F-111F Cannon AFB 524th Fighter Squadron Last Launch to the Bone Yard Kevin Kirkwood AKA "Muppet" 

I was the 524th Maintenance Superintendent from Dec. 92 thru Nov. 93. Lt. Col Ehrlich was the squadron CC. A superb group of people! Tough jet to work, and was an absolute beast. I ended up retiring out of the 524th, and made a trip to the DM boneyard in late 1996. There were all 28 of the yellow tails lined up, wings swept, wing tip to wing tip. Brought back some great memories, even though I was only in the 524th for a short while. Bittersweet for certain.....

We were stationed at Pease, Heyford & Cannon. My dad was an avionics guy, he was with the 428th at Cannon. 11 years later I helped Cannon transition from a TFW to AFSOC from 2008-2016. Great memories!

I started in the air force at mountain home in early 1972. I maintained these F111Fs (straight from the factory, even had the new Aircraft smell )till 1978. After 22 years I retired. Always loved the jet

F 111 A Nellis AFB 1972 - Takli RTAFB 1972 474 MMS GREAT seeing these again.

I was a crew chief on f-111f 70-0416 at Lakenheath England 1979-1982. Good aircraft Reliable.

Summer of 94 I was back packing in the Pecos Wilderness. While on top of a mountain I heard a noise looked down, and two F111s were flying beneath us in the valley! Very unusual to look down and see planes flying!

Worked 27 SUPS and 522 AMU COSO, from July 1981- Jan 1986…Met my wife of nearly 39 years, dragging’ Main in Clovis, Feb 4, 1984….when I was an Amn, had to go up to Wagon Mound to recover a Yellow tail that went down…

I did a TDY at Cannon AFB 74 and 75. I can't I enjoyed it...I was stationed at Bergstrom AFB..Austin TX...at the time. I think now I would enjoy Cannon

I was at McClellan AFB and spoke with a Colonel about the retirement of the F-111. Aircraft coming right out of depot maintenance and being flown directly to Davis Monthan.

There were "111" likes before I hit the like button to make it 112! Kinda hated to change it! I was stationed at Cannon when the base transitioned from the F100 to the F-111 in 1971. I worked at the bomb dump on the far side of the runway. Good memories. Ended up finishing my college degree at Eastern New Mexico University about 20 miles south of the base after my discharge.

Got stationed to Cannon from 86 to 90 then Upper Heyford from 90 to 93 then back to Cannon from 93 to 97. I was at Khobar during the bomb and had to stay over with the next EF-111 group. It was certainly a moment in history.

I was there from 1982 to 1986 and it was the F-111D - 27th Fighter Wing (TAC) Base

Man just seeing this man that was a good day. I remember that like it was yesterday. Good stuff Muppet! Crew Dawgs - Big Wilk

Great footage, thanks for posting this! In my oppinion the F-111 looked stunning in the grey camo; suited these beautiful sleek machines just perfectly! Sad watching them go but great you preserved this on film. Liked!

I have that squadron patch on the wall in my bar. Went to the bottom of many bottles at the nco club and the MUSIC MACHINE in the big city.

I was there in 72-73. Still remember them taking off at night. Something to see. POL

My favorite bomber spent many days at lake worth at carswell when i was a kid then spent a the rest of my life making parts for fighter planes to the shuttle THANK YOU ALL THE AIRMEN

Wow! This is a blast from the past! I was stationed at Holloman AFB in southern NM at the time, working the F117 for the 415thFS/ 9thFS. My supervisor was named Kent Kleffner, and he worked the F-111s at Mountain Home and talked about them all the time.

This is awesome. I was in BMT at this time and would be assigned to this Squadron as an F-16 CC in Aug. that year. Amn Kim stayed on with us for the transition and I got to work with him quite a lot. Great guy he was. Seeing inside the Squadron again brought back some great memories. Seeing Sgt Moore and Doc was crazy too. They stayed on as well. I saw a few more familiar faces but couldn't quite remember the names. Good times.

Fat tails provide comfort! Almost felt like I was there a few minutes ago. My dad, Hudson, was stationed there most of the 90s flying the F, E, and I think 1 more. Been on that flightline many times. Thank you for posting this.

20TH CES (firefighter) Upper Heyford England 82-84.... Miss the F111

Wow this is so cool! Can’t believe this came up on my video feed, I was literally at the ceremony that was shown at the end when they were retired, and I worked in base supply, I used to deliver parts to the flight line, all tool rooms, the 522; 523; 524; and I had a friend who was a crew scheduler for the 522. Boy this sure was a Long time ago. I enjoyed my time at Cannon. I was there 1994-1997,I did 2 deployments with the EF-111 Ravens, we worked the supply points for them in Dhahran. I probably saw most of these airman around base and the chow hall. Some faces looked familiar, and of course there is Col. Koehner, I remember he named the 27th fighter squadron the “Go To wing” boy did that get made fun of, LOL. If only memes were a thing back then 😅 can you imagine 😂

I was stationed at Cannon AFB (Clovis NM 30 miles from water, 3 feet from Hell) 1977 - 1980 working on the F11-D. This video brought back some great memories. Thank you for posting.

This was my F-111F squadron. I flew right seat in this very aircraft.

great video! I was stationed at cannon for 9 yrs back in the 80s. worked in the WRSK hanger and had a blast the whole 9yrs I was there. Video brought back so many memories...

My dad bawled his eyes out when he sent is EF-111 to the Boneyard.

My dad “Koep” was with the 428th at Cannon. Remember spending a lot of time as a kid staring at the 111’s and admiring how awesome they’re.

I was stationed at cannon. With the f111's . The memories will not fade . I would like to go back to cannon. I dont miss the horns blowing off on the dash 60s when they were out of fuel!. Nothing like the smell of hot burnt j p 4 in the morning. Good day.

I was with them 1975- 1979. Great memories. We were the fastest.

I was there for that...great memories...especially when I left cannon..lol😅😅

That brings back memories. I left Cannon in Sept, 94.

I remember walking out to the flightline to watch them take off. I was at the end of the runway when the last EF-111s left.

They all seem a nice, funny bunch of guys

There's an aircraft I'm glad to see retired. In the years I was assigned at Cannon AFB we had on average one F111D fall out of the sky every year.

Hounds, baby, Hounds! Todo 524FS 91-93

I was at Cannon in 72 to 75.

Very sad for me to watch. The F-111 were brand new aircraft when I was stationed at Mountain Home AFB home of the 366th TFW Gunfighters Squadron. I guess I am old, both the F-111 and I am retired. After Mountain Home I was transferred to U-Tapao Thailand, then Grand Forks AFB. The B-52 were new when I was born and old when I worked on them. I must have done a good job as BUFF's are still flying.

Do you know Col. Jay Millsted ? He flew this plane, I am going to show him this, he is my neighbor and friend

I loaded bombs on that flight line from 1988-91 good post

Shame. It was retired too soon I always thought. Even when the RAAF retired them in 2010, there was nothing to replace their capabilities with.

I really love that plane :-)

I like how during takeoff he attached his camera to a slinky toy. Not the eventual payoff I was hoping for.

I was at Cannon from 93-98. 27th Comm.

I believe one of them came back and had to be trailered out

I worked them as a flight line jet mech 522 ND Red Ball sqdrn 82-83

Super

Great aircraft. Raid on Libya. Was a long forty or so hours.

What can replace an F-111? Another F-111

Eight engines waiting

F111 fighter with wings fluttering a warrior in the sky the pride of the United State. He left his job in Vietnam, did he no longer love the people of south Vietnam? let's go back to my work in the color of freedom.

523 FS Crusaders. If you ain’t blue you’re #2.

There is one at armament muesum fwb eglin florida.

I remember

That plane was made after a engineer made a paper airplane at his desk!

off to the bone yard how sad!!

Mexican food base flightline cantina!!!!

Crew chief

Hated that base 77-79 C's

When we make war obsolete

Adios Aardvark!

I take it this is not a mito

Why can’t one be spared for air shows and such?

27 fms age.

Ghost riders n the sky

Music machine ....sunset bar ....big O tires....steak fingers. Cruise blvd every sat . Red flag nellis....

USAF

Dash 60 c10 high pack cabin leakage tester....programmers.....

gatorfan

SAC BUDDY

It's like watching a crime take place and not being able to do anything about it. F-15E doesn't come close.

Lets not forget MAC c17 out of Afghanistan , lets not forget so as to not reapeat ,same shit over again

Sslute