Planning for F-111s at Takhli On October 2 and 3, 1967, an advance party from the 4481st TFS from Nellis AFB visited the 355th TFW at Takhli to coordinate the arrival of six F-111As under "Combat Lancer." Capt. Malcolm D. Winter, an F-105 pilot from the 354th TFS who also worked as a staff officer at Takhli, had been planning the wing's reception of the F-111A since August. (108) The F-111A fighter-bomber was in operational testing at Nellis and a combat deployment was part of its test program. The planes, with their superior radar and low-level terrain navigation systems, were expected to provide a night, all-weather bombing capability over North Vietnam comparable to the Navy's A-6A and an improvement to the Commando Nail F-105Fs being flown by the 388th TFW at Korat.
