The F-111C ferries originated at the General Dynamics plant at Fort Worth, Texas where the re-engineered aircraft came off the line at a rate of about two per month. The RAAF ferry operation was centred at McClellan AFB, Sacramento, California. As each aircraft came off the line, a crew positioned to Fort Worth to ferry the aircraft to McClellan. When six aircraft were held serviceable at McClellan, they were ferried to Australia via Hickam AFB, Hawaii and Pago Pago, American Samoa. All twenty-four aircraft carried external fuel tanks on stations 2 and 7, non-pivot pylons which restricted wing sweep to a maximum of 26 degrees. In the absence of long range cruise data for the F-111C, these stations were chosen based on data extrapolated from theoretical USAF figures for the F-111A which recommended that stations 2 and 7 produced the least drag. The F-111Cs did not use weapons bay tanks for the delivery flight. Each ferry was accompanied by two C-130 support aircraft, one in advance and one following.

In the interval between the 3rd and 4th ferries, the Arab nations imposed an oil embargo against the United States in retaliation for its arms supplies to Israel. This embargo was not expected to affect the F-111 deliveries but at 0500 on Tuesday 27 November, as the crews reported at Hickam for flight briefing, they were informed that fuel would not be available at Pago Pago because the Governor of American Samoa had ordered that existing fuel supplies should be conserved. There ensued a flurry of international phone calls and radio calls to re-plan the route and obtain diplomatic clearances to refuel at Nadi, Fiji instead of Pago Pago. The obvious problem was that Hickam-Nadi was more than 1,000km farther than Hickam-Pago Pago. Furthermore, Hickam-Nadi is also 1,000km farther than McClellan-Hickam so the single engine gap reared its head again. This time there was no opportunity to arrange for a KC-135 at short notice so compromises had to be made. Two RAAF P-3 Orions were tasked to provide SAR coverage on this 5,100km leg where the only alternate was Pago Pago which had no fuel. In anticipation of receiving a clearance, the crews would report for briefing at Hickam at 0530 each morning only to be stood down on several occasions as the departure clearance failed to arrive. It wasn't until Sunday 2 December that the six F-111s finally departed Hickam for Nadi. After some seven hours of clear skies between Hawaii and Fiji, the aircraft arrived at Nadi in the middle of a thunderstorm. To further complicate matters, an improvised UHF facility in the tower failed (the F-111s were UHF only and Nadi Tower was VHF only). The crew of one of the accompanying RAAF Orions, which had landed earlier and was parked near the tower, manned their aircraft to provide ATC services for the arriving F-111s. The subsequent leg to Amberley was routine.

Yes, the F-111Cs were delivered in numerical order!

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