Six strange-looking aircraft will wheel over Takhli Air Force Base in Thailand early this week, cock their delta-shaped wings forward like alighting eagles, then touch down with needle-nosed insouciance among the warplanes that almost daily raid North Viet Nam. They are the first combat-bound models of the controversial F-111 swing-wing fighter-bomber (originally, the TFX), contracted for six years ago under Robert McNamara to serve both the Air Force and the Navy. Takhli's new planes will be F-111 As, the Air Force model, which will be tested in bombing runs over North Viet Nam.
Meanwhile, the Navy brass is more than...
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