Last F-111 to fly makes it's final trip..... by road

Plane of much interest.

It took a lot of work to get the aardvark to finally perform as needed. I was in high school, and my dad was a machinist at Tinker AFB. My dad had nothing to do with the aardvark, but my earliest toys were surplus bit and pieces for B-29s. I was plane crazy, and this plane was in the news a great deal. Cost overruns, technical issues with the swing mechanism, etc.

There was a story that the VC could kill these planes by planting explosives in trees. If the plane came over fast at very low altitude, they would simply blow the tree to smithereens. as the leaves and other debris went up in the air, the F111 terrain following radar would try to avoid the debris and cause the plane to crash. ("Broke its wings off" was the highly technical term used.)

Another story about the plane was that pilots were reluctant to turn loose of the controls and let the tf radar steer the plane. The pilots were taken to the grand canyon and told to let the plane find its way between the buttes and mesas. At top speed.

The final and most intriquing story I ever heard about the F-111 was that someone defected to Cuba in one. Supposedly, the bad guys had a very large reward posted for anyone that would turn one over.

Can anyone confirm or deny these old stories?
HH,
John Morton

I've never heard of one going to Cuba, an urban myth maybe ?

As far as the TFR is concerned. A chap who used to live next door to my parents, worked on the
F-111's safety equipment, and was stationed with the 48th TFW at Lakenheath.
When they deployed abroad, he would get the occasional flight.
I remember him telling me when he was a passenger, flying down a Turkish Valley doing 600kts, at just 400ft.
With the pilot having his hands off the controls.

She has delivered so many bad days to our enemies it's almost a shame to retire. 10 feet longer than an F-15 with twice the loaded weight and the same top speed Big, fast, mean mammajamma.