At the end of the video when he says "if you know, you know" he is referring to how you can turn the fuel dump mechanism into a flamethrower, by engaging the afterburner and fuel dump simultaneously. This happens because the fuel dump exit is located right in between the two engines at the rear of the plane.
Fun fact: F-111 got this escape pod because the Navy asked for the F-111B cockpit to become an emergency raft to improve survivability when ejecting over water. It was also one of the reasons why the F-111B was too heavy to meet Navy's request, but Navy said the pod was non negotiable. Eventually the F-111B program was cancelled in favor of the F-14A, which lacks multiple requirements the navy asked of the F-111B including the escape pod among other things as well as still being overweight. On the other hand, the Air Force initially asked for a tandem conventional cockpit like the F-14 would later become, but Navy said no and Congress said keep it the same as Navy. In the end, the F-111A for the Air Force got a free emergency survival shelter and the pilot and copilot can hold hands for emotional support as they loft down to the post-apocalyptic world.
A bit more to the story. Sec of Defense Robert McNamara thought the Navy and AF should share the same aircraft, regardless of the doctrine and needs of either service. Pure ego. The same ego that ensured the early M16 didn't have a chrome lined barrel. Robbie got quite a few soldiers killed in Vietnam. Somehow Robbie thought the Navy should be able to adapt an aircraft built to AF requirements was going to operate off carriers. NWIH was that happening. There's a very good reason the two birds operated in common between those services were both designed for the Navy and later procured for the AF. (Phantom and Corsair II) It's a small miracle the F-111 was built at all, let alone end up as a damned fine aircraft.
@@Ares-jx4ep Well there's more to that as well. Navy command absolutely hated the idea of ever having anything to do with Air Force planes, and while the F-111B was nowhere near ideal, if it was modified to the same requirements as the F-14, it would have been passable, not ideal, but passable. Now don't get me wrong, I absolutely adore the F-14 and I'm glad that the Navy was really stubborn about the whole thing, but I'm just saying if the Navy wasn't so stubborn about it, we could have gotten an entirely different plane half as closer to the F-14 in performance for both the Navy and the Airforce. Also McNamara was formerly a president of Ford and he used the same strategy to save the company, which was how he became the first Ford president outside of the Ford family. He was foolish for thinking that way of problem solving worked for every application, but I guess his dream is coming true these days due to budget constraints. Just looking at the F-35 series, he would have shed tears of joy
@@strf90105 Ok, let's play it your way. If the AF wasn't so stubborn in their range and nuclear delivery demands the Vark could have been an entirely different plane. In reality the two services had totally different needs. One needed a replacement for the Thud for the long range strike. tactical nuke delivery role, the other needed a better interceptor than the F4. The TFX program was doomed from the start and both services opposed it. But Robbie knew better.... You bring up the F14 as the comparison. Sure do that, but do it from the other direction. The F14 was an interceptor pure and simple. See if you can figure out a way to give it the Vark's range/payload/munitions capability and still have it be a better interceptor than the F4. Had Robbie listened the AF would have had a better strike aircraft than the Vark and the Navy would have still had the F14, for less money. (Assuming the AF didn't go crazy with their demands forcing cost overruns, etc.)
Instructions unclear: So after acquiring said nuclear weapon a bunch of men in suits showed up at the door and said they just wanna talk. Will update soon after a good chat 🤷♂️
Perfect democracy, 100% in favor, .000001% voter participation is a bit low though, maybe we should give everyone in hostile countries a nuclear consent switch so we know where it’s okay to nuke.
That was specifically launch enable codes for the Minuteman ICBM's, and there seems to be some controversy if that was the actual code or just a placeholder in the manuals. Sub launched and Air launched used a different process.
I love how the context of this little story has us dropping an atomic bomb, putting down the blast shield to avoid being blinded, but then ejecting near the detonation zone, before we can get very far away
@@JisttoturnWho cares, it's famous + fearsome reputation. I heard its job as a slow flying 20mm shredder were usually well done. Not too deep in US war tech lessons, so plz explain where did A10 fail?
Well he didn't actually do anything dangerous. The most dangerous thing was probably his wiping his finder on the residue. People can do anything he did in the video safely because he didn't drop a nuke
well i think it has an automatic ground following radar to fly it as low as 50 meters but what would the radar follow if you just nuked the ground bekow you
There's something so cosmicly funny about the fact that there's s "Nuclear consent" switch. Like they really made a couple of switches that's just: "Are you aware of what you are about to unleash upon this earth and wish to proceed."
Its two switches linked together, both switches must be turned, and both switches have different keys that never ever go to the same person, hence mutual "nuclear consent"
Could you fly a plane from JFK int. to Sydney, Aus, without looking out anything, (blocked out windows)? Using just flight controls and a gimble, compass and airspeed, pen and paper..? If not, you have no right to talk about a switch.
Probably because aircraft with variable geometry wings haven't been operated by our airforce since the 90s and the pilots and navigators of those were older guys into the 2000s if they were still in. My pa was a Phantom and Aardvark Nav and he started in 1969 and retired in like 91.
Yea these planes and jets are so fascinating. It's crazy that some things they made way back in the 60s is still used today. I think that's pretty awesome and ahead of their time.
@@frankierzucekjr the pre production F-111 had normal seats. On production aircraft the crew module could also act as a life raft if it landed in the water, complete with a bilge pump and floatation bag (courtesy of the attenuation bag), both maintained by using the control stick. This would have been particularly useful had the F-111B been adopted by the US Navy.
Meanwhile... somewhere in the Pentagon... "Sir, I think we need to cancel the rest of the F-111s we ordered for the Marines." "Why would we do that Colonel? Is there something wrong with the Aardvark?" "No sir, there isn't anything wrong with the bird. The problem is...uh... well sir...it seems that...uh... the problem General... is that the pilots sir... the pilots keep--" "They ate another nuke. Didn't they?" "Um...Yes sir. They said it was by accident but..." "Accident my ass! This is what... the 3rd time Colonel?" "This would be the 4th time sir" "The 4th time... Jesu--... How many did we send them?" "Four sir. We sent them four for testing" "Ok Colonel, F these jarheads. Cancel the 111's and get them some of those Harrier things. Figuring out how to fly those crash wagons should keep them occupied for a few years" "Yes sir. Right away sir" "Oh, and one more thing Colonel." "Sir?" "Get them some F'ing crayons!" "Roger that sir."
Like that time a mentally unstable guy threw a live grenade into a child nursery home. Also I can't forget that time my friend's dad smashed his ps5 so my friend smashed his wife
Yeah, now all ya need is access to a stealth jet, carrying a nuke, under DEFCON-1…all this besides likely thousands of hours flying this beautiful piece of avionics, passing the PRC and who knows what else. Lol.
@@Mrpostman1567it is a neat thought to entertain though, it IS technically possible that that particular plane and cockpit was involved in testing and those codes where at some point used potentially. I personally think the system would’ve been zeroed out afterwards or maybe they ejected after a botched nuclear test 🤷🏻♂️ I don’t know anything about this particular plane so it’s a neat idea lol.
For the little bit at the end I think it’s referring to when the f111s would dump fuel and light it as the plane flew overhead. They used to do this when I was a kid during river fire (big firework show) in Brisbane Australia.
My great grandpa was on the development team for this fighter jet, sadly just this past June we lost him he lived a good life and was one of the lead developers of this aircraft
the fact that the entire crew has to consent to doing it before they even get on the plane, is so scary. They need to make sure that you'll actually follow through with it instead of getting scared, and backing out.
@@iceswallow7717 nah i would watch the show and die instead of trying to survive you just can't survive that i would rather die than suffer but survive longer
@@hodayfa000h you absolutely can. the myth of massive radiation wpuldnt even happen, bcz most nukes would be airbursts (almost no radiation, only in blast zone). you would just need food bcz food supply would break down, + learning to farm. All u would need is a good reason like family
Man, wish I’d found this video sooner. Last attempt at dropping a nuke from my jet blinded me, and I couldn’t eject from the cockpit. Thanks a lot, I’ll definitely use this next time 👍
Hey guys, do y'all want me to grab some MacDonald's for us that morning before we had out to the airport? And would y'all like sausage or chicken biscuits?
For the jet lovers, the 1st photo is RAAF 1st squadron. The lightning bolt on the tail was adopted as the 1st shipment of RAAF received still has US squadron markings(lighting bolt). If you visit Pearl Harbour you can see a RAAF F-111, with it's Squadron livery.
My father tuned and repaired the instruments on nuclear bomber planes during the 80’s and one of his 3 passcodes to get access to the planes changed every 3 weeks. I was named after one of the passcodes lol
Don’t have to give your real name but could you give examples? Old nuke stuff is just cool and I know sometimes the US got creative with the names and phrases lmao
@@bentraplay6754And sometimes they didn’t. At one point during the Cold War, the president’s code to authorize a nuclear strike with the “football” briefcase was 00000000.
My dad used to fly this jet back in the early 70’s. This plane was a FB 111. If we had to use them it would have been a one way mission. I never knew that until he was long retired.
In an era where we use ICBMs. By the time a plane would get to its crusing altitude, the ICBM will have launched, reached its destination, and detonated. ICBMs take less than 5 minutes to go from "unarmed and waiting for signal" to "boom".
