WARZ:The Way the Morning Broke... ...was Quite Unusual. or History Repeats. A flyby of The 20th Tactical Fighter Wing 55th Skull Squadron's AVF-35-J Wildhog Advanced Variable Fighter of the Macross Wars doing some low level interdiction and bombing practice flights over the Vietnam Jungles. Testing the newly implemented Ground and Object Avoidance and Evasion Lasers System Computer 360 or GOAL-C360. Which is a new and vast upgrade to the first successful and proven AN/APQ-115 terrain-following radar system manufactured by Texas Instruments. First used on the General Dynamics F111 Aardvark and Raven the first ever variable-sweep wing aircraft was a medium-range interdiction and tactical strike aircraft that also filled the roles of strategic bomber, reconnaissance, and electronic warfare in its various versions. The F-111 on missions did not require tankers or ECM (electronic Counter Measures) support, and they could operate in weather that grounded most other aircraft. It was in service with the USAF from 1967 through 1998. The F-111 had one of the best mission performance records for any aircraft some of the achievements include: On September 1972 F-111's participated in the final month of Operation Linebacker and later the Operation Linebacker II aerial offensive against the North Vietnamese they flew more than 4,000 combat missions in Vietnam with only six combat losses. 18 F-111s of the 48th Tactical Fighter Wing and the 20th Tactical Fighter Wing flew what turned out to be the longest fighter combat mission in history. The round-trip flight between RAF Lakenheath and RAF Upper Heyford, United Kingdom and Libya of 6,400 miles (10,300 km) spanned 13 hours. One F-111 was lost over Libya, probably shot down. F-111s participated in the Gulf War (Operation Desert Storm) in 1991. During Desert Storm, F-111Fs completed 3.2 successful strike missions for every unsuccessful one, better than any other U.S. strike aircraft used in the operation. A group of 66 F-111Fs dropped almost 80% of the war's laser-guided bombs, including the GBU-15s and the penetrating, bunker-buster GBU-28s. Eighteen F-111Es were also deployed during the operation. The F-111s were credited with destroying more than 1,500 Iraqi tanks and armored vehicles 27 July 1996, it was officially named Aardvark, its long-standing unofficial name. The USAF retired the EF-111 variant in 1998. Production Notes: AVF-35-J Wildhog by Schell's Armour Works (awesome model a lot of detail even the controls in the cockpit move) Forest by Daz V4 Pilot with clothing by Daz and Royloo's T2 for V4 Armour a freebie on the Poser Addicts Site Rainbow and thrust flames- Weather Control for Poser by Quay here at Renderosity. Rain - Fog DeluxeII at Daz Some post work for color, contrast and light enhancements and border in PSP7.0 and Camerabag2 The title was inspired by the old Industrial band - Front 242's song Quite Unusual http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax8qgTWYZl4 BTW I was a Radar and Navigation Avionics Technician on the F-111E's at Upper Heyford from 1987-1990. Assighned to the 20TFW 555th AMS (the Triple Nickels) So I have a bit pride about the old Aardvark F-111e called them "Flying Cash Registers" It worked on the old Analog system using Diodes and Vacuum Tubes not a printed circuit on the whole plane. It was kept that way to deliver Nuclear warheads and not fall out of the sky from the EMP (Electro Magnetic Pulse) that is a result of a nuclear explosion. A bit scary but that was the last years of the cold war I can still remember the Berlin Wall coming down. Shows my Age huh. Anyway Thanks for the look Have a good and safe Week! Chris