EF-111A Raven Low Level Flight, August 1987

I recently found an old VHS tape made when I was an EF-111A EWO flying with the 42d Electronic Combat Squadron, RAF Upper Heyford, UK.

This video was taken on a typical training mission. We departed Upper Heyford and flew east at medium altitude until over the English channel. We then flew north until reaching Scotland, where we turn west, rendezvous with our wingman and enter Scotland at low altitude north of the town of Montrose. We cross Scotland by flying up Loch Ness enroute to a jamming mission against an RAF radar station on the West Coast of Scotland.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• EF-111A
• Raven
• military
• aircraft
• airplane
• RAF Upper Heyford

[hazeleyes1911a1]

I was stationed at MHAFB in the '80s, worked on INS, TFR, NRS...first of all, cool video for in-flight experiences, but also cool with references to LARA, pics of radar, NCU, etc...awesome!!

[JimNtexas]

@hazeleyes1911a1 - thanks for watching, and thanks for taking care of the varks.

[AccordGTR]

Amazing how smooth it flies at that low altitude at that speed. I wonder how it handles in bad weather?

[JimNtexas]

@AccordGTR - Ride comfort was designed in to the F-111's flight control system. It handles turbulence about as well as any airplane ever made. That was one of the sweet things about flying it, it was such a smooth ride. The F-4 was an unsprung buckboard by comparison. Of course, the Vark is still a man made object, and if Mother Nature gets really mad then she can still shake you up.

[ThamMalaysia]

Thank you, Jim, for the good info.

At least 20 or so EF-111A Ravens should have

been retained, and given an airframe life extension

to keep them in service for another 20 more years.

I would also have upgraded their engines with

the F110-GE-132 or F100-PW-232 to take their

max thrust to 32,000 lbs.

[JimNtexas]

@ThamMalaysia - our P-9 engines were adequate, we were the fastest airplane in any strike package except for the F-111F. The USAF paid to develop a much improved version of the ALQ-99 and a new digital comm/nav system. A pity they never deployed them.

[phoenix27flame]

I used to watch the F111's and EF111's take off and land from Upper Heyford with my Brother and my Dad almost every evening when i was young i loved it. RIP - RAF Upper Heyford.

[f111stick]

RAAF as you know will retire the remaining F-111's (C's) 12/02/10 and it will be a big event- I already have my Oz ticket to "kiss" that lady goodbye.Thanks for your response and check six --kudos

[AccordGTR]

@JimNtexas yup I read it was like riding a Cadillac. It was a very successful plane in the end with a rough start. It was a very effective workhorse in recent wars but US propaganda focused on Stealth fighters, Tomahawks and drone attacks to try to brainwash people war can be clinical and more surgical rather than show the risk and skill or brave airmen who fly into the face of danger.

[AccordGTR]

@ThamMalaysia I think the way the avionics and electronic support systems were so well designed into the fuselage made it very expensive to service and maintain unlike the external systems of the EA-6B where pods can be worked on without disassembling the whole airplane. More man-hours is also very expensive. But I think the reason it was canned is politics, lobbyists for the military industrial complex want big-ticket items like Stealth and expendable ordinance like HARM

[ThamMalaysia]

Yes, nothing comes close to the EF-111's versatility

as a supersonic escort jammer and its powerful internal

ALQ-99. I didn't realize it carried ten jammers.

There has been no equivalent replacement

to date, and the EA-18Gs are just a supersonic

version of the EA-6s.

Was the EF-111's ALQ-99E as powerful

as the B-1's ALQ-161 ?

[JimNtexas]

@ThamMalaysia - That may have been an overstatement, but the fact is that the EF-111 always flew with ten jammers, and there was enough electrical power to operate all ten at full power while remaining on station for long periods of time. In practical combat configuration, the EA-6, with a very similar ALQ-99 system, typically carries only four radar jammers, and they work at reduced power levels compared to those on the EF.