions. And as usual, I only realize this fact long after the model was completed, and after the extra pylons, along with the rest of the sprue was at the dumpsite!