DefenceUpdate – F-111 reminiscences

When I was five years old, I attended my first airshow at Canberra’s Fairbairn AFB with my Dad.

I don’t remember many specifics about that day, but one thing that stands out clearly in my mind is, as we were leaving along a dirt access road which ran perpendicular to the northern end of the main runway, a brace of RAAF F-4E Phantoms took off right over the top of us and shook every bone and nerve ending in my (then) small body. And so began my love affair not just with jet fighters, but

with Phantoms in particular.