General Dynamics F 111G, A8-274, 6 Sqn RAAF Amberly Qld 1999.
1/72 Hasegawa, my first F 111, with 24 Mk 82 500 lb bombs from their weapons set 1, finished in Model Master enamels and I think their acrylic flat clear, no that's wrong, Tamiya X22 with X21 flat base, the kit came with this scheme but I used Aussie decals 60th anniversary of 6 Sqn, this aircraft along with 22 others was buried at Swanbank Qld in November 2011.
Nice work Allan - the Aussie scheme looks super
Thanks David.
Very nice! Wish it was a tad better lit so we could see more detail. So they bury them in Australia? Man - with all that desert, I would have thought they could just park them out in the outback and let them fade into oblivion!
Thanks Greg, for the full story on the burial see Aero Australia issue 42, 2014.
You certainly build to a consistently high standard, Allan. It must have been a seriously big hole to bury all these aircraft in!
Thanks George, land fill.
Outstanding work, sir...very nice build. Looks sharp! I like it a lot.
Thanks Craig.
Nice looking model. Why would they bury them?
Apparently the RAAF decided that burying them would be cheaper than recycling them. Very sad that they had to scrap them.
Hi Morne, one F111C, A8-130 went to Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbour, twelve are on loan to several museums around Australia, it cost over $2 million to bury the remaining 22, from Aero Australia issue 42.
Thanks Tom, see Aero Australia issue 42 for full story.
Excellent work, great detail.
Thanks Robert.
Allan, beautiful job!
I've heard similar stories about the end of WW II in the Pacific. The argument was that shipping our equipment home would have cost more than it was worth. So, stuff was blown up, taxied into lagoons, dropped off cliffs, and thrown overboard.
With redundant airframes, I guess the one of the fears was that folks would climb over them, and get hurt. The doctrine of assumption of risk seems to be largely ignored or circumvented these days.
WARPAC used theirs as decoys, parked around the airfield.
At the end of WW I in Europe, the U. S. Air Service stacked a bunch of DH-4s up and burned them. They called it the "Billion dollar bonfire".
Nothing new under the Sun.
Thanks Bernard, it's sad that so many things are destroyed.
Smashing ! Built this myself.
Thanks Phil, will have a look.
Nice job.
Thanks John.
The disposal has to do with the US government contract and asbestos in the airframe, see Aero Australia issue 42 for the full story.
This is just a tease ...hours of making a high quality model that appears to be out standing and we only get four photos? How about showing the flag,strike up the band and let it all hang out? More photos please. Love the work done on the flaps and the little details ...such as the after burner cans Allen. Two thumbs up.
Thanks Stephen, I will work on the photo's.
Nice build. I like the colour scheme!
Thanks Richard.
Great build of a great jet. I flew F-111A's and F-111D's back in the day and we had Aussie exchange guys in our squadrons. I'm building a 1/72 Hasegawa F-111D right now. How much weight did you put in the nose so it wouldn't "tail sit"?
Thanks Tom, no weight required, even with the wings swept it wouldn't tail sit !
1 attached image. Click to enlarge.