F.111 Cockpit ejection...

[dave]

hi,
     another tit-bit off of youtube, if like me you have clouds, and the mrs can't find anything for you to do...

   

regards,            
                             dave...

[davebasing]

Well worth a listen, great story and a great storyteller.

Back in the day I was vice-chair of the CAA’s flying club and we held quarterly evening sessions with guest speakers one of whom was an F111 jockey from Lakenheath who had also (safely) used the ejection capsule on an F111.
In August 1976 I graphed the ejection capsule from F111E 68-0060 from Heyford which crashed off the Lincolnshire coast after a bird strike in November the previous year. The system worked and both crew members survived. For some unknown reason the capsule was taken to the base at Woodbridge and then simply dumped outside the base fence as you will see. It’s now preserved in the museum at Dumfries.

76-ek by dave tompkins, on Flickr

Perhaps the worst ejection capsule event was back in 1972 when 67-0082 went down in Florida. Firstly the fuel cap had been left open and after takeoff the fuel duly gushed out behind the wing and was ignited by the afterburner. The crew used the capsule but the chutes failed to deploy and sadly neither crew member survived. It was subsequently discovered that the chutes were in the chute bay but un-connected and still in their original shrink wrapping!

Again in CAA days I was invited to lecture to degree courses at the various USAF bases in the UK. At Lakenheath one day they asked if I had ever stood on top of an F111. Unsurprisingly I never had. So they took me up on top of one inside the hangar. Only when standing on top of it do you actually realise what a really big (and wide) aircraft the F111 was. Although I’ve happily done jet aerobatics I suffer from vertigo and its a long way down (for me at least) from the top of an F111 so I was only too glad to get back down. Back in the 70s while having a crash course on flying the CH54 Skycrane at a US Army base in Germany they took me to the top of one of those to look at the engines, equally not a happy bunny.

A few memory jerking ramp shots of the based swingers from that day at Lakenheath back in 1984.

84-du by dave tompkins, on Flickr
84-dt by dave tompkins, on Flickr
84-ds by dave tompkins, on Flickr

[dave]

hi,
thanks for your post davebasing always interesting, re the used pod now at Dumfries, is there another one unused at a museum in the UK? I seem to remember seeing one, perhaps AAM Duxford, i can;t think of anywhere else it would be... regarding the photos of the F.111's, was it a special occasion? as i visited after the Mildenhall open houses, not since unfortunately, and from what i can remember, they were only odd ones outside of the shelters, none in a gaggle...
regards,
dave...

[davebasing]

Hi Dave. Yes Duxford does have an escape capsule from an F111F. I believe they list it as being from an unknown aircraft. It was once thought to be from 72-1447 which crashed in Scotland in 1982 but the capsule from that aircraft is 99% certain to be the one owned by a private collector (Robert Soek) in Holland, having bought it from the USAF store at Molesworth. A more likely contender seems to be 70-2366 which crashed off the Yorkshire coast in 1983. The capsule of that aircraft landed in very shallow sea water which could explain the corrosion which is apparently on the lower part of Duxford's capsule, coupled with "366" seemingly being stencilled on its radio equipment. There are however other possible contenders from successful ejections in the UK including 70-2368.

As for Lakenheath I don't think they towed them all out just for me that day. My own logs from what were then fairly regular visits from outside the base in the early years of the F111 (1977 onwards) tend to suggest numerous aircraft each time but perhaps things were different at weekends? On my first visit (on the way back from the Royal Review at Finningley) after they had mostly been delivered in 1977 I actually logged 70 of them outside and 17 gap fillers a few weeks later but that was almost certainly pre hardened shelters! Oh for the F100 days when there were no hardened shelters or any other buildings to block the view of the flight line and almost all were kept outside when not on maintenance. We used to park up on a small raised mound that used to be on the opposite side of the A1065 Brandon Road and simply read them all off (no viewing area then). There was also then nothing to stop you driving slowly up (or stopping on) the grass on the airfield side of that road.

[dave]

hi, thanks for confirming my memory, when we used to go, we always pulled in on the A1065 opposite the fence, then walk the fence side (picking up golf balls,)as we spotted, some motored the fence side but that seemed to draw attention of the base police. Then round the other side on the heath, for what ever we could see.
One year Mildenhall's car paqrk was full. and we were told we would be able to park at Lakenheath, so we drove over and the gate guard hadn't been told anything, so he did a quick phone call or two, and i think we parked just inside the gate.So we got to see the memorial a/c collection, till a couple of buses turned up... happy days.

thanks for getting me in memory mode, regards,
dave...