The Complete F-111B

29 March 2026: I regret to report that the title is incorrect as I've probably created more posts since I last updated this one. For completeness, please search for F-111B posts on these two blogs: (tailspintopics.blogspot.com/ and thanlont.blogspot.com/ )

 Updated 24 April 2024

When you combine my F-111B monograph (http://thanlont.blogspot.com/2008/05/grumman-f-111b.html) with the errata document (available by email to tommythomason at sbcglobal dot net) and the following posts, that's pretty much what you'll have.

http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2009/10/grumman-f-111b.html

http://thanlont.blogspot.com/2011/01/f-111b-versus-f-14a-one-more-time.html

http://thanlont.blogspot.com/2009/03/f-111b-carrier-trials.html

http://thanlont.blogspot.com/2010/11/f-111b-colossal-weight-improvement.html

http://thanlont.blogspot.com/2009/03/it-seemed-like-good-idea-at-time-ii.html

http://thanlont.blogspot.com/2011/10/douglas-f6d-missileer.html

http://thanlont.blogspot.com/2014/07/a-brief-history-of-f-111b-flight-test.html

http://thanlont.blogspot.com/2009/06/making-most-of-space-available.html

http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2014/01/production-f-111b-fuselage.html

http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2014/09/f-111b-envelope-expansion-wing.html

http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2014/09/f-111-auxiliary-flaps.html

http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2012/01/f-111b-inflight-refueling-probe.html

http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2011/09/f-111b-aft-main-landing-gear-door.html

http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2016/07/f-111ab-ejection-seats.html

http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-f-111b-auxiliary-flap.html

http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2017/02/the-f-111b-production-main-landing-gear.html

https://thanlont.blogspot.com/2018/02/f-111a-vs-b-what-drove-weight.html 

https://thanlont.blogspot.com/2018/08/was-navys-f-111-really-that-bad.html

https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2024/04/f-111b-self-boarding.html

Grumman AF Guardian Notes

22 Many 2026: Added cockpit picture

18 October 2016: See http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2016/10/grumman-af-2w-guardian-redux.html for a discussion of the different AF-2W radome configurations.

28 October 2015 Update: Added an AF-3S picture and a summary of the changes from the AF-2S.

17 May 2015 Update: For my assessment of a question about the length of the nose of the Special Hobby kit, see http://tailhooktopics.blogspot.com/2015/05/special-hobby-af-question.html

8 May 2015 Update: I've added information on the cockpit.

I've just finished up reviewing the decal sheets for the Special Hobby 1/48th Grumman AF Guardian kits:

I didn't have much to add because of the research that had already gone into creating them. I was, however, interested to see how difficult it was to be sure of specific details of markings, paint scheme, and configuration even given the short operational life of the airplane.

Here, for example, is an annotated photo of a VS-24 AF-2S circa 1951 (it still has the single tail wheel and early forward mast) showing some of the details which varied:

Going clockwise from the blue radome:

The APS-31 radomes were generally unpainted. The paint on this one is already eroding.

The location of the underwing marking of the side number and unit letter was not specified exactly so in some squadrons they were inboard as above or not on the airplane at all. More typically, they were well outboard, just inboard of the national insignia and branch of service, although in this case the unit letter is not present.

 (There was also no consistency as to whether the side numbers were odd or even depending on whether the airplane was a -2S or a -2W.)

The early mast was simply an attach point for a wire radio antenna. It was subsequently replaced by a mount for an ECM antenna that appears to have only been installed on the AF-2W (but not always). However, the same mount, sans ECM antenna, was used on the AF-2S. The early mast is present circa 1950-51; the later, 1953-54.

Some squadrons added their badge to the side of the fuselage under the cockpit.

The large expanse of a black anti-glare panel is unusual. My guess is that it was on the AF (and it is on most but not all of them) because the pilot was the only member of the crew that could do a visual search for a submarine or its snorkel; the nonspecular paint eliminated any glint he might get from the forward fuselage.

The appearance and painting of APS-20 radome varied. The radome itself appears to have been either off-white, a "natural" fiberglass tan (see above picture), or painted blue. The fairing above the radome that encompassed the bomb bay was either light colored or painted blue as in the picture above, whereas in the one below, the entire installation is an off-white.

Note that this is an early AF-2W as evidenced by the early antenna mount. It also has blue landing gear struts and no anti-glare panel.

My guess is that the blue-painted landing gear struts were a feature of early airplanes. They, along with the retracted side of the door, was subsequently painted white as a reference point for night operations, particularly for the benefit of the catapult gear. Similarly, white markings were added to the fins on the horizontal stabilizer.

More accurate localization by Magnetic Anomaly Detection (MAD) proved to be important to weapons effectiveness. The bad news was that MAD had a very short range; the good news is that a submarine detected using MAD was right under the airplane. Grumman built 40 AF-3Ss equipped with an extendable MAD boom scabbed onto the right side of the fuselage (it was necessary to extend the detector as far from ferrous metal in the airplane as possible when in use).

Note the larger APS-31B surface-search radar under the right wing (see http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2012/11/things-under-wings-radar.html for the longer pod used on the AD-4N and 5N).

The added weight of the MAD installation and bigger radar required removal of some equipment and stores capability.

The best single reference for the AF Guardian by far is Naval Fighters Number Twenty: http://www.ginterbooks.com/NAVAL/NF20.htm

One error with the Special Hobby kit noted by Alan Weber (see http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?showtopic=272400&st=40) is that it has an eight-spoke wheel, whereas the operational aircraft and all but one of the survivors on display, have a six-spoke wheel. David C. Jones reports that the Tamiya P-47 six-spoke wheels are a drop-in fit after you drill out the kit hubs.

Ginter's otherwise excellent monograph lacks detail on the pilot's seat. Note that it was located on the left side of the airplane (the original torpedo bomber was to have a crewman's seat squeezed into the right side of the cockpit a little aft of the pilot's seat).  The right hand console was double wide as a result. The pilot's seat was not the standard bucket seat with a rounded top: it had a higher, square seat back.

The headrest, not shown in the picture above that was taken of a civil "war bird" cockpit, was mounted on a inverted-V frame attached to the top of the seat.

 Photo via Alan Weber

The seat and the aft bulkhead of the cockpit were probably painted interior green.

There was a rack of black avionics or electrical system boxes mounted behind the pilot on the aft bulkhead and another large panel to their lower right.

Do not be mislead by pictures of AF-2S BuNo 123090 or AF-2W BuNo 123091 that had an ejection seat installed for high-risk flight testing. No operational AF had an ejection seat.

Note the striped warning panel on the cockpit sill.

The instrument mounted on the top of the windscreen was a magnetic compass. The white rectangle on the side of it was the compass correction card. This is an AF-2S (it has the gun sight). Note the radar scope angled toward the pilot. It appears to have rear view mirrors.

Bell Aircraft L-39 Color

22 December 2014 Update:  I asked Paul Faltyn of the Niagara Aerospace Museum if he could confirm that a color negative of this picture existed. They haven't found one yet but he reported that one of their volunteers, now deceased, had done some colorizing of Bell and Curtiss pictures. He also took the time to check in with a former Bell XS-1 engineer, Bill Swenson, now in his 90s but active. Bill said that the L-39s were olive drab: "He does not recall any of the (Bell) aircraft being painted anything other than green or silver other than the X series, Pin Balls, and a P-59 painted blue for the Navy."

So, are you going to believe Corky Meyer and Bill Swenson or your lying eyes? (Yes, this picture is "flopped" but I wanted to preserve the Niagara Falls Museum legend.)

Corky, who flew both L-39s, had told me, unequivocally, that they were painted "green". For more on the L-39 (and a correctly oriented picture with the blue cast removed) see http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2011/04/sweeping-change-bell-l-39.html

Thanks to Ted Smith for following up on the question and bringing this photograph to my attention.

Also, take the time to look at the Niagara Aerospace Museum's excellent Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Niagara-Aerospace-Museum

Aircraft Pictorial #7: F4U-1 Corsair Vol 1

 

Dana Bell's long awaited monograph on the F4U-1 Corsair is finally available. There are many books and articles available on the F4U. I can say, because I have a goodly number of them in my collection, that none are quite as deeply researched or as sharply focused as this one is. It is a relatively slim volume, only 72 pages between the soft covers, but every page has a photo or illustration of interest, many of the former in color. I am very pleased to write that it contains information and facts about the Corsair of which I was previously unaware and should be taken as gospel, based on the depths that Dana has plumbed at the National Air and Space Museum and the National Archives. Most notable are these two: there was officially no F4U-1A and the cause for the Navy not deploying Corsairs on carriers initially was not due to unsatisfactory deck landing characteristics. (One proof Dana cites for the latter is an evaluation aboard Woverine that concluded it was very easy to land aboard; I may have missed Dana's mention of it but that carrier was one of the two converted side-wheeler excursion ships plying Lake Michigan as training carriers: it was not only short, it was slow.)

Some things this excellent volume is not: a compendium of war stories, list of squadron assignments, tables of performance attributes, or overall operational history. All that is available elsewhere. What it is: a detailed and well-illustrated document that describes the configuration, configuration changes, and color schemes (internal and external) of the so-called "Birdcage" Corsair during its initial flight test and operational usage, both U.S. and U. K. (Volume 2 will, Dana promises, cover the raised cockpit F4U-1, aka F4U-1A.) As such this work will not appeal to everyone, as fascinating as it is to me. If you are a Corsair fan, however, almost every page contains something of interest that you probably didn't know and likely is mentioned in no other Corsair reference.

For example, a picture of the early 20-gallon (your car's gas tank probably has less capacity) oil tank mentions that a larger tank was substituted to account for oil consumption on longer missions when greater endurance was provided by the addition of external tanks; however, a decal was placed on the larger tank to advise the ground crew not to fill it with more than 20 gallons of oil when external tanks weren't fitted in order to minimize weight. A revelation was the reason for the almost standard application of tape externally to the panel lines around the fuselage fuel tank. It turns out that it was to keep spilled gasoline out of the interior of the fuselage aft of the firewall when the tank was being filled because the result was sometimes a fire.

Some configuration details are only mentioned in passing or not fully illustrated, almost certainly due to the limitation on page count that these publications entail and the complexity of the subject. While Dana does provide some new information on the variations in F4U-1 radio antennas, not all of them, e.g. the early IFF antenna, are depicted in full. I can personally attest to how difficult it is to write about and illustrate that particular aspect because I tried to do so, with Dana's help and others', here: http://tailhooktopics.blogspot.com/2014/01/f4u-corsair-wire-antenna-alternatives.html

If Dana hadn't thoughtfully sent me a copy, I would have been first in line to purchase one based on his previous work and personal knowledge of his research diligence and insistence on the use of primary-source documents.

Warpaint Series No. 99: McDonnell F3H Demon

From a detailed and illustrated Britmodeller review HERE

Tony Buttler, a well-known and prolific author, has written an excellent, well-illustrated monograph on the less-appreciated McDonnell F3H Demon. It is a very complete history in 48 pages plus softcover. There are lots of photographs, many in color, of the XF3H-1 prototypes, the J40-powered F3H-1N, and the J71-powered F3H-2 variants. Several pages of color profiles are provided as well as well as a large multi-view drawing at the centerfold. The paper quality is more than adequate for good reproduction of all the illustrations. See the link above for details.

Since this book deserves to be the cornerstone print reference, if not the only one, for the F3H in some libraries, I feel obligated to correct a few misstatements. First, the F3H wing did not have anhedral (page 22); see http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2014/03/anhedraldihedral-and-wing-sweep.html. I'm all but certain that the first Sparrow missile firings by a deployed squadron were accomplished by a VX-4 detachment of F7U-3Ms on Shangri-La in early 1957, not VF-64 F3Hs in December 1958 (page 35). A really minor correction is that the drawing of the F3H-2M is shown with the short beaver tail in the centerfold; all were built with the longer one and I doubt that any were retrofitted.

I'm pretty sure that the lineup of F3Hs on page 17 are four of the six involved in the Fleet Introduction Program described in the text with side numbers 10 through 15. Note that these, as well as some other early production Demons, have small, blue, government-furnished AERO pylons on the wings as the changeover to gray/white exterior paint had just occurred.

An oddity not mentioned or illustrated was one of the attempts at providing self-boarding (no separate ladder) on these big jets that set so nose high. See http://thanlont.blogspot.com/2009/06/self-boarding.html and http://thanlont.blogspot.com/2008/05/i-had-hoped-to-find-picture-like-this.html

No photos or illustrations of the cockpit are provided. For the F3H-1N cockpit layout, see http://tailhooktopics.blogspot.com/2014/06/converting-f3h-2-to-f3h-1n.html. For very complete coverage of a restored cockpit on the F3H at the National Museum of Naval Aviation, see Don Hinton's photographs here: http://www.philsaeronauticalstuff.com/f3h/f3h.html. (I suspect that the instrument panel was really dark gull gray with black instruments before the restoration; see https://www.flickr.com/photos/landon-smyth/7866045982/ for a picture of the cockpit of a different F3H, Intrepid's, during a restoration.)

For details on the Sparrow I (F3H-2M) and Sparrow III (F3H-2), see http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2013/08/things-under-wings-sparrow-missiles.html

Minor omissions and errors like these do not materially detract from the value of this book to the naval aviation enthusiast. I am very pleased to have been provided a copy by Tony.

Cyber-Hobby SH-3H In-box Review by Jodie Peeler

Courtesy Sprue Brothers, Arguably the Best Online Hobby Retailer

Jodie Peeler previously provided this blog with a detailed build review of the Cyber-Hobby SH-3D: see http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2013/04/cyber-hobby-sh-3d-build-by-jodie-peeler.html

Herewith her in-box review of the newly released Cyber-Hobby SH-3H kit:

Hi Tommy,

Since we've talked Sea Kings every now and then, over the weekend I
bought the SH-3H issue of the Cyber-Hobby Sea King. The new parts trees
in the kit include not only the new sponsons and some other needed
components for the SH-3H, but also include the operators' consoles, ADF
fairing and other necessities for any SH-3. These parts appear nice
enough to satisfy, and I think the shape of the -3H sponsons is also
decent, though I haven't compared them to drawings yet.

The rest of the kit looks identical to the other SH-3 issues and even
includes the teardrop-shaped sponsons for earlier Sea Kings (since those
parts are molded with some parts you'll need regardless), so this means
the -3H kit becomes the one a builder will want for any SH-3 project.

Unfortunately, numerous inaccuracies remain: no doghouse aft of the
transmission hump, no accurate sling seats for the aft cabin, and still
the holes and slots and electronics box on the fuselage that you must
either remove or leave off, etc. The decal sheet gives an effort at four
hi-vis schemes but looks kind of cartoonish.

That said, unless Airfix's forthcoming new-tool Sea Kings eventually get
into American variants (or at least get close enough to convert), the
Cyber-Hobby kit may be our best hope.

Jodie

For background on the SH-3 configurations, see: http://tailhooktopics.blogspot.com/2013/02/us-navy-asw-sh-3-sea-king-variations.html

Things Under Wings: AN/APS-4

Many Navy carrier-based dive and torpedo bombers in late World War II and for a few years after carried a white pod, the AN/APS-4 radar, on a bomb rack under the wing. (For a summary of underwing radars of this type, see http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2012/11/things-under-wings-radar.html.) It is sometimes mistaken for a drop tank.

Larry Webster of The Quonset Air Museum (see http://www.quonsetairmuseum.com/) recently provided me an excellent drawing of the AN/APS-4:

In case you can't read the dimensions, the diameter is 17 1/8 inches and the length, 60 13/32 inches.

Larry also hosted me on a visit to the Museum, where I took these pictures of an AN/APS-4 on the wing of a Grumman TBM.

Note that it a more streamlined fairing aft of the strongback than the earlier pod.

Most of the exterior of the pod was a removable forward and aft shell for access to the electronics and radar antenna. An adapter was therefore required to attach the pod to a standard two-hook bomb rack, in this case a Mk 51 Mod 12. (Note that the adapter pictured is somewhat different from the one in the three-view.) A large wire bundle also had to incorporated that resembled a fuel line.