Its adjustable wings retracted into attack position, a camouflage-mottled F-111, nee the TFX, last week was highballing across Thailand at treetop level on its way to a bombing mission in North Viet Nam's panhandle. Suddenly, something went wrong, and the U.S.'s most advanced warplane crashed somewhere in the dense jungle of Thailand or western Laos. It was the third F-111 crash since a squadron of six of the $6,000,000 swing-wings made their combat debut in Viet Nam less than a month ago.
The crash raised a new storm of scan dal over what is already the most controversial warplane ever built. After...