DURING THE week of November 21-25, all 23 of the surviving Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) F-111 bombers that are not allocated for preservation, were buried in the Swanbank Landfill site near Ipswich, Queensland.
The former coal mine, one of the largest landfill sites in Australia, taking 500,000 tonnes of waste each year, is operated by Thiess Services, which was contracted to undertake the F-111 project, one of its most unusual waste disposal contracts.
Thiess notes that many months of planning were required to undertake the task, which was necessary due to the requirement as part of the original contract between Australia and the US that the F-111s be securely disposed of.
Thiess says that discussions about the disposal had begun around 18 months ago, with detailed planning being required to select and prepare the site.
The security offered by the Swanbank Landfill site was another major factor in Thiess gaining the contract.
To ensure the site is marked as off-limits for future excavation, the precise GPS co-ordinates of each aircraft have been recorded and eventually the F-111s will rest deep under the ground beneath the mountain of landfill that will rise above them.
Because of the asbestos content in the aircraft (fuel tanks
), the Australian Defence Department had elected to bury the aircraft as a more economical method of disposal.
This was seen as much more cost-effective than the much more expensive process of removing all of the asbestos that would be required if the aircraft were to be scrapped in the normal way.
I will never forget night flying at Amberly 1997... AWESOME !
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