[xoxoxoBruce]

Beltnah sends you this picture of what his crazy Aussies have been up to.

AN F-111 was left "shredded" and incapacitated and was forced to make a spectacular emergency landing after hitting a pelican.

The jet was flying at 900m on a test bombing raid at Evans Head, northern NSW, when a pelican struck the fibreglass nose and was sucked into an engine.

He described the circumstances of the incident, which happened between 10am and noon, as near freakish. "It's a surprise thing at 3000ft to have a bird strike," he said. "It's certainly not the way we want to operate all the time. The boys did a great job in getting it home."

Repairs to the F-111- one of 21 active jets - are expected to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Initially the pelican bounced off the nose before being sucked into an engine. Its impact completely smashed the fighter's radome before causing an immediate engine failure.

The damaged aircraft is expected to be flying again within a month.

The F-111 fleet, built in 1974, will be retired in 2010 when an expanded fleet of new Super Hornets is introduced.

At the time of the incident the F-111 was cruising at more than 550km/h.

from here & here.