F111 disposal

[pmccarthy]

this is amazing

 

F111 Disposal from Thiess Pty Ltd on Vimeo

 

 

[Riley]

this is amazingF111 Disposal from Thiess Pty Ltd on Vimeo

Used to be a time we retained fighter aircraft as gate guards and posterity. This ignominious end has them guarding the gates of hell. Bureacracy again making us look like fools. Sad.

 

 

[bexrbetter]

Anyone notice they were not damaged first, and buried quite carefully ....

 

 

[Steve L]

Yeh Bex but don't you think they would have put them through a furnace

 

 

[adrian222]

I would love one and put it in the front paddock just so I could look at it when I go to town.

 

 

[winsor68]

Surely this is comedy!!! "State of the art disposal"... "Preparing for this for months"... "Expertise".... Ha ha ha... They buried the bloody things!!!!

 

 

[Ferris]

Apparently the yanks specified how they were to be disposed of. Very sad really.

 

 

[onetrack]

The F-111's were not all buried - but some were, for the following reasons.

 

1. They are full of hazardous and toxic materials in their construction. Anyone who has followed the "F-111 tank deseal/reseal" saga, with the subsequent and ongoing health problems of the poor buggers who had the unenviable task of working with the deadly chemicals involved, will have some understanding of the toxins problem.

 

The F-111's also contain asbestos, along with probably a dozen other nasty, carcinogenic chemicals and compounds.

 

2. When you purchase virtually any item, of even mild strategic importance, from the U.S. Military forces, you are obliged to sign an "end-user agreement".

 

That agreement is binding and outlines how the U.S. Military still retain the right to determine where the item you purchased from them, ends up.

 

I have personal experience of buying ex-U.S.-military items (no, not aircraft!), and having to sign that agreement. The agreement stipulates that you will not dispose of the strategic (in their eyes) item to any one of about 20 named countries, that the U.S. regards as having negative feelings towards the U.S.

 

You will also, not on-sell the item without notifying them and gaining their approval for the new purchaser, either.

 

Failing to honour this end-user agreement will see the black helicopters pay you a midnight visit to whisk you away to Guantanamo Bay - well, maybe just a correctional centre, but you get the drift.

 

On top of all that, the disposal of items containing toxins, for public display, sees the Australian Govt lawyers run riot with reams of legal conditions attached.

 

They are fearful of someone getting cancer by stroking the fuselage of a display F-111, and then suing them.

 

It's really that simple - it's all lawyer and U.S. Military driven, and the original purchase agreement for the F-111's purchased from the U.S. Military, included a very tightly worded end-user agreement that those F-111's would be destroyed when Australia had finished with them - and burying them fitted that U.S. Military requirement.

 

The F-111's purchased factory direct, did not come with that same U.S. Military end-user agreement, and therefore the Govt had a little more leeway with the disposal options.

 

RAAF F111 aircraft disposal news | Warbirds Online

 

 

[bexrbetter]

the deadly chemicals involved, will have some understanding of the toxins problem.

The F-111's also contain asbestos, along with probably a dozen other nasty, carcinogenic chemicals and compounds.

Well just bury it all in the ground, that'll work.

 

 

[M61A1]

Surely this is comedy!!! "State of the art disposal"... "Preparing for this for months"... "Expertise".... Ha ha ha... They buried the bloody things!!!!

Actually, it's quite time consuming to remove just the explosive ordnance from the crew module egress system. Removing the crew modules for display also is quite a task as is removing any copper beryllium. Burying them was the easy bit, but the only bit the public saw.

 

 

[Blueadventures]

Actually, it's quite time consuming to remove just the explosive ordnance from the crew module egress system. Removing the crew modules for display also is quite a task as is removing any copper beryllium. Burying them was the easy bit, but the only bit the public saw.

Plus a person involved told me that they had to remove and cut up the swing wing item.

 

 

[M61A1]

Plus a person involved told me that they had to remove and cut up the swing wing item.

It would be interesting to know which bit they cut out, as all the photos clearly show the wing carry through box still there, some with the pivot pins installed.

 

 

[onetrack]

Well just bury it all in the ground, that'll work.

Well, as someone who has spent a bit of time in a landfill operation, I can advise you that under most landfill operational techniques, the toxic items aren't just "buried".Normally, the location is picked for the impermeability of the soil type, then after the excavation of a very large hole, the excavation is lined with an impermeable geotextile membrane.

Then a deep layer of sand is placed over that geotextile membrane and another geotextile membrane is installed.

 

Then a layer of soil is placed over that membrane for protection, and then the placement of the toxic materials commences.

 

The toxic landfill is totally covered over at the end of each working day to prevent any toxic dust from blowing around during the night.

 

Finally, when the toxic materials reach a preset level, usually about a metre below the top of the excavation, a metre of impermeable clay is placed on top of the toxic fill, and the clay is compacted.

 

The dual membrane layer is designed to prevent toxic chemicals and compounds from leaching out of the landfill and into nearby groundwater locations.

 

It's not a 100% perfect system, but it's 98% perfect, and no-one has come up with a better idea yet.

 

What surprises me about the Thiess video is that their toxic landfill disposal method appears highly unprofessional, uses no impermeable membranes - just F-111's dumped straight into a hole in the ground - and it all seems like a 1960's operation.

 

I guess the reason for that is, most of QLD still lives in the 1960's, anyway.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

At least we're ensuring that future archaeologists have something to dig up.

 

 

[pmccarthy]

It will be like the Burma spitfires.

 

 

[Blueadventures]

Well, as someone who has spent a bit of time in a landfill operation, I can advise you that under most landfill operational techniques, the toxic items aren't just "buried".Normally, the location is picked for the impermeability of the soil type, then after the excavation of a very large hole, the excavation is lined with an impermeable geotextile membrane.

Then a deep layer of sand is placed over that geotextile membrane and another geotextile membrane is installed.

 

Then a layer of soil is placed over that membrane for protection, and then the placement of the toxic materials commences.

 

The toxic landfill is totally covered over at the end of each working day to prevent any toxic dust from blowing around during the night.

 

Finally, when the toxic materials reach a preset level, usually about a metre below the top of the excavation, a metre of impermeable clay is placed on top of the toxic fill, and the clay is compacted.

 

The dual membrane layer is designed to prevent toxic chemicals and compounds from leaching out of the landfill and into nearby groundwater locations.

 

It's not a 100% perfect system, but it's 98% perfect, and no-one has come up with a better idea yet.

 

What surprises me about the Thiess video is that their toxic landfill disposal method appears highly unprofessional, uses no impermeable membranes - just F-111's dumped straight into a hole in the ground - and it all seems like a 1960's operation.

 

I guess the reason for that is, most of QLD still lives in the 1960's, anyway.

I was told some went into a disused mine and company signage was removed from the vehicles to prevent any negative calls. Re the metal of the swing wing were cut up to destroy as a particular requirement.

 

 

[onetrack]

It will be like the Burma spitfires.

Hey, the Burma Spitfires have nothing on our buried F-111's!

I'm working on setting up a funding arrangement, right about now, to recover 22, "pristine", buried F-111's, that were disposed of by a careless, wasteful bureaucracy, in a remote Outback location!

 

All I need now is some dirty scraps of paper with partly-intelligible writings on it, giving some hints about the disposal, and the rough area of the burial location - and I'll soon be able to retire on the proceeds from the suck ... ahhhh .... keen investors, looking to get a great return!!

 

Naturally, it will take years and years to find them again - but at least we have the actual burial pictures as solid proof, this time!!

 

 

[M61A1]

Hey, the Burma Spitfires have nothing on our buried F-111's!I'm working on setting up a funding arrangement, right about now, to recover 22, "pristine", buried F-111's, that were disposed of by a careless, wasteful bureaucracy, in a remote Outback location!

All I need now is some dirty scraps of paper with partly-intelligible writings on it, giving some hints about the disposal, and the rough area of the burial location - and I'll soon be able to retire on the proceeds from the suck ... ahhhh .... keen investors, looking to get a great return!!

 

Naturally, it will take years and years to find them again - but at least we have the actual burial pictures as solid proof, this time!!

Outback Location???? Give it 5-10 years and they will have built over it......In any case, when you are ready to begin your expedition, I'm willing to show you roughly where they are...for a small fee.

 

 

[onetrack]

Gee, M61A1, you've just lost any chance of becoming my "search" manager!

 

Don't you know, you have to spend years looking at a "likely" remote location, before you can excitedly announce you have "discovered" new material, that possibly places the exact location, a little closer to civilisation?!

 

 

[M61A1]

I did say "roughly".....

 

 

[Cobalt]

Theyre buried at Remondis (formerly Thiess) at Swanbank just outside ipswich.

 

 

[pmccarthy]

Now you've spoiled the fund raising.

 

 

[pmccarthy]

Did you notice a red haired woman there trying to bury a Jabiru?

 

 

[nomadpete]

Boy. What a bunch of hardened cynics!

 

 

[onetrack]

Yeah, we're a terrible bunch, Pete, that's for sure.

 

Hey, do you want to invest a few bucks in a fantastic recent discovery, of Nazi gold?

 

We're onto a sure thing here, everyone knows only a fraction of the hoarded Nazi gold was ever recovered!

 

Now, we've found it! - and you can be in on it, with just a modest investment!

 

You can contact me direct, on [email protected], to get all the details on how little it will cost you, to show off your share of Nazi gold!

 

Greed upends Nazi gold hunt