You don't hear much about those who are allied with us in wars all over the globe, and the Aussies and Kiwis of New Zealand are two in particular. If you follow rugby, you will know of the All Blacks of NZ, but otherwise not much else. Here the troops do a traditional Haka to bid a warrior goodbye. This is how the Kiwis say goodbye to one of their own:
Notice early in the video there is a sequence showing a F-111 dumping fuel with the afterburners on lighting up the night sky. Something unique to the F-111.
I don't know if metal fatigue was a factor in this accident but they are fortunate the wheel fell off upon liftoff and not while accelerating down the runway in full afterburner.
Using the tail hook to catch the arresting cable was a great idea, as you will see. Arresting wires on runways are not like the ones on the flight deck of a carrier. They provide less resistance and let you decelerate over about a 900 ft. Range, something you wouldn't have room to do on a carrier.
