Spinners

Gnat T.1 of The Red Arrows

1970: Undiluted

File Name: [Fictional] Grumman F-111B 'ADC' File Submitter: Spinners File Submitted: 18 January 2014 File Category: What If Hangar Grumman F-111B 'ADC' for STRIKE FIGHTERS 2 This is a very simple mod of the superb F-111B by FastCargo to represent a fictional USAF version inflicted on that fine service, although it's actually not that bad when used within it's limits! I'm releasing this 'as is' as it could do with further refinements but avionics are not really my thing. BACKSTORY On November 24th, 1962 the US Defense Departement issued a press release announcing the award of the TFX programme to General Dynamics ahead of Boeing. There was an immediate outcry at this decision as only a few weeks earlier the Air Force Council had stated their declared preference for the Boeing submission as had the Chief of the Navy although the US Navy had, in fact, rejected both explaining that neither were fully compatible with carrier operations and neither had adequate CAP loiter endurance. It was not until March 21st, 1963 when Robert McNamara (Secretary of Defense) was called as a witness to the 'McClennan hearings' where McNamara explained the evaluation groups preference for the General Dynamics submission based on the higher degree of commonality when compared to Boeing's submission adding that, in their view, Boeing were proposing two different airplanes. After the dust had settled General Dynamics and the US Air Force battled on with their version of the TFX which would eventually lead to the F-111A entering squadron service (and operational service in Vietnam) in 1968. However, for the US Navy things were different. Initially, by appointing Grumman to develop the naval version of the TFX (as the F-111B) the US Navy had hoped that this experienced and trusted contractor would turn the heavy tactical bomber into something that would meet their carrier-based interception requirement and at least they also had Hughes onboard for the radar/missile system with the promising AWG-9 radar and AIM-54A missile. But by early 1964 the Navy were determined that the F-111B would not proceed except without major changes and asked that the manufacture of the F-111B development aircraft should be halted until the aircraft was redesigned but this was overruled by the Pentagon. Even the first flight of the F-111B on May 18th, 1965 failed to provide any comfort as the TF30 engine compressor stalls were evident from the start. By October 1965 the Navy Preliminary Evaluation considered the aircraft to be grossly underpowered, range was less than half of the requirement and the engines were judged to be a significant flight safety problem. Furthermore, the fixes required to bring the F-111B into something at least marginally capable of flying the mission brought commonality down from 80% down to 29% and during early 1966 the Navy became increasingly vocal about wanting to bail out but it was not until after a new and particularly scathing Navy Preliminary Evaluation held in March 1967 that they did so. McNamara was incensed and instructed General Dynamics and Grumman to revert back to the original '80% commonality' F-111B and develop it for use as an interceptor by the USAF's Aerospace Defense Command Interceptor Squadrons as a replacement for the F-101 Voodoos and F-102 Delta Daggers and to supplement the F-106 Delta Darts. Almost as a way of denying failure, McNamara instructed the Defense Department not to allocate a new designation but to keep the F-111B designation for the Air Force interceptor. With an immediate order for 288 F-111B's a reluctant Air Force at least had some use for the short-nosed F-111 and put the aircraft to good use but the real winner was McDonnell Douglas who gained new orders from the Navy for the F-4J Phantom and also the swing-wing F-4S 'Super Phantom' ordered instead of the VFX (Tomcat). INSTRUCTIONS 1. From the AIRCRAFT folder drag and drop the F-111B_ADC folder into your Aircraft folder. 2. From the DECALS folder drag and drop the F-111B_ADC folder into your Decals folder. 3. From the SOUNDS folder drag and drop the TF30_DRY AND TF30_WET files into your Sounds folder. 4. From the WEAPONS folder drag and drop the AIM-54A_ADC folder into your Weapons folder. CREDITS As always, big thanks to Third Wire for the continuous improvement of a great little game/sim. Massive thanks to FastCargo for the full and complete F-111 family. The F-111 Super Vark Pack by FastCargo gives comprehensive thanks to everyone who has played a part and his credits include thanks to Norman Knight for the F-111 pit. And, finally, thanks to everyone in the wider Third Wire community. Regards Spinners Version 1 - 18/01/14 Click here to download this file

Get your pocket money ready!

Street wise

Grumman F-111B 'Defender' - 186th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, Montana Air National Guard, 1980 On November 24th, 1962 the US Defense Departement issued a press release announcing the award of the TFX programme to General Dynamics ahead of Boeing. There was an immediate outcry at this decision as only a few weeks earlier the Air Force Council had stated their declared preference for the Boeing submission as had the Chief of the Navy although the US Navy had, in fact, rejected both explaining that neither were fully compatible with carrier operations and neither had adequate CAP loiter endurance. It was not until March 21st, 1963 when Robert McNamara (Secretary of Defense) was called as a witness to the 'McClennan hearings' where McNamara explained the evaluation groups preference for the General Dynamics submission based on the higher degree of commonality when compared to Boeing's submission adding that, in their view, Boeing were proposing two different airplanes. After the dust had settled General Dynamics and the US Air Force battled on with their version of the TFX which would eventually lead to the F-111A entering squadron service (and operational service in Vietnam) in 1968. However, for the US Navy things were different. Initially, by appointing Grumman to develop the naval version of the TFX (as the F-111B) the US Navy had hoped that this experienced and trusted contractor would turn the heavy tactical bomber into something that would meet their carrier-based interception requirement and at least they also had Hughes onboard for the radar/missile system with the promising AWG-9 radar and AIM-54A missile. But by early 1964 the Navy were determined that the F-111B would not proceed except without major changes and asked that the manufacture of the F-111B development aircraft should be halted until the aircraft was redesigned but this was overruled by the Pentagon. Even the first flight of the F-111B on May 18th, 1965 failed to provide any comfort as the TF30 engine compressor stalls were evident from the start. By October 1965 the Navy Preliminary Evaluation considered the aircraft to be grossly underpowered, range was less than half of the requirement and the engines were judged to be a significant flight safety problem. Furthermore, the fixes required to bring the F-111B into something at least marginally capable of flying the mission brought commonality down from 80% down to 29% and during early 1966 the Navy became increasingly vocal about wanting to bail out but it was not until after a new and particularly scathing Navy Preliminary Evaluation held in March 1967 that they did so. McNamara was incensed and instructed General Dynamics and Grumman to revert back to the original '80% commonality' F-111B and develop it for use as an interceptor by the USAF's Aerospace Defense Command Interceptor Squadrons as a replacement for the F-101 Voodoos and F-102 Delta Daggers and to supplement the F-106 Delta Darts. Almost as a way of denying failure, McNamara instructed the Defense Department not to allocate a new designation but to keep the F-111B designation for the Air Force interceptor. With an immediate order for 288 F-111B's a reluctant Air Force at least had some use for the short-nosed F-111 and put the aircraft to good use but the real winner was McDonnell Douglas who gained new orders from the Navy for the F-4J Phantom and also the swing-wing F-4S 'Super Phantom' ordered instead of the VFX (Tomcat). Alternate camo version

Grumman F-111B Bobcat - 178th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, North Dakota ANG, 1976 I'll be making an 'as is' release of the F-111B 'ADC' in the near future.

The oldest swinger in town

Corrected 'Montana' tail markings

Sparkvark

Kick-Ass Kurnass

Great work! Thanks to all concerned in bringing this superb package to us.

SEPECAT Jaguar FGA.1 - No.6 Squadron, RAF Near East Air Force, 1971 In May 1965 the Memorandum of Understanding between France and the UK was signed regarding the joint development of a light strike aircraft for the Armée de l'air and an advanced strike trainer for the RAF leading to the SEPECAT Jaguar programme. However, an early realignment of the UK's requirement saw a sensible early move away from the advanced strike trainer to a tactical strike aircraft and an earlier order for the Hawker Siddeley Hawk. This decision led to the first Jaguar 'S' taking to the air in March 1968 and the first production machines entered service as the Jaguar FGA.1 with No.6 squadron based in Cyprus in November 1971.

@ amariani - I can remember making 'Little Chief' as an Hasegawa 1/72 scale model ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pitch up!

Shiver me timbers... it's the Blackburn Skua!

Spangdahlem swan song

General Dynamics Merlin F.3 - No.229 OCU, Royal Air Force, 1986

Union Defender

Recurring donation sent via PayPal. Keep up the good work.

The Jaguar was very much underrated. One of my favourite Jaguar quotes is from Bill Gunston, the greatest aviation writer ever, who wrote in 1974, "Any ex-Lancaster chap will be interested to hear that the Jaguar, with a wing span ten feet less than a Spitfire, can take off from a UK base and clobber a point target in Berlin, in solid clag, with ten thousand pounds of h.e."

My No.1 ride at the moment.

Muy bueno Stratos!

Yes, they are new skins derived from Fast Cargo's templates. Tip! Create a layer with the F-111B nosecone (copied from one of the existing F-111B skins) and it works fine. The loadouts simply use the stock AIM-54A's for which you have to add the specific station code from the AIM-54A entry in the WeaponData.ini