Hey guys I was doing some research on the TFX program. I've been trying to find info on Boeing entry into the competition but have so far been snubbed. I gather its fairly common knowledge that the Boeing design was preferred by the military. In fact from the sources I've read Boeing's design won all four events of the competition. However Sec. of Defense Robert McNamara selected General Dynamic's design instead for "cost" reasons claiming greater commonality between variants.

So I'm wondering if any of you(you inparticular Waynos)have any pics or info on Boeing's design.

Read _Illusions Of Choice_ have you?

Pretty good starting point as to what they wanted in the TFX vs. what they got form it. Daddy Mac gets a lot of #ty press and rightfully among those is the TFX program given he was hired on the notion of 'standardize, diversify R&M and reduce costs while fighting a war' basis of running the DOD.

I believe Ginter's book on the F-111B may also have a couple images of the Boeing design.

Never all that fond of it myself. Dorsal inlets going through VG wing area seems a bit whacked on the 'Engineering Toe Looking For A Problem To Stub Itself On...' basis of stupidity in design.

I also seem to recall that it was quite chunky with problems in both conventional and inverse area ruling.


KPl.

The plane in the drawing looks simular to an F-111. I never realized the TFX contenders were so simular.

Tim

Hey thanks planeman Interesting intake design putting them on the top of the craft. I remember the YF-107 Ultra Sabre had a top mounted air intake as well. Still the pilot had zero rear visibility and the similarities in design lead me to believe it probably would have been just as useless in a dogfight as the F-111 was.

I was thinking about this very thing as I was reading L Fletcher Proudy and how the whole thing came down.
All political.
All to get Democrats elected in 1964, McNamara (whom I never liked), stole 2 billion from the Navy and forced the Airforce to take the GD plane.
However, hindsight is usually 20/20 and God often has a hand in the affairs of men, and they made the right decision.
In Proudy's book it was Kelly Johnson, that gave the OK to McNamara that the plane would work, and away they went with it.
I do recall in the early days of the F111's deployment there were lots of crashes, and the whole thing died off when it was determined that the pilots were turning off the Ground Following Radar.
Perhaps the best thing that came out of the F111 program was that it allowed for the development of the F14.
That book is worth reading.
(His book on JFK etc.)
S