Summary of NASA Support of the F-111 Development Program: Part 1 - December 1962 - December 1965

The F-111 is a biservice, multimission, tactical aircraft being developed for the Air Force and Navy by General Dynamics and Grumman. The general arrangement of the F-111 is shown in figure 1. This aircraft, through the use of the "variable sweep wing" concept, offers the possibility of combining a wide range of mission capabilities into a single aircraft. The F-111 is a direct outgrowth of the Langley Research Center's variable sweep research which began in 1947. The early research culminated in the X-5 variable sweep research airplane which demonstrated the advantage and feasibility of in-flight sweep variation. The X-5 utilized the translating wing concept to offset the longitudinal stability variation with sweep changes. Later Langley research beginning in 1958 resulted in the "outboard pivot" concept which eliminated the need for wing translation and led to the TFX (F-111) concept. A chronology of the NACA/NASA variable sweep research effort and direct support of the TFX up to the awarding of the contract to General Dynamics/Grumman on November 24, 1962, is presented in reference 1.

Since the awarding of the contract, the Langley, Ames, Lewis, and Flight Research Centers have been actively supporting the F-111 development program. Because of the strong NASA interest. in this aircraft and the large magnitude of NASA support involved, it was felt desirable to document this support. The purpose of this paper therefore is to present a brief summary of the NASA support, in chronological order, through December 1965, beginning with the awarding of the contract in November 1962.