"IBM" wrote in message

William Hughes wrote in
:

[snip]

Highly unlikely. The F-111 was much too heavy for the carrier
catapult
gear, and could not attain flight speed on a runout.

Didn't the original F-111 concept include a naval version?

It did. The F-111B had some significant differences from the Air Force
version, though, including the landing gear and associated structural
bulkheads. Attempting to cat-shoot an Air Force F-111 without the naval
version's landing gear (but assuming the minimum mods to fit a hold-back
linkage to hook it up to the catapult at all) would probably have
unfortunate effects.

The F-111B also had extended wings and tail. These may have reduced the
required catapult end-speed, though I suspect they were mainly needed to
reduce landing speed. In any case, it's another potential problem for
launching the regular F-111 off a carrier.

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