1970s Australian F-4E Phantom operations – photos galore

Great web page, I read in one of my books that the Aussies loved the phantom so much they wanted to keep them and cancel the F111 order but there was some shenanigans in Washington on behalf of the companies behind the F111 to make them take the aardvark.

Curlyboy

As a RAAF brat living on RAAF Base Richmond during the early 1970s that observation is very true …..the RAAF just loved the Phantom and did want to keep them. But the talk was more to not replacing the F111 order but to just have the F4 with the F111 as well.

I can remember at that time many of the RAAF guys at Richmond calling any visiting Phantoms from RAAF Base Amberley …” Flying Powerhouse’s”.

They were simply brilliant.

Hi All,
them shenanigans again seems to me they got in the way of the TSR2 :love-struck: order from the Ausies that would have partly secured it’s future :confused:
That is not to say the F-111 was not a capable aircraft but as Si says HEY!!!! 😀

Geoff.

Sorry, but that’s not even partly correct.

The TSR2 was eliminated by the RAAF fairly early on in the process… just after the Mirage IVA and the F-4C were dropped.

Here is a link to the actual classified evaluations of all 5 contenders by the RAAF (now declassified), all 101 pages (including cover pages): http://naa12.naa.gov.au/scripts/Imagine.asp?B=1533518&I=1&SE=1

The actual recommendation by the RAAF was for the A-5C Vigilante… the F-111 was second, “the ideal aircraft on performance, ignoring all outside aspects”, and “if considered in isolation should be the logical choice”. Those “outside aspects” were minor things like:

How likely was the aircraft to actually be built (TSR2 scored lowest, F-111 next-lowest, Mirage IV prototypes were flying, A-5 & F-4C were already in production)

How well and how fast could they be built and delivered (TSR2 scored lowest again, Mirage IV next-lowest, F-111 3rd. The A-5 & F-4 could start deliveries almost immediately)

Cost of the aircraft (TSR2 was much the most expensive, F-111 was next-highest, but there was a gap of “tens of millions of dollars” when the entire 24-aircraft buy of TSR2 was supposed to cost Au$122 million)

Political reliability of the producing country (France scored lowest, as they could not be relied on for any military or political aid in the Southwest Pacific. Both the UK and US were considered to be ready to lend military or political aid [this would change in 1968 when EoS was dropped by the UK])

Likelihood of providing nuclear weapons for the chosen aircraft (in the late 1950s and early 1960s Australia was actively seeking nuclear weapons… and had even begun developing the ability to design and make them themselves! France would not provide them, neither would the UK… but the US was still not committing itself either way)

Here is the memo from Sir Robert Menzies explaining his decision in favor of the F-111:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]218409[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]218410[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]218411[/ATTACH]

Great web page, I read in one of my books that the Aussies loved the phantom so much they wanted to keep them and cancel the F111 order but there was some shenanigans in Washington on behalf of the companies behind the F111 to make them take the aardvark.

Curlyboy

Hi All,
them shenanigans again seems to me they got in the way of the TSR2 :love-struck: order from the Ausies that would have partly secured it’s future :confused:
That is not to say the F-111 was not a capable aircraft but as Si says HEY!!!! 😀

Geoff.

I doubt if “shenanigans” were involved, probably they didn’t want to pay high cancellation fees. Besides, they were happy with the 111s…and they had more range than the F-4Es.

Great web page, I read in one of my books that the Aussies loved the phantom so much they wanted to keep them and cancel the F111 order but there was some shenanigans in Washington on behalf of the companies behind the F111 to make them take the aardvark.

Curlyboy