Airplane geeks! What is an 'F-Eleven' Bomber???

[FlashHarry]

Sharpton referred to it tonight. I've heard of the General Dynamics F111, but we phased those out years ago (I think the Aussies still have them).

[Cush]

1. go here

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/f-111.htm

[rooboy]

2. Australia only last week reversed a decision...

to mothball its F-111C's. This was mainly in response to the news that Indonesia had agreed to purchase 44 Russian jets. The F-111C has undergone a number of refits.

[FlashHarry]

3. So, I guess Sharpton was missing a digit or...

...referring to a plane that hasn't been in our arsenal for a decade. (He didn't want to spend money on another 'F11' bomber.)

[Wonk]

7. I found this with google, and here's that snip from the debate transcript

on edit: they spelled grumman wrong :shrug:



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A433-2003Sep25.html

(snip)

SHARPTON: I think two things. I would take a critical review of our defense budget. I would not do anything that would jeopardize America. But I think things like F-11 bombers and other unnecessary military equipment, we need to take the money away.

[FlashHarry]

8. Aha!!!

Tiger, eh. Next he'll be dragging up other cold war aircraft! How about the Panther? Do we really need to buy another Panther, or, for that matter, a Voodoo or Banshee! (or my personal favorite, the B58 Hustler)

[Superfly]

4. Here's a good one: Bombing Bryce Canyon

Looks like this might be Bush's idea for wilderness "stewardship"

[FlashHarry]

5. But that's an F111!

Not Sharpton's mythical 'F11.' BTW, didn't the F111 have the ejectable crew capsule? I always thought that was pretty cool.

[Superfly]

9. It was probably just a mistake on Sharpton's part

not that you'de ever expect Sharpton to know a damned thing about the military? Maybe the Army of God, but that's it.

[FlashHarry]

10. I was just ribbing him a little...

I grew up around military aircraft. I admit, I bristled when I heard him throw out a non-existent airplane.

[Superfly]

11. I only saw an F-111 in flight once

backpacking in the Sangre de Cristos, only had a glimpse of one for about 3 seconds. Sounded like the four riders of the apocalypse were coming down from the sky.

The we sat down and had gorp. That was pretty damned good gorp, you know, the kind with the peanuts and Chex.

-------------
Why do I feel like Jack Handy tonight?

[FlashHarry]

12. My all-time favorite Jack Handey quote...

...not to hijack my own thread or anything:

I think a good gift for the President would be a chocolate revolver. And since he is so busy, you'd probably have to run up to him real quick and give it to him.

[Superfly]

13. Nice one...between Jack Handy

Dave Barry, and Benjamin Franklin (the dead guy), I could list wonderful quotes all night. Oh, and Yogi Berra, not the cartoon, but the baseball guy.

[WoodrowFan]

22. Sharpton was right

It WOULD be a waste of money to spend some buying a plane that doesn't exist! :wtf:

[Braden]

6. about the loudest fighter bomber ever

I used to live in proximity to a SAC base (pease) where they were stationed and you would think it was going into orbit with the noise that thing made.

[DemoTex]

14. Ever hear a B-58 Hustler?

Converted fuel into noise. As do Harriers in the hover mode.

[Superfly]

15. Wasn't that the bomber they used in Thunderball?

One of the only good Bond flicks out there. Speaking of Bond...whatever happened to SPECTRE?

[FlashHarry]

24. Nope. That was an RAF Vulcan bomber.

This is a "Hustler."

[punpirate]

16. Same with a lot of older technology...

... up until three or so years ago, we used to get a Friday noon overflight from a reservist and his wingman in F-106s. Even at low cruising speed, they were horribly loud. Same with F-102As. Only thing close to as loud I've heard recently are B-1Bs doing static tests with all engines going.

Cheers.

[XNASA]

17. Harriers.

I've been up close and personal with a hovering Harrier a few times. Most notably in our little 8' x 6' line shack which was not a shack at all, but a little compartment on the port side, about 100 ft aft of the angle, and just one level down from the flight deck.

Didn't really matter where you were at on the ship, if a Harrier was hovering above the deck, you could hear it everywhere. It would rattle your fillings pretty good.

[DemoTex]

18. I watched a flight of six hover at the Farnbourgh Air Show ...

Then transition to foward flight, followed by a high-speed pass, in formation. The metallic taste in my mouth must have been my fillings!

[XNASA]

20. Once, in port. I think it was Palma..........

An English test pilot came aboard, climbed in a Harrier, went straight up and hovered off the deck at about 75 ft. for what seemed like minutes, pointed the nose up and just took off. Didn't go straight up, but maybe 60 degrees.

It was awesome. And real loud. I was standing right near the island while all this was going on.

[DemoTex]

21. Harrier = Widowmaker

I guess that's why the USMC got them.

[Braden]

23. thank christ no! There was a static b-58 at Pease

although the older B-52's had some engine that made an incredible roar.

On occasion we would be delighted to hear someone from the fighter wing breaking the sound barrier at 2am.

Now its all KC-135 and the occasional A-10 refueling stop. I kind of miss all of that.

This got me to thinking, an FB-111 crashed in Portsmouth, NH sometime around 1982 about two miles from our house, it "landed" in the one abandoned housing unit in a neighborhood that was packed with full to the gills government housing units.

[TacticalPeek]

19. Maybe he meant the B-11. I agree with Al and wouldn't want to buy any more

than we could fit into the Confederate Air Force. :)

[FlashHarry]

25. Is that a Stirling?

Or is it a Lanc?