They don't call the Australians Diggers for nothing... F-111 Disposal
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They don't call the Australians Diggers for nothing... F-111 Disposal
F-111 fans are outraged many of the iconic RAAF fighter jets have been dumped at a landfill site near Ipswich.
A RAAF spokesman confirmed to Ipswich News on Thursday that 23 of the planes had been dumped at the Swanbank landfill site.
The jets had been located at RAAF Base Amberley, near Ipswich, before being decommissioned late last year.
The F-111s have been replaced by the Super Hornets, with the final four being delivered from the US to Amberley with a spectacular flypast over southeast Queensland in October.
The US Government had placed tight restrictions on how the planes were be dismantled or preserved with several earmarked for museums around Australia.
Two are expected to be on show at RAAF Base Amberley at its Heritage Centre.
It's just the hulks of the planes (that were dumped),'' the RAAF spokesman said. ``They saved the ones they could.''
Ipswich Councillor Paul Tully expressed his outrage about the dumping on his Facebook page.
Fifty years of Australian history down the drain as the RAAF dumps F-111s down disused Ipswich coal mine at Swanbank,'' he posted.
Related comments included: ``What a waste! You would think these would be saved for a museum or at least if they were being thrown they should be offered for public interests.''
Another wrote: If the RAAF didn't want them, I am wondering if ICC (Ipswich City Council) were happy to take them and all the costs associated with restoration and display.''
Meanwhile, Federal Member for Blair Shayne Neumann has encouraged organisations to apply for one of seven F-111s left to be loaned to museums and other historical organisations.
He said Defence Materiel Minister Jason Clare had released a Request for Offer for the jets.
This is a fantastic opportunity for local historical organisations to be able to display these iconic aircraft which protected our skies for nearly four decades'' Mr Neumann said.
The Australian Government is loaning the aircraft so as many Australians as possible have access to this piece of our aviation history.
The loans will be subject to a number of conditions to ensure the safe preservation of the aircraft, which are outlined in the Request for Offer.''
The RAAF spokesman said a service for all involved with the F-111s, including the families of airmen lost in crashes, will be held at the memorial garden near the front gate of RAAF Base Amberley at 9am on Friday, December 2.
For more on the offer, which closed on March 28, visit www.tenders.gov.au with reference DMOASD/Other175/2011.
A RAAF spokesman confirmed to Ipswich News on Thursday that 23 of the planes had been dumped at the Swanbank landfill site.
The jets had been located at RAAF Base Amberley, near Ipswich, before being decommissioned late last year.
The F-111s have been replaced by the Super Hornets, with the final four being delivered from the US to Amberley with a spectacular flypast over southeast Queensland in October.
The US Government had placed tight restrictions on how the planes were be dismantled or preserved with several earmarked for museums around Australia.
Two are expected to be on show at RAAF Base Amberley at its Heritage Centre.
It's just the hulks of the planes (that were dumped),'' the RAAF spokesman said. ``They saved the ones they could.''
Ipswich Councillor Paul Tully expressed his outrage about the dumping on his Facebook page.
Fifty years of Australian history down the drain as the RAAF dumps F-111s down disused Ipswich coal mine at Swanbank,'' he posted.
Related comments included: ``What a waste! You would think these would be saved for a museum or at least if they were being thrown they should be offered for public interests.''
Another wrote: If the RAAF didn't want them, I am wondering if ICC (Ipswich City Council) were happy to take them and all the costs associated with restoration and display.''
Meanwhile, Federal Member for Blair Shayne Neumann has encouraged organisations to apply for one of seven F-111s left to be loaned to museums and other historical organisations.
He said Defence Materiel Minister Jason Clare had released a Request for Offer for the jets.
This is a fantastic opportunity for local historical organisations to be able to display these iconic aircraft which protected our skies for nearly four decades'' Mr Neumann said.
The Australian Government is loaning the aircraft so as many Australians as possible have access to this piece of our aviation history.
The loans will be subject to a number of conditions to ensure the safe preservation of the aircraft, which are outlined in the Request for Offer.''
The RAAF spokesman said a service for all involved with the F-111s, including the families of airmen lost in crashes, will be held at the memorial garden near the front gate of RAAF Base Amberley at 9am on Friday, December 2.
For more on the offer, which closed on March 28, visit www.tenders.gov.au with reference DMOASD/Other175/2011.
Shame the cockpits at least couldn't be saved, I wonder how long untill someone starts digging them up, other sites say they contained a lot of asbestos, hence burial rather than cost of recovery.
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I believe they contain a lot of asbestos internally that would have to be dealt with and reburied in metal containers, as the stuff is already in a metal container they buried them as they are.......
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Try again James, I replied to your query and it posted as post 3
Massive Accident of Strange machines with engines found in Town.
Historians today looking at primitive life on the planet destroyed in the nuclear war in 2121 discovered a crash size of numerous muserous today with no remains of the pilots.
Seemingly the machines were grouped together for a mass take off when this occured.
Historians speculate that people on the primitive planet used these machines to travel around which sounds absurd to those of us who know light particle travel
A photo of a strange creature known to scare people was found at the site but historians quickly realised this was a picture of Julia Gillard.
Historians today looking at primitive life on the planet destroyed in the nuclear war in 2121 discovered a crash size of numerous muserous today with no remains of the pilots.
Seemingly the machines were grouped together for a mass take off when this occured.
Historians speculate that people on the primitive planet used these machines to travel around which sounds absurd to those of us who know light particle travel
A photo of a strange creature known to scare people was found at the site but historians quickly realised this was a picture of Julia Gillard.
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I was surprised that so many were saved as it was.
I know the US is very touchy about destroying planes they have sold but just how much useful technology is involved in such an old airframe ? Or is it something else ?
A real shame to see the cockpits etc be buried.
I know the US is very touchy about destroying planes they have sold but just how much useful technology is involved in such an old airframe ? Or is it something else ?
A real shame to see the cockpits etc be buried.
They were probably purchased by a mining company after they had done a deal to sell them to the Chinese.
Miner - "If we buy those F111's, bury them, tell the Chinese and sell it to them as an "Ore" deposit" that should offset the carbon / mining tax" and the Government will be able to do nothing about it.
Chinese natural resources rep "Honourable chairman, the Australians have found the only known deposit of F111inium in the world, we must buy this in order to assist our stolen Stealth Fighter plans".
Australian Govt "yeah let micks mines, dig em up and sell em to the Chinese, might stop them being so antsy in their pantsy about the increased training exercises with the American Marines up in bloody Darwin"
Miner - "If we buy those F111's, bury them, tell the Chinese and sell it to them as an "Ore" deposit" that should offset the carbon / mining tax" and the Government will be able to do nothing about it.
Chinese natural resources rep "Honourable chairman, the Australians have found the only known deposit of F111inium in the world, we must buy this in order to assist our stolen Stealth Fighter plans".
Australian Govt "yeah let micks mines, dig em up and sell em to the Chinese, might stop them being so antsy in their pantsy about the increased training exercises with the American Marines up in bloody Darwin"
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" I recall an ex-RAAF guy claiming that he had been ordered to do the same with a bunch of Spitfires post WW2, somewhere in Oz."
Oakey in Qld and possibly Darwin in NT (not sure if they were buried or dumped in the NT).
A fair bit of gear was dumped in the NT and a fair bit was also hidden in dumps in case the japs invaded. I believe very few have ever been found.
Oakey in Qld and possibly Darwin in NT (not sure if they were buried or dumped in the NT).
A fair bit of gear was dumped in the NT and a fair bit was also hidden in dumps in case the japs invaded. I believe very few have ever been found.
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There are actually 13 saved... 45 full airframes were shipped to Australia over the years.
8 were destroyed in crashes, 1 was reduced to parts as part of a "complete teardown fatigue and corrosion examination" (delivered by the USAF in 1999 specifically for this purpose), 6 have already been preserved as displays on various RAAF bases/museums, and 7 more are to be donated to other museums and organizations.
This leaves the 23 that were buried.
8 were destroyed in crashes, 1 was reduced to parts as part of a "complete teardown fatigue and corrosion examination" (delivered by the USAF in 1999 specifically for this purpose), 6 have already been preserved as displays on various RAAF bases/museums, and 7 more are to be donated to other museums and organizations.
This leaves the 23 that were buried.
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I recall an ex-RAAF guy claiming that he had been ordered to do the same with a bunch of Spitfires post WW2, somewhere in Oz.
Was this another of my Guinness-induced hallucinations, or does anybody else recall?
HB
Was this another of my Guinness-induced hallucinations, or does anybody else recall?
HB
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Still, at least the Aussies only took heavy plant equipment to a valuable national asset after it had ALREADY provided decades of sterling service, and not before, like we do here in the UK. . . .
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The spitfire burial rumour has them located somewhere near Toowoomba or Dalby - unused, intact and still in boxes ISTR....
As for Lincolns from another Era also buried near/on Amberley.....
....as for the burial of the Pigs, at least they are not filed into razorblades.....
As for Lincolns from another Era also buried near/on Amberley.....
....as for the burial of the Pigs, at least they are not filed into razorblades.....
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As for Lincolns from another Era also buried near/on Amberley.....
I can remember (as a kid) asking why weren't they keeping at least one of them to put in a museum, and no one seemed to have an answer to that.
As very young children, (pre-school - very early '50s), we'd always get very excited when a Lincoln lumbered over the Townsville suburbs at low level, screaming out to the aircraft the list of presents we wanted it to drop, as if it was Santa Claus. I don't know where that (short-lived? / Townsville only?) tradition came from. Perhaps from the WW2 'buscuit bomber', as they called the RAAF/USAAF C47s that dropped supplies to the front line troops in Papua New Guinea.
When I was about 10, I have one vivid recollection of a Lincoln overflying our school sports field (in North Ward,which was pretty well the circuit area for Garbutt), at around 1000', (from later experience, I know it wouldn't have been any higher), the crew obviously having a wonderful time cutting their way through a very thin layer of low stratus cloud. The four Merlins and the wings totally wiped out the cloud in their path, leaving a clearly-defined path of clear blue sky behind it in an otherwise overcast sky. That was one of those magic moments that convinced me that flying aeroplanes - military aeroplanes - was what I was going to do when I grew up.
When I first arrived at Point Cook in early '67, there were the thoroughly burnt out remains of a Lincoln (four Merlins sans propellers were about the only recognisible bits) over in the Firies training area on the coastal side of the airfield (next to the gym). We were told it had been flown in for the Firies to set alight for their training. Bugger any training value they might have got from that. It was pure vandalism.
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When you look at what was destroyed after the war and think now how few of certain planes are flying, it is very saddening.
Some pictures on these two web sites of whole a paddock filled with planes as far as you can see into the distance, including Spitfires flown in for destruction. Makes you cry.
"They are the remnants of the 656 Mark V and Mark VIII Spitfires that were delivered to the RAAF during the war.
RAAF records show that 544 aircraft, 232 of them Spitfires, were flown to Oakey to be sold to a scrap metal dealer."
RAAF Radschool Magazine, Vol 36.* Page 13
Fact or Fable: Spitfires Down an Australian Mine?: key.Aero: The Homepage of Aviation
Some pictures on these two web sites of whole a paddock filled with planes as far as you can see into the distance, including Spitfires flown in for destruction. Makes you cry.
"They are the remnants of the 656 Mark V and Mark VIII Spitfires that were delivered to the RAAF during the war.
RAAF records show that 544 aircraft, 232 of them Spitfires, were flown to Oakey to be sold to a scrap metal dealer."
RAAF Radschool Magazine, Vol 36.* Page 13
Fact or Fable: Spitfires Down an Australian Mine?: key.Aero: The Homepage of Aviation
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So it's true then? - not only Doctors - but the Defence Dept as well - bury their mistakes?? 
I don't think too many people, apart from those who actually flew them, will be shedding tears over the burial of the F-111's hulls.
I can well recall the furore over the staggering cost of the initial purchase, the ever-escalating, ongoing costs, the wingbox failures and other problems, and the seemingly regular losses of F-111's, in non-combat flight.
One still always has a sneaking suspicion that the F-111 was an aircraft built in typical Defence Industry fashion. Full of design problems, that can easily be fixed with liberal applications of public funds, and using keen, brave young men as test pilots, without them really knowing they are test pilots.
The F-111 appeared to the Australian general public as being a prototype aircraft in constant need of serious modification, to provide even a basic level of reliability.
The following article does nothing to dispell that belief... even though the article tone is highly positive on the benefits of the lessons learned from the F-111's constant and costly failures.
http://www.dsto.defence.gov.au/publi...11-Feature.pdf
If the F-111 had been produced just prior to the onset of any outbreak of War, as the Spitfire was, we would have probably have lost the War.
Such was the difference in the design skills and mindset of the design people, between the mid 1930's, and the early 1960's.
In the late 1930's, there was no room for design stuff ups. Imagine a Spitfire where a major design fault appeared, every few hundred hours??... until the design team finally got it right, some 5, 10 and 15 years later...
Ron Cuskellys post gives some enlightening info on the F-111 disposal story....
ADF Serials Message Board -> F-111 Retirement
I don't think too many people, apart from those who actually flew them, will be shedding tears over the burial of the F-111's hulls.I can well recall the furore over the staggering cost of the initial purchase, the ever-escalating, ongoing costs, the wingbox failures and other problems, and the seemingly regular losses of F-111's, in non-combat flight.
One still always has a sneaking suspicion that the F-111 was an aircraft built in typical Defence Industry fashion. Full of design problems, that can easily be fixed with liberal applications of public funds, and using keen, brave young men as test pilots, without them really knowing they are test pilots.
The F-111 appeared to the Australian general public as being a prototype aircraft in constant need of serious modification, to provide even a basic level of reliability.
The following article does nothing to dispell that belief... even though the article tone is highly positive on the benefits of the lessons learned from the F-111's constant and costly failures.
http://www.dsto.defence.gov.au/publi...11-Feature.pdf
If the F-111 had been produced just prior to the onset of any outbreak of War, as the Spitfire was, we would have probably have lost the War.
Such was the difference in the design skills and mindset of the design people, between the mid 1930's, and the early 1960's.
In the late 1930's, there was no room for design stuff ups. Imagine a Spitfire where a major design fault appeared, every few hundred hours??... until the design team finally got it right, some 5, 10 and 15 years later...
Ron Cuskellys post gives some enlightening info on the F-111 disposal story....
ADF Serials Message Board -> F-111 Retirement
Last edited by onetrack; 26th Nov 2011 at 13:37. Reason: sp....
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Sad thing about the F-111 was it was used by the Labour Party to justify the cancellation the TSR2 programme, and was an inferior aircraft.
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Yo Nutloose,
Upon what do you base your statement that the F-111 was inferior to the TSR-2? The TSR-2 never entered service so we have no knowledge about how good or bad it would have been.
Upon what do you base your statement that the F-111 was inferior to the TSR-2? The TSR-2 never entered service so we have no knowledge about how good or bad it would have been.