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| BIG NEWS: 6SQN will
become the Super Hornet training squadron in 2010 in line with
the retirement of the F-111. Pictured is 6SQN’s FLGOFF
Jonathon Harrington and LAC Shannon Lee at RAAF Base Amberley.
Photo by AC Aaron Curran |
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Inset: USN Super Hornets
in formation.
Photo courtesy of Boeing |
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| FOND MEMORIES: CAF
AIRMSHL Geoff Shepherd talks about the impending retirement
of the F-111 at the Super Hornet announcement ceremony at Fairbairn,
against a backdrop of a “mighty Pig”. Photo by
Bryan Doherty |
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HOT STUFF: Spectators
will miss the F-111’s popular ‘dump and burn’
routine.
Photo by LAC Rob Mitchell |
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IT WILL be the end of an era for Air Force when the “mighty Pig”
takes to our skies for the last time in 2010.
CAF AIRMSHL Shepherd might not have exactly shed a tear for the impending
departure of the F-111 fleet, but his sentimental attachment to the Pig
was palpable when he took those assembled at Fairbairn on March 6 on a
fast flight down memory lane.
The announcement of its retirement coincided with the news that the Air
Force is to acquire 24 F/A-18F Block II Super Hornets.
6SQN at Amberley will be the Super Hornet training unit and will begin
those duties in 2010.
1SQN will be the first Super Hornet operational squadron, standing up
for operations in 2011.
“Today also marks the start of the final chapter for the F-111 –
the mighty Pig,” AIRMSHL Shepherd told the gathering.
“As the Air Force’s most senior serving F-111 pilot, with around
2500 flying hours on type over the best part of 20 years, I can say without
doubt that this platform has been a stalwart in Australia’s air combat
capability since its introduction to service in 1973.
“It was ordered in the mid-1960s in strategic circumstances different
to those of today but to fulfil a task which endures – the ability
to reach out with impunity to defend Australia and to strike adversaries
in their own territory.
“In the past 30 years, thousands of aircrew and support teams have
come to know and respect and even love the Pig. Generations of Air Force
personnel and Defence civilians will be sad to see the aircraft withdrawn
from service in 2010,” he said.
“It was a world first and it took the Air Force into a new era of
sophistication and advanced performance.
“Nothing could match it then and, in our region, nothing matches
it now.
“We have continually upgraded the aircraft’s system and operational
doctrine over the years and it will remain a potent capability until its
last sortie in Air Force colours.”
CAF said, in recent years, keeping the F-111 operational has been an increasing
challenge both from a cost and risk management perspective.
“We know the platform intimately and we know the benefits and risks
that its technology brings,” he said.
“We need to retire it at a time of our choosing, not when the shortfalls
of technology dictate.
“I want to acknowledge the Amberley-based personnel who have contributed
tirelessly to operating and supporting the F-111 over the past 34 years.
“In particular, they have risen to the challenge of maintaining the
F-111’s capability in recent times.”
AIRMSHL Shepherd said Air Force has always built on its traditions of
courage, endurance and service to Australia.
“Our mission statement is air and space power for Australia’s
security. That endures – platforms do not,” he said.
“We have retired many great aircraft in our 86-year history. Our
job and our reasons for being remain the same.
“Today there will be a tear in the eye of all those at Amberley who
fly and support the Pig but those tears will quickly dry as the exciting
future of the Super Hornet is revealed.
“And while the air platforms are changing, the Air Force’s biggest
asset remains our people. We have and continue to attract outstanding
people.
In the next decade, the Air Force is scheduled to change almost every
platform it has, CAF said, which was “an exciting and very dynamic
time for Air Force, and a period which brings opportunities and a lot
of hard work for our people”.
“I commend the efforts that our personnel are making to ensure our
transitions to these platforms are smooth and their full capabilities
are realised.
“We now move into a new era and as ever the Air Force stands ready.”
AIRMSHL Shepherd said the Super Hornet was an exciting acquisition which
would ensure a seamless air combat capability through to the introduction
of the JSF and marks the start of a new and exciting chapter in the history
of the Air Force.
“The 24 Super Hornets will join the Boeing C-17 Globemasters, the
Airbus KC-30B tanker refuelling aircraft and the Wedgetail advanced early
warning and control aircraft support centre at our Amberley super base
of the future,” he said.
“No. 1 Squadron – the oldest squadron in the Air Force, with
antecedents back to the Australian Flying Corps of 1916 – will be
the first Super Hornet squadron and will operate under 82WG.
“The Super Hornet is an extremely capable aircraft. Our men and women
will gain enormously in maintaining and flying this aircraft and our skills
to support the JSF will be developed and honed on this airframe.”
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