evangilder
"Shooter"
Cool stuff, Les! The Oh%20Shit.jpg shot is actually something that F-111s do (or did) on a frequent basis. It is called dump and burn. The fuel dump is right between the exhausts on the 111. They dump some fuel, then light the afterburners and whoosh! It looks like a freaking flamethrower. It looks really cool at night.
So why do they do that? One is to dump fuel for an in-flight emergency to get rid of fuel fast. But I do know of at least 2 other cases where they were used for other reasons.
During the Libya raid, Col. Fzackerly <sp> saw one of his flight trying to find the group to form up for the ride home. The just went 'feet dry' and had to maintain radio silence. The colonel did a quick dump and burn to signal his wingman where they were.
During an operational exercise off of Italy, near Comiso IIRC, 2 f-111s were jumped by a hotshot F-16 pilot who had been briefed not to get to close. Someone wasn't listening. The aardvarks were at a fairly low level with their wings swept forward. Not the ideal position to get caught in. The Falcon driver got right up on the tail of the lead wingman, who performed a classic dump and burn. Melted the canopy on the F-16 and burned all the paint off!. It was a good thing he was below, or he would have gotten an intake-full also that would have flamed him out.
Must have been a sight to see a charred F-16 landing!
So why do they do that? One is to dump fuel for an in-flight emergency to get rid of fuel fast. But I do know of at least 2 other cases where they were used for other reasons.
During the Libya raid, Col. Fzackerly <sp> saw one of his flight trying to find the group to form up for the ride home. The just went 'feet dry' and had to maintain radio silence. The colonel did a quick dump and burn to signal his wingman where they were.
During an operational exercise off of Italy, near Comiso IIRC, 2 f-111s were jumped by a hotshot F-16 pilot who had been briefed not to get to close. Someone wasn't listening. The aardvarks were at a fairly low level with their wings swept forward. Not the ideal position to get caught in. The Falcon driver got right up on the tail of the lead wingman, who performed a classic dump and burn. Melted the canopy on the F-16 and burned all the paint off!. It was a good thing he was below, or he would have gotten an intake-full also that would have flamed him out.
Must have been a sight to see a charred F-16 landing!
