Officials at the Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii, dedicated a Royal Australian Air Force F-111C into the museum’s collection. Among the dignitaries at the Nov. 23 ceremony were Air Force Acting Secretary Eric Fanning, Pacific Air Forces Commander Gen. Hawk Carlisle, RAAF Air Marshal Geoffrey Brown, museum Board President Clint Churchill, and museum Executive Director Kenneth DeHoff. The Australians gifted the F-111, Australian serial number A8-130, to the museum. It bears Brown’s name—he formerly flew the airplane—and features the paint scheme and markings as when it entered service in 1973, according to the museum. The F-111 was Australia’s principal strike aircraft until its retirement in 2010. (Honolulu report by TSgt. Jerome S. Tayborn) (See also museum F-111 webpage.)
The U.S. military is maintaining a beefed-up presence in the Middle East, including fighters and air defense assets, following the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities June 22 and subsequent retaliation by the Iranians against Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
