About Us

My name is David de Botton, and I am an automotive engineer by trade, specializing in Japanese motorcycles for most of my life.

Over the years, I acquired every book on the F-111 and became fascinated not only by the aircraft’s remarkable history but also by the countless men and women who contributed to making it extraordinary. While publishers produced excellent books by condensing the aircraft’s story into commercial products, they often left me with many unanswered questions.

My objective is to share these extensive F-111 digital archives with the world, allowing others to explore the incredible history of this aircraft. Unfortunately, print publishing proved not to be a viable option.

Having no formal qualifications in avionics or weaponry, I intentionally avoided exploring those technical areas.

Australia waited a long time to acquire the F-111C aircraft, and opportunities to see it were rare as the base was located interstate. Driven by passion, I decided to construct a large radio-controlled flying model with fully functional landing gear and swing-wing capability. Since the aircraft was still in active service with the RAAF, obtaining the necessary details proved nearly impossible.

Years of perseverance—mostly through emails to the USA—eventually paid off when one day, all the required materials arrived in the mail. I taught myself 3D CAD to design the aircraft, although that’s as far as the project progressed. Throughout this journey, I evolved into an F-111 historian. Navigating the technical military world as a civilian was initially daunting but rewarding.

At first, managing the vast amount of material seemed unachievable. However, I quickly adapted, organizing and processing a variety of files while seeking feedback from veterans to proofread my pages.

The result of my efforts is a comprehensive F-111 historical archive, a project that has kept me passionately engaged from 1998 to today.