Booty003 Posted April 12, 2019 Share Posted April 12, 2019 Hi Chaps, Did the F-111 ever carry LGB during Vietnam? Cheers all, Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted April 12, 2019 Share Posted April 12, 2019 A story often told is that when asked if they had "smart bombs", an F-111 pilot in Vietnam replied "no but we have a smart aircraft!" As often happens with similar anecdotes it's hard to tell how true it is but in any case this highlights the fact that F-111s did not use LGBs in Vietnam. The loads commonly carried were M-117, Mk.82 and 84 bombs and suu-30 dispensers. They also generally carried the gun in the weapon bay 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Booty003 Posted April 12, 2019 Author Share Posted April 12, 2019 Great info, thanks Giorgio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beppe Posted April 12, 2019 Share Posted April 12, 2019 Don't think so, Who could lase for them at night or in bad weather ? Joseph Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canberra kid Posted April 12, 2019 Share Posted April 12, 2019 5 hours ago, beppe said: Don't think so, Who could lase for them at night or in bad weather ? Joseph The B.57G could, if they weren't too busy doing there own spiking and LGB dropping that is. John 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delticfan Posted April 12, 2019 Share Posted April 12, 2019 Used to watch the F111F”s at Cowden bombing range near Hornsea East Yorks, they didn’t use LGBs only 25kg bombs, they were awful had to do a dry pass most times and still couldn’t get close to the sea targets. Toss bombing same story but I think that simulated nukes so no need for accuracy there...so much for a smart aircraft. Tornado GR1 on the other hand appeared out of nowhere hit the target and disappeared, one chance one hit everytime. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarrenH Posted April 14, 2019 Share Posted April 14, 2019 The Lou Drendel F-111 in action has some excellent info on Combat Lancer and Linebacker I+II ops. Mainly high drag low level ops. a good read.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delticfan Posted April 14, 2019 Share Posted April 14, 2019 Not sure about Vietnam ops but the F’s used the Pavetack laser designator pod to self illuminate targets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asmodai Posted April 14, 2019 Share Posted April 14, 2019 1 hour ago, delticfan said: Not sure about Vietnam ops but the F’s used the Pavetack laser designator pod to self illuminate targets. Pave Tack was not operational until 1982, well after the end of the Vietnam War. It's believed first combat use was in the 'El Dorado Canyon' strike on Libya in 1986. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72modeler Posted April 17, 2019 Share Posted April 17, 2019 (edited) On 4/14/2019 at 12:04 PM, Asmodai said: Pave Tack was not operational until 1982, well after the end of the Vietnam War. It's believed first combat use was in the 'El Dorado Canyon' strike on Libya in 1986. You are correct, sir! The only use of LGB's that I can recall is when F-4's used them against the Paul Doumer bridge- some a/c used Paveways and some used Walleyes, IIRC. Jim Rotramel would be the man who could tell you what F-111's carried in SEA, but I don't recall him hanging out here- maybe Hyperscale? Mike Edited April 20, 2019 by 72modeler added text Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
11bravo Posted April 20, 2019 Share Posted April 20, 2019 (edited) On 4/12/2019 at 7:33 PM, delticfan said: Used to watch the F111F”s at Cowden bombing range near Hornsea East Yorks, they didn’t use LGBs only 25kg bombs, they were awful had to do a dry pass most times and still couldn’t get close to the sea targets. Toss bombing same story but I think that simulated nukes so no need for accuracy there...so much for a smart aircraft. Tornado GR1 on the other hand appeared out of nowhere hit the target and disappeared, one chance one hit everytime. Never knew the GR1 had "perfect" weapons delivery systems. Good info! Edited April 20, 2019 by 11bravo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delticfan Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 Not saying perfect but they appeared out of nowhere hit the target, generally single shots with practice bombs, and disappeared again, straight and level about 250ft off to another range I suppose. It always stuck in my mind how efficient it was. The one elevens messed about for ages and generally weren’t as accurate, it was interesting to watch. Also A10’s on land targets destroying the scaffold frame banner type targets...awesome....happy days 1983 to 84. Had a few Jaguars too. I think a few times Binbrook Lightning’s would loiter outside the range to bounce aircraft leaving but that didn’t happen a lot. We spent some happy hours in the control tower watching all this happen photography banned of course! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
11bravo Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 3 hours ago, delticfan said: Not saying perfect but they appeared out of nowhere hit the target, generally single shots with practice bombs, and disappeared again, straight and level about 250ft off to another range I suppose. It always stuck in my mind how efficient it was. The one elevens messed about for ages and generally weren’t as accurate And yet just 7 years later, things played out rather differently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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