F1-11 filton

[superq7]

Hi anyone on prune ever used to work on f1-11 depot maintenance at filton? I was an inspector there in the 80s it was a great place to work apart from fuel tank de seal re seal ! Watching them take off on the test flight was nerve wracking knowing my B stamp was all over them. Sad now the hanger and the airfield is closed seems such a waste cheers superq7

[TOWTEAMBASE]

Do you mean BAC1-11, the type your referring to is (was) a fast jet. :-)

[Rory57]

F111s were maintained at Filton. I recall a big "cold soak" building. Must have cost a fortune for a very short time in use.

F-111 Leaving Filton by ~Asnavad on deviantART (http://asnavad.deviantart.com/art/F-111-Leaving-Filton-205949939)

[Thunderbird167]

USAFE F-111 aircraft were maintained and serviced at Filton in the 1980's under the periodic Depot Maintenance Programme. Approximately 200 aircraft went through the programme.

[TOWTEAMBASE]

Do the ozzies still use them or have they retired them too.

[Lookleft]

The Aussies retired their F111's last year (or the year before the time just sweeps past). Some have gone to museums but most of them were buried with their wings pulled off. There was also a major compensation case involving RAAF technicians who had to work on the fuel tank resealing with minimal PBE. A lot of them got very sick. All the best.

[India Four Two]

More time than you thought, Lookleft ;)

Final Aardvark Flights - Amberley - 3 Dec 2010


F-111 Aardvark RAAF Final Flight - YouTube

[ExAscoteer]

Being in the circuit at Filton in a Bulldog with an F-111 was always somewhat interesting.

Then again, being in the circuit at Filton in a Bulldog with Concorde certainly concentrated the mind!

[Double Hydco]

An F111 landing at Filton in the early 1990's.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-TKSAhP7fKEk/UdWWQhCMedI/AAAAAAAAAGo/1YT6fE4c2RA/w770-h520-no/F111.jpg

[superq7]

Thanks for the vid India 4 2 I seem to remember we had an arrester wire at the end of the runway at Filton ( bristol uk) just for the f1-11s must have cost loads to fit it can't imagine it was ever used cheers superq

[Lookleft]

Thanks for confirming my memory loss is accelerating I42! Can you find the video of the RAAF F111 doing a wheels up and catching the wire? I'm sure superq7 would like to see that it did work!

[rjtjrt]

Lookleft
Video as requested
John

AWESOME PLANE CRASH LANDING - YouTube (http://youtu.be/WlReZySwPPY)

[Fris B. Fairing]

Australia has preserved 30% of its F-111s. An excellent result by any standard.

Full list here (http://www.qam.com.au/aircraft/f-111/porcine-perambulations.htm)

Rgds

[superq7]

Thanks for the video RJTRT & LOOKLEFT amazing ,did that jet ever fly again?

It was an amazing aircraft if a tad noisy! When they took off from Filton on test flights they would set off nearly all the car alarms in the nearby car park , pity none left in the uk but they weren't ours after all cheers superq

[DaveReidUK]

pity none left in the uk but they weren't ours after allThough we came pretty close to having some ...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/88/F-111K_artist%27s_impression.png

[Lookleft]

Well if it did fly again it didn't for long! The reason it had to do a wheels up is that one of the main wheels came off during the take-off and it nearly took out a car in the squadrons car park!

thanks for finding the video rjt:ok:

[treadigraph]

pity none left in the uk but they weren't ours after all

In the dusty recesses of my mind lurks a thought that there is a former Upper Heyford F-111E preserved in the AAM building at Duxford.

[DaveReidUK]

http://s0.geograph.org.uk/photos/88/72/887284_dd5e5c43.jpg

[ExAscoteer]

In the dusty recesses of my mind lurks a thought that there is a former Upper Heyford F-111E preserved in the AAM building at Duxford. There's also one at Cosford:

Detail page | Research | Collections | RAF Museum (http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/collections/general-dynamics-f-111f-cf/)

There is also one on display at Lakenheath.

[superq7]

I have worked on a few aircraft in my time ( and been to a lot of mil airshows) I think the f1-11 was the noiseyest of them all

[SincoTC]

I used to remember watching from the bottom of my garden in Minehead trio's of F-111's from Alconbury and Lakenheath noisily circling over the Bristol Channel in the eighties, carrying out dummy bombing practice runs low over the water near Brean Down, great noise!! We used to have a lot of low flying by all sorts of aircraft and Concord test flights too Happy days, deathly quiet now :(

Perhaps in a hundred years, a descendant of David Cundall will pack up in Burma and start digging in Oz, but at least he'll probably find them :)

Rather sad videos here showing the fate of most of the RAAF fleet :sad:

I understand the Cold Soak Facility at Filton was also dismantled and taken to Australia to maintain the RAAF fleet after the USAF contract was finished and I guess that's now cut up and on the scrap-heap too.

F111 Disposal Video - YouTube

F111 Disposal - 23rd Nov 2011 - YouTube

[SpringHeeledJack]

I have worked on a few aircraft in my time ( and been to a lot of mil airshows) I think the f1-11 was the noiseyest of them all

I've no idea which is the noisiest, but the B58 and latterly the B1 might well run the F111 close on the excess decibel score.



SHJ

[chevvron]

You're obviously too young to have heard an F100 engaging its afterburner.
We had a couple based at Farnborough after Experimental Flying Wing moved to Boscombe (they needed an airfield with arrestor gear) and when the tower controller heard one engage the 'burner during engine ground runs, he thought it had blown up and pressed the crash alarm! I'd heard them many times before at air displays.

[Paul77]

Hi anyone on prune ever used to work on f1-11 depot maintenance at filton? I was an inspector there in the 80s it was a great place to work apart from fuel tank de seal re seal ! Watching them take off on the test flight was nerve wracking knowing my B stamp was all over them. Sad now the hanger and the airfield is closed seems such a waste cheers superq7

My dad, Andy Jones, used to work on these at that time. He unfortunately passed away very young, but I would love to hear any stories

[Quemerford]

You're obviously too young to have heard an F100 engaging its afterburner.
We had a couple based at Farnborough after Experimental Flying Wing moved to Boscombe (they needed an airfield with arrestor gear) and when the tower controller heard one engage the 'burner during engine ground runs, he thought it had blown up and pressed the crash alarm! I'd heard them many times before at air displays.

For the uninitiated, the F100 is a Pratt & Whitney engine used on F-15s and F-16s. Loud, but not as loud as some of the older engines.

[surely not]

Ahhhhhh I had immediately thought of the F-100 Super Sabre, which wasn't overly noisy from my memory of air displays in the late 1960's.
The f100 engine makes a lot more sense when talking about raw noise

[Quemerford]

Yes: F-100 (with a dash) Super Sabre noisy too, powered by a J57 (no dash) engine.

[The AvgasDinosaur]

Learned contributors,
The F-105 Thunderchief was not shy when sharing her decibels, the B-58 Hustler was a total beast at full chat, though not the loudest the Javelin gets my vote for purity of tone.
Be lucky
david

[Quemerford]

For me it's the U-2 and the A-6: SR-71 gets mentioned as does B-1, but I still think the U-2 beats them all for noise.

[chevvron]

Yes: F-100 (with a dash) Super Sabre noisy too, powered by a J57 (no dash) engine.
It's that HUGE bang when it lights the 'burner.

[dixi188]

Super Sabres used to fly from Hurn (BOH) in the '80s. The doors and windows in hanger 600 (Glos Air) used to rattle when they took off.

[chevvron]

Super Sabres used to fly from Hurn (BOH) in the '80s. The doors and windows in hanger 600 (Glos Air) used to rattle when they took off.
These were the ones from Hurn; they moved to Farnborough after MOD experimental flying moved out because we still had arrestor barriers and cables which Hurn didn't.

[paulc]

There was a F100 display at Oshkosh a couple of years ago - that was very noisy but impressive.

[DaveReidUK]

There was a F100 display at Oshkosh a couple of years ago - that was very noisy but impressive.

What aircraft was it powering ?

:O

[SpringHeeledJack]

If memory serves from airshows back in the 70's, most of the USAF metal was damned noisy, F-4's, 100's, 104's, 105's, B-58's, SR-71's and a few more besides.

[Quemerford]

What aircraft was it powering ?

:O

An F-16 maybe?

[DownWest]

Just out of interest, but I was outside my house in the Algarve in the 80s when a gaggle of F-111s came over very fast and very low. This was just after they had bombed Tripoli so I wondered if it was an aborted second go. Politics avoided flying over France or Spain and they were cutting the corner of S. Portugal, who were more friendly...Must have had flight refueling at that range. Never heard anything about it in the news.
DW
Oh, friend was peddling around in the Faro club C150 and was told to get lost over the sea for a bit. He got a nice view of Concorde landing on a publicity jolly. Felt quite good being No.2 to that one.

And while I am at it, there was an amazing air show at Faro in 1980. They cleared all the junk up, like the odd bent DC3 and a couple of Super Constellations that had run arms to Biafra and Invited all. My first close look at an F 15 (guard menaced me with his gun) and a couple of F 111s doing after burner low runs right over the crowd. The Gib lot sent over two Lighnings. One went u/s, but the other did a fine display. They announced a Blackburn Buccaneer and we looked up. Nothing.. he came in over the lagoon at 100 odd feet and bent our ears a bit. Lots more with dancing helios and other stuff. Much of which one cannot do now... For good reason...

[chevvron]

For the uninitiated, the F100 is a Pratt & Whitney engine used on F-15s and F-16s. Loud, but not as loud as some of the older engines.
I was referring to the F100 aircraft not the engine (or the airliner for that matter)https://www.pprune.org/images/icons/46.gif

[DaveReidUK]

I was referring to the F100 aircraft not the engine (or the airliner for that matter)https://www.pprune.org/images/icons/46.gif

A good example of the difference a hyphen makes. Present-day US military aircraft designations always have one, their engines never do. :O

[Cuillin Hills]

These were the ones from Hurn; they moved to Farnborough after MOD experimental flying moved out because we still had arrestor barriers and cables which Hurn didn't.

I recall one of the F100 Super Sabres going off the end of runway 08 at Hurn - landed slightly long and chute failed - about 1988. Took the gear off and ended up in the scrub between 26 threshold and Matchams Lane.

They were all converted ex Danish Air Force aircraft.

[chevvron]

I recall one of the F100 Super Sabres going off the end of runway 08 at Hurn - landed slightly long and chute failed - about 1988. Took the gear off and ended up in the scrub between 26 threshold and Matchams Lane.

Probably the reason they moved to Farnborough; we still had serviceable arrestor barriers (cables too although I don't think Super Sabres had hooks) even though all the MOD fast jets had gone to Boscombe.

[DaveReidUK]

Probably the reason they moved to Farnborough; we still had serviceable arrestor barriers (cables too although I don't think Super Sabres had hooks) even though all the MOD fast jets had gone to Boscombe.

I believe the FSI F-100Fs at Hurn did have hooks.

They are hard to see on photos of the Super Sabre as they were somewhat flimsy spring steel affairs that were normally to be found flush with the aircraft underside, just forward of the tail bumper.

[chevvron]

Similar to Lightning hooks then; a catch could be released to drop the hook for an overrun end engagement but the hook could not be retracted, it had to be manually lifted back to its stowage position..

[DaveReidUK]

Similar to Lightning hooks then; a catch could be released to drop the hook for an overrun end engagement but the hook could not be retracted, it had to be manually lifted back to its stowage position..

Yes, the Lightning had a springy one, too:

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/833x479/lightning_hook_58d74dc9e6cbe2f741fcadd26aac90b5556cc32d.jpg