He has always been a fascinating person, I haven't always spent a lot of time around Rob because of where we live but I am very honored to have him as my uncle.
Maybe aardvark adventures could be a new segment along with tornado tales? I know some guys who flew it over here in Australia who have some pretty good stories.
I enjoyed this interview so much. Really bought back memories. I arrived at RAF Mildenhall at about the same time as Rob arrived at Lakenheath. Those were great times for sure being in the UK. Interesting to hear his take on the NATO Tac Evals. We had lots of exercises at RAFM but nothing like a Tac Eval. I always felt for the folk next door having to do that stuff.
The F-111E/F did not get the recognition it deserved in the Golf War . The F-111 destroyed more hardened facilities than any other A/C . The Pave Tack pod and the laser guided 2000 lbs were awesome!
Rob's a superb interviewee with great stories. He's also clearly a great guy. Love his volunteer work with the local kids, e.g. measure your wingspan. Just lovely. Thanks again, @Aircrewinterview.
Thanks for the memories and cool photos. This brought back many memories of my time in the USAF. I was an original Crew Chief on F-111F 71-883 at Mountain Home. The bird was the Squadron commanders aircraft. I was also a Crew Chief at Takhli assigned to 67-100. That aircraft is mounted as the gate guard at Nellis. I still love that aircraft and still get a big nostalgic hit when I smell jet fuel. I was active from 69-73 lots of good guys. Yes getting called a baby killer and getting abused was still going on when I went back to school to finish my BS.
Crewed 67-100 at MHAFB 80-82. At that time she had just come out of depot and was the Wing Commanders bird. Loved that plane! Kept the record of high flyer while I had her. I do remember one flight where she pulled into the stub after a flight and something let go in the rear slabs. Giant cascade of hydraulic fluid. I probably turned white as a sheet.
@@rogerbeckner6419 67-100 was the high flyer at Takhli when I had her. There was a 6” crack in the wing spar near the pivot. I can’t remember which side. It never got larger or caused her to be grounded, but it was something I inspected fairly often. She flew the last bombing mission of the war along with 113. Glad you had success with her too, good job brother.
40+ nights I was two nights on, then me to mission planning, crew mate to the command post. approx 24/16 day after the cease fire was announced I got a KC135 to LN- and then PanAm Heathrow >JFK > commercial > San Francisco by Saturday. My last flight the last night was my last flight. (hazy memory - pretty sure I have more combat hours in the vark than other)
While serving at Nellis 88-92 as a Parachute Survival Equipment Spec. I remember sewing the combat hour patches on many pilots flight suit sleeves, and how cool it was to some with multiple gold (combat) stars.
When KY said that he would have like to have liked to have flown the A10, ya! I my opinion the 3 most difficult flying situations are the F111, the A10 and any pilot that can land on an aircraft carrier at night in a storm!!
Great interview, as always. Seeing the pig doing dump and burns and low passes at air shows was a big part of my youth, I know they had a lot of challenges with the fuel tanks and resultant health issues, but it was so sad when the RAAF finally buried them at a rubbish dump. Would love to see some of these retired F-111 pilots flying again at air shows. Imagine a flight of F-111s and B1-Bs doing swept, clean and dirty passes.
Finally caught up with second half. Thoroughly enjoyable stories. Not sure who exactly came up with the tank plinking tactic but we were trialling it late 1990 before desert shield ended
Still remember the F1-11s that flew out of Upper Heyford. At Heath Farm over towards Chippy, a Farmer painted an large CND symbol on both sides of the roof of his barn... in protest at the nuclear capability of the F1-11. A spokesman for the USAF was asked if the pilots were bothered. "Hell no, they say it gives them a good visual reference for approaches to 09 and takeoffs from 27".
We had an incident just after Vietnam war ended. F-111A's were continuing to bomb Laos and Cambodia. Aircraft were using radar offset bombing, with friendlies having a radar transponder and the aircraft would offset from that position to bomb target. In short, one aircraft killed a lot of friendlies, the aircraft was impounded, and the crew was sweating it out over how this could have happened. Ends up a screw was stripped holding down a servo on the nose radar antenna. That servo was used to show where the radar cursors were pointed. So, the cursor was not showing the correct position. Some shop tech who worked on that antenna caused this mishap...
I was 28 in 1978, I hated the Vietnam war but never the servicemen that fought. If not for a ruptured disc I was Naval Air in 1970. Didn’t agree with the political views of the USA 🇺🇸 but still proud to be an American and supported those that enlisted or were drafted. I hated the ignorant students that couldn’t separate servicemen and the politicians that decided fighting in Vietnam was a good idea …
Maybe I'm a cruel SOB but when you are at war with another country that war includes every citizen of that country. Even if they didn't support Sadam or whomever, they remained there, they didn't fight back against him and even if it would have cost them their lives possibly, that is their responsibility. Now as a pilot dropping munitions, you are doing your best and as horrible as the outcome maybe, unless you PERSONALLY failed to do your job, the fact that a weapon system malfunctioned, winds exceed forecasts or whatever - something beyond your control, that is the horrible nature of war. THAT is why nations need to be careful about who they select or permit to rule over them. We have become to accustomed to a "Sanitary" war where only the bad guys shooting at us are legitimate acceptable casualties. The concept of a sanitary war with only perfect weapons performance and approved target destruction is a bad thing. We are too ready to go to war because of that idea that we can be so certain only to hit the approved target. The vagaries of war should have a positive affect on the entire population - YOU Mr/Mrs/Miss Citizen are part of the set called the enemy. You might not be carrying a gun, firing missiles at us but YOU are part of the problem because of the leadership you have permitted to lead you. IF you don't want to be part of that problem, then when that leadership rattles the wrong cage, YOU need to get out of there. Again, that's a concept that may be dated but it's a more realistic concept than the idea that we can and may only hit the perfect approved targets. That vagary can and should work to drive citizens to not accept the war-mongering leaders or support attacks that will lead to a conflict. I think it's sad that our pilots, and all of our warfighters have been conditioned to feel such guilt for events like KY describes. No, I do not expect a total lack of sorrow over weapons that kill children or other TRUELY innocent people. I just think we have come to expect too much of our warfighters engaged in combat.
Not everyone supports their government at war and certainly many Iraqis didn't like Saddam! Asking unarmed women and children to fight back is, at best, stupid. It was a good question and a good answer in my opinion. As Mike said, he's not a robot and it's worth considering the human costs on both sides.
Not only cruel, but extremely ignorant. I'll assume you're American. People are the same everywhere: they just want to get by and provide for their families. Some of them have it very hard, particularly in countries ruled with an iron fist. Their leaders are cruel, narcissistic despots whom the people hate (or are brainwashed to "love"). If they say anything that remotely sounds like a complaint, they are jailed or executed, leaving their family without them. Or their family is jailed along with them, or executed in front of them. And they cannot leave their country, since the borders are guarded. And so they do the best with the hand they're dealt. Most people would rather be a live dog than a dead lion. Wars are declared not by the populace, but by arrogant leaders, who send their hapless people to do the fighting, and the people bear the brunt of the misery of war while their leaders continue feasting. And don't think the USA is the "good guy" in every war it engages in. Did Vietnam cross the ocean to attack the USA? According to you, every American supported the Vietnam war because they all fully and unanimously supported their government. Many of them had never even heard of Vietnam! And you blame the Vietnamese women, children, and old men for the evil of their government - who didn't care about them at all - and so you approve of American soldiers burning their villages. Many of them didn't even understand why the Americans were there! In any war the USA is involved in, I trust that you consider yourself and your family guilty of being part of the problem, and directly responsible for every military decision, friendly-fire incident, and war crime that occurs, because you did not rise in revolt against your government when you had the chance, but went about your everyday life instead.
F-111 stories always the best. Such a unique aircraft, unmatched in so many areas.
He has always been a fascinating person, I haven't always spent a lot of time around Rob because of where we live but I am very honored to have him as my uncle.
Wow! That was a tough question to ask! You could see real emotion in his answer! Great interview as always 👍
Cheers mate.
KY, thanks for sharing. Brings back a lot of memories.
Maybe aardvark adventures could be a new segment along with tornado tales? I know some guys who flew it over here in Australia who have some pretty good stories.
Great idea.
A really fascinating and sobering interview.
Cheers.
26 years with the USAF. Interview reminds me why I loved it--served with a lot of good people like Rob.
Brilliant video - remember the F111s up and down the Lake District fondly!
Unreal!
We had them down low at Noosa Heads!
Sickness by Satan Mate.
YUM already.
Kick Freckle Davo.
I enjoyed this interview so much. Really bought back memories. I arrived at RAF Mildenhall at about the same time as Rob arrived at Lakenheath. Those were great times for sure being in the UK. Interesting to hear his take on the NATO Tac Evals. We had lots of exercises at RAFM but nothing like a Tac Eval. I always felt for the folk next door having to do that stuff.
Cheers
Thanks!! I was your backshop MEWS/Manuals/Pave tack guy. You captured so many truths!!
The F-111E/F did not get the recognition it deserved in the Golf War . The F-111 destroyed more hardened facilities than any other A/C . The Pave Tack pod and the laser guided 2000 lbs were awesome!
Rob's a superb interviewee with great stories. He's also clearly a great guy. Love his volunteer work with the local kids, e.g. measure your wingspan. Just lovely. Thanks again, @Aircrewinterview.
Thanks for the memories and cool photos. This brought back many memories of my time in the USAF. I was an original Crew Chief on F-111F 71-883 at Mountain Home. The bird was the Squadron commanders aircraft.
I was also a Crew Chief at Takhli assigned to 67-100. That aircraft is mounted as the gate guard at Nellis. I still love that aircraft and still get a big nostalgic hit when I smell jet fuel.
I was active from 69-73 lots of good guys.
Yes getting called a baby killer and getting abused was still going on when I went back to school to finish my BS.
Crewed 67-100 at MHAFB 80-82. At that time she had just come out of depot and was the Wing Commanders bird.
Loved that plane! Kept the record of high flyer while I had her.
I do remember one flight where she pulled into the stub after a flight and something let go in the rear slabs.
Giant cascade of hydraulic fluid. I probably turned white as a sheet.
@@rogerbeckner6419 67-100 was the high flyer at Takhli when I had her. There was a 6” crack in the wing spar near the pivot. I can’t remember which side. It never got larger or caused her to be grounded, but it was something I inspected fairly often. She flew the last bombing mission of the war along with 113.
Glad you had success with her too, good job brother.
40+ nights I was two nights on, then me to mission planning, crew mate to the command post. approx 24/16
day after the cease fire was announced I got a KC135 to LN- and then PanAm Heathrow >JFK > commercial > San Francisco by Saturday.
My last flight the last night was my last flight. (hazy memory - pretty sure I have more combat hours in the vark than other)
Super interview and stories. !!
Thank you
While serving at Nellis 88-92 as a Parachute Survival Equipment Spec. I remember sewing the combat hour patches on many pilots flight suit sleeves, and how cool it was to some with multiple gold (combat) stars.
Love to have a beer with this guy...Awesome interview.
I worked on the F111F 73-77 , environmental control sys and really enjoy these interviews THANKS 👍👍
Cheers
Total Respect Rob 👍🏼 another great interview 🏴♥️
Cheers Jorge.
When KY said that he would have like to have liked to have flown the A10, ya! I my opinion the 3 most difficult flying situations are the F111, the A10 and any pilot that can land on an aircraft carrier at night in a storm!!
This is one of the best interviews
Cheers
Great interview, as always. Seeing the pig doing dump and burns and low passes at air shows was a big part of my youth, I know they had a lot of challenges with the fuel tanks and resultant health issues, but it was so sad when the RAAF finally buried them at a rubbish dump. Would love to see some of these retired F-111 pilots flying again at air shows. Imagine a flight of F-111s and B1-Bs doing swept, clean and dirty passes.
Glad you enjoyed it, Mike.
As a weapons troop at Lakenheath 1985-87 we would cringle when scheduled for GBU-10s, 12s & 24s in load barn. Good times looking back.
There were F-111s flying over Kobar Towers that would shake the floors and walls.
Coor!
Der Truthahn.
I just love Them.
Great show Young Man.
I lurve the paint for Nam.
Worked 111 as crew chief and phase inspections at Mtn. Home and Pease Loved the air frame. It was a pig , but my pig.
Finally caught up with second half. Thoroughly enjoyable stories. Not sure who exactly came up with the tank plinking tactic but we were trialling it late 1990 before desert shield ended
Glad you enjoyed it, Mike!
Such a charming interview
Excellent interview! Seems like a great guy.
Cheers Don.
I was doing security at Upper Heyford in 85/86. was there when we sent the Ravens to Libya
Still remember the F1-11s that flew out of Upper Heyford. At Heath Farm over towards Chippy, a Farmer painted an large CND symbol on both sides of the roof of his barn... in protest at the nuclear capability of the F1-11.
A spokesman for the USAF was asked if the pilots were bothered. "Hell no, they say it gives them a good visual reference for approaches to 09 and takeoffs from 27".
We had an incident just after Vietnam war ended. F-111A's were continuing to bomb Laos and Cambodia. Aircraft were using radar offset bombing, with friendlies having a radar transponder and the aircraft would offset from that position to bomb target. In short, one aircraft killed a lot of friendlies, the aircraft was impounded, and the crew was sweating it out over how this could have happened. Ends up a screw was stripped holding down a servo on the nose radar antenna. That servo was used to show where the radar cursors were pointed. So, the cursor was not showing the correct position. Some shop tech who worked on that antenna caused this mishap...
I was 28 in 1978, I hated the Vietnam war but never the servicemen that fought. If not for a ruptured disc I was Naval Air in 1970. Didn’t agree with the political views of the USA 🇺🇸 but still proud to be an American and supported those that enlisted or were drafted. I hated the ignorant students that couldn’t separate servicemen and the politicians that decided fighting in Vietnam was a good idea …
well said
It should be law that if you spit on a member of the military they have the right to shoot you in the face.
It was good that they had to suit up for chemical at first because and I hope they took what they learned from that to make better suits.
7:00 Dead Reckoning ?
Maybe I'm a cruel SOB but when you are at war with another country that war includes every citizen of that country. Even if they didn't support Sadam or whomever, they remained there, they didn't fight back against him and even if it would have cost them their lives possibly, that is their responsibility. Now as a pilot dropping munitions, you are doing your best and as horrible as the outcome maybe, unless you PERSONALLY failed to do your job, the fact that a weapon system malfunctioned, winds exceed forecasts or whatever - something beyond your control, that is the horrible nature of war. THAT is why nations need to be careful about who they select or permit to rule over them. We have become to accustomed to a "Sanitary" war where only the bad guys shooting at us are legitimate acceptable casualties. The concept of a sanitary war with only perfect weapons performance and approved target destruction is a bad thing. We are too ready to go to war because of that idea that we can be so certain only to hit the approved target. The vagaries of war should have a positive affect on the entire population - YOU Mr/Mrs/Miss Citizen are part of the set called the enemy. You might not be carrying a gun, firing missiles at us but YOU are part of the problem because of the leadership you have permitted to lead you. IF you don't want to be part of that problem, then when that leadership rattles the wrong cage, YOU need to get out of there.
Again, that's a concept that may be dated but it's a more realistic concept than the idea that we can and may only hit the perfect approved targets. That vagary can and should work to drive citizens to not accept the war-mongering leaders or support attacks that will lead to a conflict.
I think it's sad that our pilots, and all of our warfighters have been conditioned to feel such guilt for events like KY describes. No, I do not expect a total lack of sorrow over weapons that kill children or other TRUELY innocent people. I just think we have come to expect too much of our warfighters engaged in combat.
Not everyone supports their government at war and certainly many Iraqis didn't like Saddam! Asking unarmed women and children to fight back is, at best, stupid. It was a good question and a good answer in my opinion. As Mike said, he's not a robot and it's worth considering the human costs on both sides.
Not only cruel, but extremely ignorant. I'll assume you're American.
People are the same everywhere: they just want to get by and provide for their families. Some of them have it very hard, particularly in countries ruled with an iron fist. Their leaders are cruel, narcissistic despots whom the people hate (or are brainwashed to "love"). If they say anything that remotely sounds like a complaint, they are jailed or executed, leaving their family without them. Or their family is jailed along with them, or executed in front of them. And they cannot leave their country, since the borders are guarded. And so they do the best with the hand they're dealt. Most people would rather be a live dog than a dead lion.
Wars are declared not by the populace, but by arrogant leaders, who send their hapless people to do the fighting, and the people bear the brunt of the misery of war while their leaders continue feasting.
And don't think the USA is the "good guy" in every war it engages in. Did Vietnam cross the ocean to attack the USA? According to you, every American supported the Vietnam war because they all fully and unanimously supported their government. Many of them had never even heard of Vietnam! And you blame the Vietnamese women, children, and old men for the evil of their government - who didn't care about them at all - and so you approve of American soldiers burning their villages. Many of them didn't even understand why the Americans were there!
In any war the USA is involved in, I trust that you consider yourself and your family guilty of being part of the problem, and directly responsible for every military decision, friendly-fire incident, and war crime that occurs, because you did not rise in revolt against your government when you had the chance, but went about your everyday life instead.
Respect for asking difficult questions/answer always ignored, pilots are human too 🫡🇵🇰