Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Aussie Aardvark Preservation Effort



The RAAF recently retired the last of its F-111 Aardvarks from service. Almost all of the surviving airframes were tagged for scrapping, very little effort/thought was given to preserving any of them in museums by the Australian government. In fact, the government tried to implement regulations that would have made it almost impossible for any of the aircraft to be displayed anywhere except the RAAF's official museum.

A group was formed in 2002 to lobby for preservation of some of the aircraft. Their efforts have been successful so far, resulting in several aircraft being earmarked for preservation.

If you are a fan of the 'Vark, this is worth a look:


http://www.f-111preservation.org/

Title Photo - RF-111C A8-146, seen at Recon Air Meet 88, Bergstrom AFB. Photo by yours truly.



Update - If you are a fan of aviation, this will make you sick. Granted, they have to dispose of the aircraft in some way, and this isn't much different than chopping them up and recycling the bits (like is done out in Tucson), but this is hard to watch ...



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