A Little Info About the RF-111A

[+Dave]

The RF-111A was to have been a tactical reconnaissance version of the F-111A with additional avionics and camera installations in the weapons bay. It was authorized on December 3, 1965.

 

One pre-production F-111A (63-9776) was converted as a prototype for the RF-111A and first flew on December 17, 1967. Imagery testing of the converted F-111A took place between December 1967 and October 1968 achieved fairly good results, indicating that the RF-111A might make a good reconnaissance aircraft. The Defense Department had hoped that the conversion from F-111A to RF-111A configuration could be done in the field in only a few hours, with the reverse conversion being just as simple and straightforward. The RF-111A would of been capable of bombing missions as it kept that capability just without the use of the bomb bay. However, the conversion turned out to be much more cumbersome than expected, taking several days to complete rather than just a few hours. These difficulties caused the Air Force to cancel the whole RF-111A program. The sole prototype is now on display at Mountain Home AFB in Idaho.