F-111 Disposal
 

F111 Disposal from Thiess Pty Ltd on Vimeo

b.

That's a shame, sad way to end up. I remember them in and out of lakenheath, and the Empty HAS after they lost a crew member shortly before airshow day. Someone will dig them up and try to restore in years to come like an old spitfire :)

Chop 'em up, they were only bombers... :}

Surely museums wanted them?

We all wept.

Why bury them? My local scrappy would have paid good money for them.

The local scrappy wouldn't have the facilities to handle toxic substances and heavy metals. A lot went to museums.

What did we weep for?

All the tax dollars and wasted resources they represent?

Or that we spent all that money and they didn't destroy anything or the lives of anyone else?

Still, at least we didn't have to cowtow to any foreign powers whilst we had them on the ground...

"local scrappy wouldn't have the facilities to handle toxic substances and heavy metals"

True....but then again.....what about all the bits and pieces that aren't toxic etc...Nose wheel, landing light, skin panels cut into 1 inch pieces, seats, instruments etc etc........those beautiful old girls cost Aussie tax payers and absolute fortune!, it would be lovely to have been able to own a small part of that history...in the bar...in a frame......ah well......an awful shame to have seen that.....but at least a few around in Museums....

It's only fitting that A8-126 & A8-138 remain at Amberley, and open for public viewing...once a month? and A8-129 up at Caloundra.....

Contractual agreement
 

I can't vouch for the truth of it, however I have been told it was a condition of sale that they would be disposed of this way.

And possibly the same for AP-3C Orions, Old Fella? I notice three were very recently chopped up for scrap in an Adelaide scrapyard. Their airframes being out of hours. (I worked on them when new in 1977 and later in the eighties at 2AD, RIC.)


And yes, there is a tube video of the sad event. That would leave only, at most, 16 left airworthy.


I have heard that C17A tyres have to be returned to USA for disposal.

F111's & P3C's
 

Hi Gerry

Sort of harks back to a lot of the "Lend Lease" equipment. At WWII's end brand new aircraft and sundry vehicles, I believe, were pushed over the side of ships on the high seas before even making it to their intended destination. See you in Windsor in 2016 if not sooner.

They were part of the SALT agreement.

Sad way to see these aircraft ended their lives, however as indicated it would have been a contractual requirement when we bought them.

Doubt that there would be much toxic material left on the airframes that could present long term negative environmental problems, even if they were sold of to private buyers or scrap merchants.

Just imagine it, WE will be the ones telling stories in 50 years about these mythical Spitfires, oops I mean F111's that were buried in the hills of Queensland when the war with Iraq ended and they were no longer required :ok:

Although the disposal video may be confronting, the reality is that 29% of the F-111s were preserved and that is a remarkable achievement by any standard.

Where did they go?

Why did we give one to the yanks for display in Hawaii (repainted as an American aircraft) when the link above suggests that they still have some in storage in the desert that were actually used by the USAF, and will now probably be disposed of?

Traffic,

A8-130 is actually painted in RAAF markings. Presumably it went to the Pacific Aviation Museum at Pearl Harbor because they submitted an offer and met all the conditions. Furthermore, there were no ITAR complications that applied to Australian museums.

Several years ago the Tuczon Arizona boneyard had plenty of these presumably awaiting the scrap yard. I presume they still do. Google maps clearly showed them not long ago also.

Thanks Fris, I thought I'd read somewhere it was to carry US markings.