ARDVARKS AND SPARKVARKS

[james baker]

The mighty F 111 and another slice of history .Some of what follows were taken at Lakenheath at the open days 1991 and 1992 my last sight of a 111 was at Finningley 1993 with the chief the end of the runway .The Cannons were on deployment at Fairford in June 1995 ,the final resting home shots were at D M in 2000 where a lot of the fleet had survived.Its strange that the R and D airframe still lives on at Edwards open air museum I imagine its a 1970 s vintage a shot I took in 2009 and is a digital photo at last, I hope people are interested.With thanks to Darren for the advise and guidance on my scanning system.
I should mention that a couple of shots are from Waddington photocall 1990 and Finningley show 1989 just to keep the record straight.


DSC_0092 (1) by james baker, on Flickr

F 111 S IN A LINE by james baker, on Flickr

F111 GRAVEYARD by james baker, on Flickr


THE CHIEF ARRIVES FINNINGLEY 1993 by james baker, on Flickr

SPARKVARK by james baker, on Flickr

PH2 SCAN SPARKVARKS PASS by james baker, on Flickr

SPARKVARK ON STATIC by james baker, on Flickr

SPARKVARK-REAR-CBY-JUNE-1992-1-1 by james baker, on Flickr

FIN 89 F111 by james baker, on Flickr

HEYFORD 111 FININGLEY 1993 by james baker, on Flickr

LIBERTY WING 1 by james baker, on Flickr

F111 STATIC LNS by james baker, on Flickr


FAIRFORD 16 6 1995 4 by james baker, on Flickr


FAIRFORD 16 6 1995 7 by james baker, on Flickr


F 111AT LAKENHEATH 1989 by james baker, on Flickr


F-111-E-UH-INBOUND-CBY-1989-1-1 by james baker, on Flickr


F111 55TFS FIN 91 by james baker, on Flickr


F 111 PAIR AT PHOTOCALL by james baker, on Flickr


F 111 S AT D M FROM THE AIR by james baker, on Flickr


F 111 THE LAST VISIT TO UK by james baker, on Flickr

F 111 FINAL SHOW LAKENHEATH 1991 by james baker, on Flickr

F 111 FINAL SHOW LONE STAR 890 by james baker, on Flickr

F 111 IN RETIREMENT D M 2000 by james baker, on Flickr


111 AT LOW LEVEL APRIL 1990 MOD 1 by james baker, on Flickr


CANNON F111 FINAL DEPLOYMENT 21 06 1995 by james baker, on Flickr

F 111 FINAL SHOW HEAD ON AT THE HEATH by james baker, on Flickr

[andrewn]

nice trip down memory lane. Thanks

[Knife 04]

Another great nostalgic post Jim - the F-111 was always one of my favourite airframes - whether E, F or EF! Would always be interested in seeing more

No problems with the workflow - learning all the time with the scans. I could not have done it without guidance and help from Andy M, Ian & Phil - credit to them too!

Cheers

Darren

[tm74sqn]

Nice photos. The first one is of the first F-111A (or YF-111A as it is sometimes called) 63-9766 - so very historic. Photo very similar to ones that I took of it at Edwards AFB on a couple of visits over the years.

[dollar99]

James,

The one thing about scanning is you'll never stop learning

Nice job, nice to see some 'Varks, most of mine are still in the scanning queue!

So Darren what's wrong with As, Cs, Ds and FB-111As?

Ian

[Seahawk 11]

Great photos of a great aircraft, I spent many an hour @ Upper Heyford back in the day watching them,
thanks for posting them,
Rob

[Knife 04]

So Darren what's wrong with As, Cs, Ds and FB-111As?

You are so right Ian! Never thought about them but there again did not get to see that many of them - only the Aussie 'C's at Boscombe that time (missed them at IAT), 'D's again at Boscombe for Coronet Commanche in 1986 and the FB-111s at Mildenhall and Fairford for the shows - the Es, Fs and EFs will always be special though as they were the ones in the UK!

Was only up at Heyford on Sunday for a tour with Nigel Marsh on here and a few friends - all reminiscing about 'back in the day'

Darren

[slogen51]

Cracking post

You don't know what you miss until it is gone.

[paddyboy]

Hi James

Cracking post

All real aviation fans of a certain age ( ) love the 'Vark

Thanks for posting

Paddyboy

[dragonchaser]

Super post this! Some great memories there, mainly at UH and LN, but also Boscombe Down when they deployed there. Also remember FB111’s at Waddington and LN.

[tairngreacht_bas]

[EF-111]

Thanks for bringing back memories of hours spent watching these beauties

Steve

[Sparky 119]

Can't get enough of these,UH having been my local it saddens me today to see how the old place has turned out,still have the memories though.

[Punkrunner62]

Great just great, a very fine selection.
Cheers.

[tim_3216]

Thanks James for a lovely set of images. Those were the days!

[Jackaroo]

Lovely set what a beast the F111 was. Last time I saw one flying was an Aussie one bowl past us whilst we were in the champagne pool Fraser Island 2003 very low level over the sea. What a sight that was.

[SW Sky Blue]

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