Can you say: Payne Stewart ? - Explosive Decompression? Tryit yourself, numbnuts.

John

There was a small group (6 or so) of 111's sent to SE Asia. Not sure
if the were based in SVN or 'Out Country'? Believe 'out country'.

Their missions were scheduled for low level night flight into NVN as I
recall? In any event, the first three or so they sent out, disappeared
with no calls or any thing. Took off and never came back.

This was pretty early in the 111's life and high speed low level
flight on the terrain following system was having problems. Best guess
was that the system failed and flew the bird into the ground (at 4-500
mph). I saw some films of testing and the bird would fly right up to a
hill and pull up and climb the hill and then roll inverted and over
the top of the hill pull positive G's and then roll right side up
going down the back side of the hill. Took guts to set there and watch
the system do it's thing at 500 +/- mph and 50 ft.

The remaining birds were brought back to the States and were not sent
back to the best of my knowledge.

May be some other old timers who were closer to that project than I
was and can give more definitive data.

Big John
Pilot ROCAF



On Mon, 19 Jan 2004 13:01:05 -0500, Dweezil Dwarftosser
wrote:

C J Campbell wrote:

"Jack" wrote in message
...
| On 2004/01/18 19:56, in article , "C J
| Campbell" wrote:
|
|
| ...I had a friend who was shot down in Viet Nam with a single
| bullet that a farmer fired from a hunting rifle, of all things.
|
| Ah yes, the Golden BB.
|
| And how was it determined, CJ, that this magical event had occurred?

The NVA claimed that is how it happened, anyway, and the pilot believed it.
They also made the pilot pose for pictures with the farmer. The aircraft was
an FB-111.

No FB-111s ever flew in SE Asia - during any period
of the Vietnam War.

Although he got out all right and he saw his EWO's chute open, he never saw
the EWO again.

Neither F-111s nor FB-111s used EWOs in the second seat.
The small number of EF-111s which DID use EWOs - didn't
exist during the Vietnam War. We used EB-66s in that role
during that time period.

Your information is, at best, erroneous.

John T., former MSgt, USAF

"Big John" wrote in message
...
| John
|
| There was a small group (6 or so) of 111's sent to SE Asia. Not sure
| if the were based in SVN or 'Out Country'? Believe 'out country'.
|

Most web sites detailing the F-111's history say that the F-111A was used
for tactical bombing, but they agree that the FB-111 never went to SEA.

The guys have convinced me, though, that the pilot who told me the story
must have been flying some other aircraft.

C.J.

Here is an extract about 111's in SEA.

Looking I can't find any FB's. All were F's.

You will notice they lay the blame for poor performance to lack of
operational testing. Word that came down through command channels was
as I said in prior post.

Quote

In March 1968, 6 F-111A's left Nellis AFB to participate in the
Vietnam War under project Combat Lancer, the project was a disaster
for the F-111 which saw them being pulled out in November after losing
a considerable number of F-111's. One of the major reasons of the loss
was that the F-111 had not completed its operational test program and
its entry to the war was premature. The F-111 did not see action again
in the Vietnam War until September 1972. The F-111 finished its
deployment in 1973 when the cease fire was signed, the F-111 has flown
more then 3000 sorties and is cable of carrying 5 F-4 phantoms bomb
load and doesn't need any fighter escort or ECM support aircraft. The
F-111 proved to be a superior strike fighter for the USAF but now,
most F-111models are not in service with the USAF anymore. Although
the F-111 did not have an official nickname until its retirement, the
F-111 was commonly known as "Aardvark" for its long nose.

Unquote

They talk abaut 3000 sorties. This is can't be in SEA (?) and must be
the number of sorties during the lifetime of the F-111 with USAF?

On the story from your friend.

The two seated fighters that went 'out country' we

F-100 (Wild Weasel)
F-105 (Wild Weasel)
F-4

All used individual chutes. Could have been one of these A/C?

Lower tech A/C were used on the 'trail': B-26, A-1, T-28, etc.

Big John
Pilot ROCAF


On Mon, 19 Jan 2004 19:08:52 -0800, "C J Campbell"
wrote:


"Big John" wrote in message
.. .
| John
|
| There was a small group (6 or so) of 111's sent to SE Asia. Not sure
| if the were based in SVN or 'Out Country'? Believe 'out country'.
|

Most web sites detailing the F-111's history say that the F-111A was used
for tactical bombing, but they agree that the FB-111 never went to SEA.

The guys have convinced me, though, that the pilot who told me the story
must have been flying some other aircraft.

"Big John" wrote in message
...
|
| On the story from your friend.
|
| The two seated fighters that went 'out country' we
|
| F-100 (Wild Weasel)
| F-105 (Wild Weasel)
| F-4
|
| All used individual chutes. Could have been one of these A/C?
|

It was probably one of these three. Since I remember him having an EWO, I
would guess the F-105 (Wild Weasel). Even then I could be conflating two
different stories that I heard.