F-111 Aardvaark
Cockpit details
Attack computer
July 26, 2006 - Successful wheels up landing of F-111C at Royal Australian Air Force base Amberley
RAAF base Amberley - Home of the F-111's
movie of the F-111 dump and burn
Flight sims featuring this aircraft
Andrew Rogencamp reports:
"I thought you might be interested in this photo I took of the F-111 at the Gold Coast (Brisbane, Queensland) indy car race on the weekend. (14th October 2000). I was on the 30th floor of an apartment building and the fly by was at eye level. Awesome!"
Note that in this image you can actually see the fuel dump streaming into the afterburner.
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AUSSIE HUMOUR...
Sydney Olympics 2000 -
Most news reports at the time attributed the flame to the F-111 "afterburner". However I found one reporter who had dug a bit deeper and got an explanation of how 'dump and burn' works. After a few paragraphs the reporter got carried away and, probably encouraged by the (RAAF ?) wag supplying the info, concluded with the statement :
"The F-111 is the only aircraft flying with "dump and burn technology"
Picture: David Grey/Reuters.
The real story -
The F-111 streaks seaward trailing a fiery tail of a fuel dump occuring while the afterburner (reheat) is engaged. This was probably done the first time as a result of pilot error. When the aircraft didn't explode, and after reports from ground observers or another pilot, the technique was worked into RAAF air displays.
Over the years people have suggested it was a method of decoying Infra Red guided AA Missiles - but as an F-111
navigator put to me - "The last thing you want when evading a missile is 100 feet of flame coming out your rear!"
>>> movie of the F-111 dump and burn
>>> F-111 Aardvark
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Aircraft in Action
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