My favorite Century Series is the F106. It looked great (especially in test range orange) flew great and was operational until displaced by the F15 in the 1980s! Only the F104 stayed in service longer and F106 didn't have the nasty characteristics that killed so many German F104 pilots. Of course it only helped that my dad knew most of the engineers who designed the F104. Another reason it is seared into my brain is getting bused by one flying 9 foot above the road we were driving on. Dad told me it was an F106 that was testing ground hugging radar out of China Lake NAS. Instead of flying over us (that would probably blown us off the road) the F106 banked left then right. When he passed us his wing was 3 feet above the ground in a 90 degree bank and I could see the top of the pilots helmet. The F106 then pulled in front of us and disappeared disappeared after flew over an approximately 10 foot tall hill on the road. It was a thrill of my life and I latter found that most jets of the era would probably have fallen appart trying that maneuver. Yes give me an F106 With no gun just rockets It flies real fast Destroys enemies with an expensive missile, can dog fight but doesn't, Just comes home with no rockets and bingo fuel, and a happy pilot who sees love after every mission. The F106 was retained in the USA as an interceptor. It's missile system was the 1st of its kind and designed to shoot down Soviet bombers without getting lose enough to the bomber to be at risk. It was only exceeded by the YF12A which didn't go into serial production production. It's missile was the basis for that used on F14. While the F4 was superior in almost every way, there were never enough F4s to replace the F106 in homeland interceptor role. The F106 was too expensive to build, but those that were built kept on flying .
The six was the favorite mount of ADC pilots. Not only does it still hold the world record speed of single engine turbines at 1,525 mph, it also had "supercruise" ability 40 years before the F-22. It was said that the six could get there the fastest, with the mostest! In combat loadout, it was faster than the F-4 as it remained aerodynamically clean. Nothing slows plane down faster than hanging ordinance out in the wind! The six deserved a few more minutes than what she got here.😢
What a thrill that close buzz was. Wish it could have happened to me! I like the whole series, but I think I like the 106 best. From what I understand, F-15 can't get inside of in a turn contest. I heard that from a retired ANG pilot.
I loved having Joe on here and how he can explain aerodynamics in laymen’s terms while showing innovations on existing century fighters. I do wish he would have spent more time on The Six. Still the fastest single engine jet ever and had about 30 years of frontline service with the U.S. Air Force. It truly was something special
Absolutely fantastic lesson the in the history and aerodynamics of these fantastic aircraft! We can all moan about various aspects of these fighters, yet just given the chance to fly any one of them, is an absolute dream!
Oregon ANG flew them in Portland until the 80s and we have one on display at Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum now along with one of the older F-15s the they flew.
I enlisted in the USAF in the mid 1970's, at the tail end of the Century Series operational lives, and was fortunate enough to see the F-106 in action (with the 49th FIS out of Griffiss AFB) along with the F-104G at Luke AFB and while I was stationed in Holland. The Dart and the Starfighter were beautiful fighters.
I would have loved to see them fly. I need to get out to see the Italian Starfighter that is flying again. Hopefully they will recreate the race they did been an Italian Air Force Starfighter and Gilles Villenuve in his Ferrari.
I would also like to point out that the f-111f model use the same engine that the early F-16 F-15 and the last model of the F-14 used. Until it was changed to a general electric replacement because of a third stage compressor issue that would sneak up on the pw100 engine that the f-111f model head. We did lose at least one aircraft and also had a couple of other failures due to that. The early f-16s were falling out of the sky because of that third stage compressor failure. I think there were three of them lost early in the time frame of the F-16. But it actually first saw its first use as a hybrid turbo fan. In the f-111. And the spike system in the intake of the F-111 was interesting as well. The tf30 I believe was the designation in the F-111 a model which use the same engine as the early F-14
Thanks, this was great! I've been going to the Pima Air & Space museum for 40 years... it is now a world-class collection. Thanks for featuring its stuff in such detail
Those bumps on the rear fuselage of the F102 are called Whitcombe bodies I believe, linked to the area rule and named after the NACA engineer who developed them. The Handley Page Victor bomber in the UK also had these on the trailing edge of the swept wings.
Check out ‘Kuchemann carrots’. You correct they streamline according to area rule. Convair 990 another (extreme) example. A lesson here is Whitcomb visualizing the flow, a bit of a story in itself. His later contribution =winglets= ubiquitous nowadays. Great contributions to flight..
Excellent video, so interesting! I’ve never been that interested in the older generations of jet aircraft, but this was fantastically informative. A really great exploration into an era that was filled with such ground breaking concepts and research. I’ll definitely be looking further into your channel. 👍
Hi Guys! Great episode. When I was a young man, I built lots of models of the Century Series aircraft. They were all in use at the time. Good info here. Thanks for making this.
Century series fighters were always my favorite period of aircraft, especially the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter. But I always favor anything designed by Kelly Johnson. If memory serves, I believe crews working on the F-104 had to put wing edge gaurds on the front and trailing parts of the wings to minimize injuries, those things were so sharp. a shame the F-108 Rapier was never produced. I think it would have been an interesting addition to the Century series. I look forward to you guy's next video.
Back in the 70's I would watch that particular F-104 when I was a child growing up in San Juan when it was part of the Puerto Rico Air National Guard. One of the things that kindled my thirst for flying and my 40-yr career as a military and airline pilot.
@@damcasterspod Oh. OK. I was wondering why so little time was spent on the Voodoo. I imagined it over there saying sadly "hey - what about me? Am I chopped liver over here?".
There were absolutely plans for an XF-109 - a proposed Mach 2 VTOL project from Bell, and the XF-110, which DID go on to be the United States first actual Joint Strike Fighter, as it was the front line fighter for the Air Force, Navy, and USMC: The F-4 Phantom II. Its original intended spot was to be the F-110, but after DOD initiated a service-wide shift to consistent aviation nomenclature across all branches, it was redesigned the F-4. Superb video, guys! First I’ve ever seen the channel. Haven’t hit the subscribe button that fast in a loooong time.
This is definitely on my bucket list. I have hours in mustangs, lightngs and a very.. uncomfortable. Scary flight in a ME109. Sir I wish I had the expendable income right now. Beautiful aircraft.
I'm working on a couple videos looking at the Arrow, both the aircarft and the intel that lead to the decision to cancel the program. Hopefully they will come in the autumn.
Back in the day, when the rocket sled research was being conducted at Edwards AFB, the F 107 ejection system was tested and found to have some contact with the inlet above certain speeds. The seat would be sent into a back flip spin and that was problematic. I learned this from one of the engineers who worked at the sled track facility. He was father to a classmate in my high school. He took me along with his son to the facility on a weekend to get something caught up work wise. Later on, the track at Edwards was shut down and the track sections were shipped to New Mexico to add to the track at Holloman AFB. Pima is a fantastic collection of all kinds of aircraft. Schedule about 3 days to see it all.
I've spent two full weeks with unlimited access at Pima over the last couple of years and still haven't seen it all! So I'm heading back in the fall. :)
I toured Pima two years ago on a brutally hot day. The heat dictated a trolly tour, so I didn't get to see many of the aircraft as I would have liked; still, it was quite interesting.
wasn't there a heated discussion about funding between the F4H and the F-110 (Senate/Congress?) which contributed towards the push for a common designation
Fantastic video, and I am sad the Voodoo got passed over, although i understand for the wings, and it's nice seeing 3 of my favorite jets, the 104, 106, and 101
I need to correct your earliest comment. The century series did include the f110. But mcnamara, had a name change for some of the aircraft and the f-110 became the F4. And then we had the F-111. I worked on the F-111 I know it was a century series aircraft. It was also the most accurate bomber that has ever been put into service. Not only has every bomb that's ever dropped hit the Earth. We could actually drop dumb bombs within 10 ft of a Target with the f-111. And it actually became slightly less accurate with a pave tack but it was generally more accurate, with the Pave-Tac laser targeting system. Basically they dropped bombs a bit differently with that system. Was an f-111f model that had the only air-to-air kill during the Gulf War. It is interesting when you hit a helicopter in flight I forget whether it was with a 1,000 or 2,000 but I think it was a 1000 lb bomb
Hi, thanks for your thorough reply. While in designation the F-4 briefly was a century aircraft, given the scope of our discussion was the century aircraft that saw service with the designation, we decided to stick to the ones with the century numbers. As for the F-111, we took the same viewpoint as we did with the F-4 that we would cover them in a dedicated episode. The F-111 certainly did become a formidable platform as your experience shows, but her inital deployment to South-East Asia in her A model form left much to be designed and we touch upon this in our next episode.
Hi, we felt that following the 1962 Tri-Service designation scheme, the F-4 didn't 'technically, fall within the traditional Century Series timeframe. Plus, as you saw with the video, it would have been a disservice ti the F-4 to only give it a few minutes. There needs to be a proper, multi-part look at the Phantom and it is in a draft script stage at the moment. Hope that explains things a bit. 🙂
Great explanations in super sonic air flow my dad worked for Kelly Johnson and I worked for Ben Rich we were a Lockheed Family but didn't talk about work mutch for obvious reasons thanks
I worked on the flightdeck of aircraft carriers during the 1970's. We were warned about standing near the intake of a jet, even off to the side as you could get sucked in. The F-8 and A-7 were especially notorious for this.
With the design elements we wanted to discuss, the F-101 was more conservative and we decided to focus on the other aircraft. I have a CF-101 video in a very early planning stage. I will return to the Voodoo. :)
Had to comment particularly at this early stage of your presentation. This gentleman is standing next to an F100 Super saber which my father flew in Europe and in Vietnam behind this gentleman is an F 89 scorpion which my father flew in the backseat as an observer having just become an officer observer he learned that if he got two years of college, he could Go to flight school, which he did and 10 or so more years later after training command He Transitioned to fighters. I will try to attach a clip of my father getting into his aircraft and Vietnam Also, as a side note, I was an aircraft mechanic for most of my life and briefly worked there at this airport for Evergreen, which was notoriously a CIA controlled ““Airline. Wasn’t there long but had an opportunity to view some of the incredible planes they had
The F-106's variable intake ramp is called a vari-ramp, by the way. It's variable in movement via the air data computer in the nose wheel well, which gets its data from the pitot tube(s).
Good question! A number were not (I believe the chinese still have them). Off the top of my head, we cover the D-21 in more depth in our SR-71 episdoe with Paul Crickmore who is The Guy on the subject.
The F-4 isn't considered to be century series and neither is the F-111. The Phantom crops up often on the channel, so haven't missed discussing. She does need a full video though. As for the F-111, outside of the politics of the aircraft, it doesn't interest me.
Nice info, I love the info on intake development. Got to say the F105 was way underrated. It was a bomber that could be a fighter. It’s gum kills say something about its actual capabilities as a fighter
The f105 and it's pilots were absolutely screwed over, the story is tragic. There was a time when the meet sortie quotas f105 were being sent with one or two bombs, there's an interview with a thud pilot who recounts one of these single bomb thuds being shot down and him asking was the bullshit target worth this one bomb and this pilot and planes life?
For me at least this era is the magic age of aviation. Beyond the Century Serious there's the B-36, B-47 and B-58 Hustler which are all fascinating airframes. There's also something about the way they all look that's really athletically pleasing.
Complertely agree. We've covered the B-58 on the channel, will be discussing the impact of the B-47 on the B-52 in our Boeing's Fortresses series starting on Thursday as well. The B-36 is an asthetic abomination though! 😄
I love the podcast but this is my first time seeing Matt Bone- I'd no idea he was so young! Matt, you sound a lot older- or perhaps (more charitably) you look a lot younger! Great podcast, I'm loving it, thank you!
I've read that early on, a similar inlet design was laid out below the fuselage. During wind tunnel testing, the inlet flow around the inlet was messing with the centerline store separation at various regimes, so the inlets were relocated up top. There were 3 of these aircraft built. The other is at USAFM in Dayton, and the third was used / sacrificed for fire fighting practice. 🙁 Ejection I'm sure was always a concern, but I've read during this process, the canopy would be blown clear, then as the seat is ejected, it would ride along rails and along the seat piston, that would extend quite far up. There are videos of this during ground testing out there.
Closer to 30. 1959-1988. I'd consider the Dart's ANG use as "front-line". Those were active ANG units, not weekend warriors, and they were tasked with the same missions as the active-duty units.
Glad I found this, good work, very interesting, I grew up making models of the century series, the first model I ever completed was the 105 Thunderchief. They were still hot when I was a kid, but as the 4th gen moved towards the 5th gen fighters, folks stopped talking about them. Always thought the Super Saber was sexy.
People can say the F105 wasn't really a fighter all they want but they're very wrong about that, naturally any aircraft that's heavily bomb laden isn't going to dogfight, but once they dropped their load the fangs came out on that aircraft, of the 27.5 air to air kills the F105 was credited with (one had a shared kill with a Navy F4), 24.5 of them were gun kills, that's as dogfighter as it gets right there, I don't know of any other missile carrying fighter that had anywhere even close to that high of a percentage of it's kills with guns, they're all the opposite, it'd be 24.5 out of 27.5 kills with missile's with all the others like the F4, F14 and F15, so that really makes it the last real dogfighter jet that ever was.
Missing 3, the F-110, F-111, and F-117. Technically speaking, they were not part of it, the F-110 was the AF model of the Navy F-4 but was later renamed back to standardize the numbering system, F-111 was never used as a fighter but as a bomber with the FB-111 having a heavier load capacity, and the F-117 designed years later, also as a fighter/bomber. But they could explain all that at the museum. Airplane nuts (like me) love the background details.
We covered the F-117 from a pilot's perspective earlier with our interview with Jon Boyd. As for the F-4, we haven't done anything specific, yet, but we will. I'm not a fan of the F-111 so I've avoided it so far!
Technically yes and technically no. The F-4 never flew for the USAF as the F-110, so for this video it is discounted. But, there is a lot of love for the Phantom here! Check out our chat with Eileen Bjorkman who was a backseater at Edwards in the F-4.
Really well done and interesting video. Small point on Area rule was discovered by the Germans and used on their first jet fighters like the ME262. An interesting point on the 104 is that the faster you went the faster it accelerated. It would slow a bit through transonic regime. After about 1.2 Mach the drag curve reduced and the ram effect increased engine thrust. Temperature was the limiting factor not thrust or aerodynamics. If memory services max temperature was 121 degrees C. The big red slow light would come on.
While technically in the Century Series as F-110 it was redesignated and as such doesn't fit with the accepted convention. Lots of love for the F-4 on the channel, as the video with Eilen Bjorkman showed!
Good video. I was a little disappointed that he never mentioned any advanced features of the electronics through the years. The F-86 gunsight. The 105's terrain following computer. The 106's ability to relay information to other planes and the ground to coordinate attacks. And that the 104 had none of that since it was designed from the start to be an absolute hot rod. And it was the longest flying of the series being retired by the Italians in 2004.
We took a lot on trying to cover as many as we need and we decided to stick to the aerodynamic on this video. So many facinating features on each of the aircraft we could have disapeared down any number of rabbit holes. Did you see the Italians have got one of their F-104s flying again?
The D21 did work, the USAF didn't want to pay for another mother ship after it lost one. The problems could have been worked out but the cost wasn't worth what advantage of having it. Some people claim that there were successful D21 flights and the D21 was successfully recovered by a C130 towing a hook on cable like some of the early Mercury capsule recoveries. There are even stories of successful operational missions of D21. The real killer of the D21 was the development of satellite reconnaissance and the fact the SR71 never got shot down. The most amazing thing about the YF12A is that design work was started during the end of the blank check period before McNamara ended that too expensive era. It did take a long time to get to 1st prototype because Lockheed had to develop so much new technology. Unlike the U2, the YF12A was a giant leap forward.
I would suggest checking out our chat with Paul Crickmore on the SR-71 and D-21. While it flew successfully, the operational surveillance flights over China were a disaster so therefore the drone cannot be considered a success.
@@damcasterspod I agree that the D21 was not a success. I liked the idea of putting on top of a rocket booster and launching it vertically. With the C130 recovery. It still would not be coat effective and the SR71 and satellites already filled the D21 role.
The Phantom certainly is not, but as it was redesignated by the 1962 Tri-Services Designation system as F-4, it is not Century Series, so not within the remit of this video. Plus, all the aircraft considered entered service in the 1950s so that also played into the criteria for the video. We will return to the F-4 in future, it is just too big a subject to fit into a video like this.
First off this was an extremely interesting and informative video. I wasn’t speaking clearly as usual but at 51:15 Joe commented that when you move into the 60s the revenue tightened up and as a result only the F-111 and F-14 are developed and put into service. I was simply saying that the F-4 was also an icon of the 60s along with the F-111 I might be mistaken but the tomcat took to the air in the 70s ?
The development of the F-111 and it unsuitability for carrier ops lead directly to the F-14, which is what Joe was saying. I'm not a fan of the F-111, another do everything achieve some aircraft.
We were holding short of the runway at Edwards waiting for takeoff and F-104's were doing touch and go landings. They would extend the gear on short final which I though was interesting not exactly sure why they were doing this? This was in 1966
@@damcasterspod The were putting the gear down at 200 feet something in my 62 years of flying airplanes is something that I have never seen before or since.
The F104s blown flap was also problematic when only 1 of the valves opened (there was one for each side). That had a tendency to flip the plane over and dive it into the ground.
Fascinating walk around video and great commentary. Love the century series. Wish you'd spent a bit more time on the superb Voodoo, but first rate all the same! Thanks!
The missing ones were the F-103, which he mentioned, the F-109, which was the proposed designation for what became the F-101B, the F-108 Rapier (I wish that one had flown!), and the F-110 Specter, which was the Air Force's original designation for the Navy's F4H-1 Phantom II.
Just to add, the 104 had the leading edge droop for landing as well. That coupled with the boundary layer control on the flaps lowered the approach speed to 180 or so knots, iirc, but the engine needed to be above 80% for the BLC to work. Otherwise the approach speed increased to over 200knots
How about the F111 it was also a century series fighter bomber jet and the F-4 Phantom for the airforce which started out as the F110 but thanks to the defence secretary MacNamarra he changed the aircraft designations before the first delivery of the F-110A
The F-111 was not technically in the 50s bracket we were focusing on plus I'm not a fan so we skipped it. The F-4 was redesignated before it entered service, therefore we didn't feel it truly counted. We have talked a lot about the Phantom on the pod, especally in our chat with Eileen Bjorkman who was a backseater at Edwards on the F-4.
I don’t know it’s the origin, but Monogram models in the 60s heavily advertised their 100s model kits as “the century series” encouraging people to build them all.
Joe's point, which he expands on throughout the video, is from that intial design perspective. Yes, some of them had long careers but it also took a while to work out the quirks. We are big fans of F-105 here and have interviewed Gen Russ Violett about his two tours on the aircraft.
I don’t think they were unsuccessful. The F-100 was outstanding at the beginning of the American involvement in Vietnam. It was moved to other missions and served well for the duration. The F-105 Thunderchief also was a workhorse in Vietnam. The Century series fighters were developed in the 50’s at a time when intercepting Soviet nuclear bombers was the big priority. The fact that they did as well as they did in a completely different kind of war in the mid-60’s in Vietnam is kind of impressive to me.
G'day, A couple of points. Vietnam's AmeriKan War was Fought because Robert MacNamara publicised the mistaken US Navy Midshipman's fear that 2 Dolphins in the Tonkin Gulf MIGHT Be "Communist Torpedoes"...; But MacNamara and Kissinger then kept the Updated report - which arrived in Washington, from CINCPAC in Hawaii, 35 minutes later telling that the Not-Torpedoes were actual Dolphins..., a Secret which lasted until the release of The Pentagon Papers in 1971 or '72. Therefore, thus, and because, Vietnam fought an Honest Honourable War, defending against an Invading Nation whose ENTIRE "justification" for Launching and waging and making War..., was a Dirty filthy transparently fraudulent Lie. And so, there was NOTHING Done by Anyone who fought for ANZUS In Vietnam, That was in any way, shape, or form, "Honourable". Everyone in ANZUS was out there, Killing Strangers for pay because their own Politicians pretended that their "National Honour" Demanded that SOMEONE had to try not to die, While living in a Ditch..., fighting to control a Crossroads - in the Muddle of nowhere on Earth that anybody in their own Hometown, had ever previously heard of... Such is life, Have a good one... Stay safe. ;-p Ciao !
As you guys forgot the F-110, the ( Original Design Number for what would become the Phantastic F-4 Phantom ) from your "Century Series," How about it's OWN video with all the good , bad and Double Ugly, what some would call a real turkey, but most recognize as the Worlds best Jet fighter for more then 50 years, America at it's finest, when you say Jet Fighter, the F-4 is what comes to mind! And if we were to REALLY split hairs here, you should really do a video on the often forgotten F8U Crusader, the Last Gun Fighter, also a part of the Century series, but it's own special blend of Navy Cool!
As I imply in the introduction, the F-110 didn't really happen as it morphed into the F-4, which is not generally considered to be Century Series. Now, that doesn't mean there isn't a lot of love on the channel for the Phantom (see our interview with Eileen Bjorkman), it just doesn't fit in this discuss. Plus the F-4 is far too big a subject to give justice too when considering all the aircraft we did chat about.
The F110 actually did happen, at least on paper anyway. The USAF tried to call it the F110 and then decided to just go ahead and call their F110 the F4 Phantom like the USN did.
The redesignation was part of the Tri-Service aircraft designation system in 1962 which standardised all US combat aircraft going forward. Based on the F-110 never flew in service and because of that we decided that it didn't count in this discussion. But, it is not that there isn't a lot of love for the F-4 on the channel, as you can see where I hijack my discussion with Eileen Bkorkman to talk all things Phantom at Edwards.
Austraila made superb use of the F-111. The memory of the aircraft is much less rosy here in the UK where the F-111K cost the Navy her strike carriers and the RAF the TSR-2. Richard Moore's article on the subject in the Winter 2015 issue of Air Power Review is a facinating read.
I also do not remember what the original designation may have been for the A7 and A8 Corsair was. Those may have had a century designation at one point. And there was nothing unsuccessful about them. Although updated in some respect had a flight control system that was used and still as being used in the B1. I don't know why in the world he would think that these were unsuccessful?
The unsuccessful bit was just that, a bit. If we truely thought that, we wouldn't have gotten a Februray sunburn filming them! 🙂 As far I understand, the A-7 and A-8 never had a century designation.
Video should be titled "All about Wings" as that is what the presenter spends the most time talking about. There was a small Air Force base where I live while I was growing up (was put in place during the Cuban missile crisis of the early 1960's.) It was originally equipped with F-101's so I was rather disappointed it was skipped over in this video, especially since it set several records when it went into service. The One-O-Wonder and it's Witch Doctors will always have a soft spot in my heart.
I always wondered about the 102 and 106 as dogfighters. When I was young I lived on Elmendorf AFB where the resident interceptor squadron flew the 102A. At an airshow one year a local aviator named Red Dodge flew his P-51 in a mock dogfight against a 102 and it really didn't look good for the 102. Of course recips against jets and bullets against air to air missiles isn't really a dogfight but jet against jet looks more like a regional conflict compared to old school fighter battles.
This man knows his aerodynamics. Not many people do. Very cool! Thanks!
My favorite Century Series is the F106. It looked great (especially in test range orange) flew great and was operational until displaced by the F15 in the 1980s! Only the F104 stayed in service longer and F106 didn't have the nasty characteristics that killed so many German F104 pilots.
Of course it only helped that my dad knew most of the engineers who designed the F104. Another reason it is seared into my brain is getting bused by one flying 9 foot above the road we were driving on. Dad told me it was an F106 that was testing ground hugging radar out of China Lake NAS. Instead of flying over us (that would probably blown us off the road) the F106 banked left then right. When he passed us his wing was 3 feet above the ground in a 90 degree bank and I could see the top of the pilots helmet. The F106 then pulled in front of us and disappeared disappeared after flew over an approximately 10 foot tall hill on the road. It was a thrill of my life and I latter found that most jets of the era would probably have fallen appart trying that maneuver.
Yes give me an F106
With no gun just rockets
It flies real fast
Destroys enemies with an expensive missile, can dog fight but doesn't,
Just comes home with no rockets and bingo fuel, and a happy pilot who sees love after every mission.
The F106 was retained in the USA as an interceptor. It's missile system was the 1st of its kind and designed to shoot down Soviet bombers without getting lose enough to the bomber to be at risk. It was only exceeded by the YF12A which didn't go into serial production production. It's missile was the basis for that used on F14. While the F4 was superior in almost every way, there were never enough F4s to replace the F106 in homeland interceptor role.
The F106 was too expensive to build, but those that were built kept on flying .
The six was the favorite mount of ADC pilots. Not only does it still hold the world record speed of single engine turbines at 1,525 mph, it also had "supercruise" ability 40 years before the F-22. It was said that the six could get there the fastest, with the mostest! In combat loadout, it was faster than the F-4 as it remained aerodynamically clean. Nothing slows plane down faster than hanging ordinance out in the wind! The six deserved a few more minutes than what she got here.😢
What a thrill that close buzz was. Wish it could have happened to me! I like the whole series, but I think I like the 106 best. From what I understand, F-15 can't get inside of in a turn contest. I heard that from a retired ANG pilot.
Yes the F 106 was the best,not easy to work on but definitely the best
I loved having Joe on here and how he can explain aerodynamics in laymen’s terms while showing innovations on existing century fighters. I do wish he would have spent more time on The Six. Still the fastest single engine jet ever and had about 30 years of frontline service with the U.S. Air Force. It truly was something special
Absolutely fantastic lesson the in the history and aerodynamics of these fantastic aircraft! We can all moan about various aspects of these fighters, yet just given the chance to fly any one of them, is an absolute dream!
What an utterly fabulous museum. Also, the knowledge of the presenter is equally amazing, excellent post, and now I'm hooked.
Joe did an excellent articulation of the design principles and philosophies. That is the truly interesting subject Which doesn't often get discussed.
That was great. Please bring Joe and the airplanes in the museum for more videos.
The F-106 was in service until 1988 with the ANG.
Oregon ANG flew them in Portland until the 80s and we have one on display at Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum now along with one of the older F-15s the they flew.
I enlisted in the USAF in the mid 1970's, at the tail end of the Century Series operational lives, and was fortunate enough to see the F-106 in action (with the 49th FIS out of Griffiss AFB) along with the F-104G at Luke AFB and while I was stationed in Holland. The Dart and the Starfighter were beautiful fighters.
I would have loved to see them fly. I need to get out to see the Italian Starfighter that is flying again. Hopefully they will recreate the race they did been an Italian Air Force Starfighter and Gilles Villenuve in his Ferrari.
Just came across your channel by accident instead for the whole clip I'm going to be a regular watcher thank you
Thanks for joining us! I hope you like what you find on the channel.
@damcasterspod you're welcome but thank you it's high quality stuff
I would also like to point out that the f-111f model use the same engine that the early F-16 F-15 and the last model of the F-14 used. Until it was changed to a general electric replacement because of a third stage compressor issue that would sneak up on the pw100 engine that the f-111f model head. We did lose at least one aircraft and also had a couple of other failures due to that. The early f-16s were falling out of the sky because of that third stage compressor failure. I think there were three of them lost early in the time frame of the F-16. But it actually first saw its first use as a hybrid turbo fan. In the f-111. And the spike system in the intake of the F-111 was interesting as well.
The tf30 I believe was the designation in the F-111 a model which use the same engine as the early F-14
Thanks, this was great! I've been going to the Pima Air & Space museum for 40 years... it is now a world-class collection. Thanks for featuring its stuff in such detail
Those bumps on the rear fuselage of the F102 are called Whitcombe bodies I believe, linked to the area rule and named after the NACA engineer who developed them. The Handley Page Victor bomber in the UK also had these on the trailing edge of the swept wings.
Whitcombe a NACA engineer?
Check out ‘Kuchemann carrots’. You correct they streamline according to area rule. Convair 990 another (extreme) example.
A lesson here is Whitcomb visualizing the flow, a bit of a story in itself. His later contribution =winglets= ubiquitous nowadays. Great contributions to flight..
@@danbenson7587 I haven't heard Kuchemann carrots since my RAF days 30 years ago. Bravo!!!
Gladly shared. Intake and wing shape and how they relate to flight regime are covered very well here. Excellent coverage.
Excellent video, so interesting! I’ve never been that interested in the older generations of jet aircraft, but this was fantastically informative. A really great exploration into an era that was filled with such ground breaking concepts and research. I’ll definitely be looking further into your channel. 👍
Thanks for watching and I hope you find more interesting things on the channel.
Excellent tour. I have a nodding acquaintance with some of these ideas but. . .learn something new every day.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Wonderful listening to two knowledgeable people who love the subject. Learned a lot, thanks!
Great discussions on design and details. Been a airhead for years and learned a bunch of new stuff and things to look for, thanks.
Thanks for joining us!
Hi Guys! Great episode. When I was a young man, I built lots of models of the Century Series aircraft. They were all in use at the time. Good info here. Thanks for making this.
Outstanding!!! Audio levels are perfect now, I might add!
Fab!
Century series fighters were always my favorite period of aircraft, especially the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter. But I always favor anything designed by Kelly Johnson. If memory serves, I believe crews working on the F-104 had to put wing edge gaurds on the front and trailing parts of the wings to minimize injuries, those things were so sharp. a shame the F-108 Rapier was never produced. I think it would have been an interesting addition to the Century series. I look forward to you guy's next video.
Back in the 70's I would watch that particular F-104 when I was a child growing up in San Juan when it was part of the Puerto Rico Air National Guard. One of the things that kindled my thirst for flying and my 40-yr career as a military and airline pilot.
Been to Pima twice. Bucket list checked off for sure! One of the best aviation vids on TH-cam so far! Wish you went more over the F-101, but hey...
I have a plan to look at the CF-101 in more detail. On the day, we didn't have as much time as we had hoped so the Voodoo was the one that got cut.
@@damcasterspod Oh. OK. I was wondering why so little time was spent on the Voodoo. I imagined it over there saying sadly "hey - what about me? Am I chopped liver over here?".
It certainly isn't as sexy as say a F-104 or F-106 but she'll get her turn.
There were absolutely plans for an XF-109 - a proposed Mach 2 VTOL project from Bell, and the XF-110, which DID go on to be the United States first actual Joint Strike Fighter, as it was the front line fighter for the Air Force, Navy, and USMC: The F-4 Phantom II. Its original intended spot was to be the F-110, but after DOD initiated a service-wide shift to consistent aviation nomenclature across all branches, it was redesigned the F-4.
Superb video, guys! First I’ve ever seen the channel. Haven’t hit the subscribe button that fast in a loooong time.
This is definitely on my bucket list. I have hours in mustangs, lightngs and a very.. uncomfortable. Scary flight in a ME109. Sir I wish I had the expendable income right now. Beautiful aircraft.
Great explanations - perfect video !
Glad you liked it!
I live in Tucson, the F-100 in the Pima museum, came from our unit the 162nd. ANG. I flew in the "F' models several times.
Great video, very interesting! Thank you.
Our pleasure!
Fantastic groundbreaking planes. Some of my favourites.
I find them fascinating! They all pushed the boundaries and led us to where we ended up, for better or worse, today.
I've been in and around military aircraft for 50+ years. Still, I learned something here. Great video.
Gents, I have to say that was a supremely interesting presentation.
I was like a kid rapt with interest listening to the pair of you. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Thanks for watching!
THAT was a great summary guys , cheers to Joe !!!
Love to hear your comments on the avroe arrow
I'm working on a couple videos looking at the Arrow, both the aircarft and the intel that lead to the decision to cancel the program. Hopefully they will come in the autumn.
Back in the day, when the rocket sled research was being conducted at Edwards AFB, the F 107 ejection system was tested and found to have some contact with the inlet above certain speeds. The seat would be sent into a back flip spin and that was problematic. I learned this from one of the engineers who worked at the sled track facility. He was father to a classmate in my high school. He took me along with his son to the facility on a weekend to get something caught up work wise. Later on, the track at Edwards was shut down and the track sections were shipped to New Mexico to add to the track at Holloman AFB. Pima is a fantastic collection of all kinds of aircraft. Schedule about 3 days to see it all.
I've spent two full weeks with unlimited access at Pima over the last couple of years and still haven't seen it all! So I'm heading back in the fall. :)
I toured Pima two years ago on a brutally hot day. The heat dictated a trolly tour, so I didn't get to see many of the aircraft as I would have liked; still, it was quite interesting.
Awesome, and thank you!
I understand that the F4 Phantom was originally called the F-110. I early films I've seen it actually called it the F-110.
It was nominally the F-110 Spectre but the dropped the designation early on.
wasn't there a heated discussion about funding between the F4H and the F-110 (Senate/Congress?) which contributed towards the push for a common designation
Yes, it lead to the Tri-Service Designation System in the early 60's which is still followed today (I think).
Fantastic video, and I am sad the Voodoo got passed over, although i understand for the wings, and it's nice seeing 3 of my favorite jets, the 104, 106, and 101
Glad you enjoyed it! We will return for the 101 in a future episode
Worth viewing.
Fascinating stuff! Off to avoid some lateral flow
I need to correct your earliest comment. The century series did include the f110. But mcnamara, had a name change for some of the aircraft and the f-110 became the F4. And then we had the F-111. I worked on the F-111 I know it was a century series aircraft. It was also the most accurate bomber that has ever been put into service. Not only has every bomb that's ever dropped hit the Earth. We could actually drop dumb bombs within 10 ft of a Target with the f-111. And it actually became slightly less accurate with a pave tack but it was generally more accurate, with the Pave-Tac laser targeting system. Basically they dropped bombs a bit differently with that system.
Was an f-111f model that had the only air-to-air kill during the Gulf War. It is interesting when you hit a helicopter in flight I forget whether it was with a 1,000 or 2,000 but I think it was a 1000 lb bomb
Hi, thanks for your thorough reply. While in designation the F-4 briefly was a century aircraft, given the scope of our discussion was the century aircraft that saw service with the designation, we decided to stick to the ones with the century numbers. As for the F-111, we took the same viewpoint as we did with the F-4 that we would cover them in a dedicated episode. The F-111 certainly did become a formidable platform as your experience shows, but her inital deployment to South-East Asia in her A model form left much to be designed and we touch upon this in our next episode.
I had models of all of them when I was a kid. Got to see some of them in the flesh when I was in the military.
My only fighter is the F-105F/G versions at Korat RTAFB. 1971/72. I worked the Doppler Nav System.
When you were blowing through the "one airplane thing", you passed over one of the best airplanes of that whole eara, the F4, how did you do that?
Hi, we felt that following the 1962 Tri-Service designation scheme, the F-4 didn't 'technically, fall within the traditional Century Series timeframe. Plus, as you saw with the video, it would have been a disservice ti the F-4 to only give it a few minutes. There needs to be a proper, multi-part look at the Phantom and it is in a draft script stage at the moment. Hope that explains things a bit. 🙂
This one really saved me for enduring the day`s hardship in terms of what happening in the world now
Thanks for watching and I'm happy the video helped.
Great explanations in super sonic air flow my dad worked for Kelly Johnson and I worked for Ben Rich we were a Lockheed Family but didn't talk about work mutch for obvious reasons thanks
I worked on the flightdeck of aircraft carriers during the 1970's. We were warned about standing near the intake of a jet, even off to the side as you could get sucked in. The F-8 and A-7 were especially notorious for this.
Fantastic video.
Thanks for watching!
Enjoyed the video...seem to have neglected the F-101 Voodoo, and one was visible behind you Dane
With the design elements we wanted to discuss, the F-101 was more conservative and we decided to focus on the other aircraft. I have a CF-101 video in a very early planning stage. I will return to the Voodoo. :)
1:16 I'll take one of those, 2 of those, 1 of that one......
Very interesting and I want to go there! 👍
Had to comment particularly at this early stage of your presentation. This gentleman is standing next to an F100 Super saber which my father flew in Europe and in Vietnam behind this gentleman is an F 89 scorpion which my father flew in the backseat as an observer having just become an officer observer he learned that if he got two years of college, he could Go to flight school, which he did and 10 or so more years later after training command He Transitioned to fighters. I will try to attach a clip of my father getting into his aircraft and Vietnam Also, as a side note, I was an aircraft mechanic for most of my life and briefly worked there at this airport for Evergreen, which was notoriously a CIA controlled ““Airline. Wasn’t there long but had an opportunity to view some of the incredible planes they had
Thanks for sharing your father's story!
The F-106's variable intake ramp is called a vari-ramp, by the way. It's variable in movement via the air data computer in the nose wheel well, which gets its data from the pitot tube(s).
Very interesting program. Thanks.
How were the SR- 71's Drones recovered? Great history here- Thanks Matt!
Good question! A number were not (I believe the chinese still have them). Off the top of my head, we cover the D-21 in more depth in our SR-71 episdoe with Paul Crickmore who is The Guy on the subject.
You missed out F110 (there was one in the background disguised as an F4) & F111, both of which are century series.
The F-4 isn't considered to be century series and neither is the F-111. The Phantom crops up often on the channel, so haven't missed discussing. She does need a full video though. As for the F-111, outside of the politics of the aircraft, it doesn't interest me.
Nice info, I love the info on intake development. Got to say the F105 was way underrated. It was a bomber that could be a fighter. It’s gum kills say something about its actual capabilities as a fighter
Agree with you on the F-105. Have you watched our interview with Gen Russ Violette on the channel? He did two tours on Thuds in Vietnam.
The f105 and it's pilots were absolutely screwed over, the story is tragic. There was a time when the meet sortie quotas f105 were being sent with one or two bombs, there's an interview with a thud pilot who recounts one of these single bomb thuds being shot down and him asking was the bullshit target worth this one bomb and this pilot and planes life?
For me at least this era is the magic age of aviation. Beyond the Century Serious there's the B-36, B-47 and B-58 Hustler which are all fascinating airframes. There's also something about the way they all look that's really athletically pleasing.
Complertely agree. We've covered the B-58 on the channel, will be discussing the impact of the B-47 on the B-52 in our Boeing's Fortresses series starting on Thursday as well. The B-36 is an asthetic abomination though! 😄
The ones that lasted were F-100 and F-106.
F-104G/S stayed in service outside the USA.
They all had remarkably long service histories.
I love the podcast but this is my first time seeing Matt Bone- I'd no idea he was so young! Matt, you sound a lot older- or perhaps (more charitably) you look a lot younger! Great podcast, I'm loving it, thank you!
lol! I've shared that with my wife. :)
Pima has a B-58. Nothing faster when it was operational.
I've read that early on, a similar inlet design was laid out below the fuselage. During wind tunnel testing, the inlet flow around the inlet was messing with the centerline store separation at various regimes, so the inlets were relocated up top. There were 3 of these aircraft built. The other is at USAFM in Dayton, and the third was used / sacrificed for fire fighting practice. 🙁
Ejection I'm sure was always a concern, but I've read during this process, the canopy would be blown clear, then as the seat is ejected, it would ride along rails and along the seat piston, that would extend quite far up. There are videos of this during ground testing out there.
The F-106 was in service for over 20 years
Pretty stark omission.
But not in frontline service for that time, which was the focus in this video. She did amazing service with the Guards units as you mention.
Closer to 30. 1959-1988. I'd consider the Dart's ANG use as "front-line". Those were active ANG units, not weekend warriors, and they were tasked with the same missions as the active-duty units.
Glad I found this, good work, very interesting, I grew up making models of the century series, the first model I ever completed was the 105 Thunderchief. They were still hot when I was a kid, but as the 4th gen moved towards the 5th gen fighters, folks stopped talking about them. Always thought the Super Saber was sexy.
People can say the F105 wasn't really a fighter all they want but they're very wrong about that, naturally any aircraft that's heavily bomb laden isn't going to dogfight, but once they dropped their load the fangs came out on that aircraft, of the 27.5 air to air kills the F105 was credited with (one had a shared kill with a Navy F4), 24.5 of them were gun kills, that's as dogfighter as it gets right there, I don't know of any other missile carrying fighter that had anywhere even close to that high of a percentage of it's kills with guns, they're all the opposite, it'd be 24.5 out of 27.5 kills with missile's with all the others like the F4, F14 and F15, so that really makes it the last real dogfighter jet that ever was.
4/6th Gen are not nearly as cool looking as this series.
Where is the F-101?
We will return to the Voodoo in the future.
I never noticed it before. Take the F-102's intake and turn it 90 degrees, and voila! you have the F-16's undernose intake/inlet.
The F-106 was an absolute wonderful aircraft to fly according to pilots who flew it along with aircraft like the F-4, f-105.
Missing 3, the F-110, F-111, and F-117. Technically speaking, they were not part of it, the F-110 was the AF model of the Navy F-4 but was later renamed back to standardize the numbering system, F-111 was never used as a fighter but as a bomber with the FB-111 having a heavier load capacity, and the F-117 designed years later, also as a fighter/bomber. But they could explain all that at the museum. Airplane nuts (like me) love the background details.
We covered the F-117 from a pilot's perspective earlier with our interview with Jon Boyd. As for the F-4, we haven't done anything specific, yet, but we will. I'm not a fan of the F-111 so I've avoided it so far!
Phantom is part of this here series too!🤔
Jman
Technically yes and technically no. The F-4 never flew for the USAF as the F-110, so for this video it is discounted. But, there is a lot of love for the Phantom here! Check out our chat with Eileen Bjorkman who was a backseater at Edwards in the F-4.
@@damcasterspod Thanks!
Jman
Really well done and interesting video.
Small point on Area rule was discovered by the Germans and used on their first jet fighters like the ME262.
An interesting point on the 104 is that the faster you went the faster it accelerated.
It would slow a bit through transonic regime.
After about 1.2 Mach the drag curve reduced and the ram effect increased engine thrust.
Temperature was the limiting factor not thrust or aerodynamics.
If memory services max temperature was 121 degrees C.
The big red slow light would come on.
How do you ignore the F4 Phantom, a multiservice fighter bomber that served for decades?
While technically in the Century Series as F-110 it was redesignated and as such doesn't fit with the accepted convention. Lots of love for the F-4 on the channel, as the video with Eilen Bjorkman showed!
Good video. I was a little disappointed that he never mentioned any advanced features of the electronics through the years. The F-86 gunsight. The 105's terrain following computer. The 106's ability to relay information to other planes and the ground to coordinate attacks. And that the 104 had none of that since it was designed from the start to be an absolute hot rod. And it was the longest flying of the series being retired by the Italians in 2004.
We took a lot on trying to cover as many as we need and we decided to stick to the aerodynamic on this video. So many facinating features on each of the aircraft we could have disapeared down any number of rabbit holes. Did you see the Italians have got one of their F-104s flying again?
All works of art in their own way. The f105 is ptobably my favorite but they are all deaf sexy
The D21 did work, the USAF didn't want to pay for another mother ship after it lost one. The problems could have been worked out but the cost wasn't worth what advantage of having it. Some people claim that there were successful D21 flights and the D21 was successfully recovered by a C130 towing a hook on cable like some of the early Mercury capsule recoveries. There are even stories of successful operational missions of D21. The real killer of the D21 was the development of satellite reconnaissance and the fact the SR71 never got shot down.
The most amazing thing about the YF12A is that design work was started during the end of the blank check period before McNamara ended that too expensive era. It did take a long time to get to 1st prototype because Lockheed had to develop so much new technology. Unlike the U2, the YF12A was a giant leap forward.
I would suggest checking out our chat with Paul Crickmore on the SR-71 and D-21. While it flew successfully, the operational surveillance flights over China were a disaster so therefore the drone cannot be considered a success.
@@damcasterspod I agree that the D21 was not a success. I liked the idea of putting on top of a rocket booster and launching it vertically. With the C130 recovery. It still would not be coat effective and the SR71 and satellites already filled the D21 role.
The F-107 is tail #55118. You can see several pictures of it from 1956-7 on Wikipedia.
When speaking of the 60s the F4 phantom can’t be forgotten
The Phantom certainly is not, but as it was redesignated by the 1962 Tri-Services Designation system as F-4, it is not Century Series, so not within the remit of this video. Plus, all the aircraft considered entered service in the 1950s so that also played into the criteria for the video. We will return to the F-4 in future, it is just too big a subject to fit into a video like this.
First off this was an extremely interesting and informative video. I wasn’t speaking clearly as usual but at 51:15 Joe commented that when you move into the 60s the revenue tightened up and as a result only the F-111 and F-14 are developed and put into service. I was simply saying that the F-4 was also an icon of the 60s along with the F-111
I might be mistaken but the tomcat took to the air in the 70s ?
The development of the F-111 and it unsuitability for carrier ops lead directly to the F-14, which is what Joe was saying. I'm not a fan of the F-111, another do everything achieve some aircraft.
We were holding short of the runway at Edwards waiting for takeoff and F-104's were doing touch and go landings. They would extend the gear on short final which I though was interesting not exactly sure why they were doing this? This was in 1966
Reducing speed I believe. Airliners do it going into Heathrow over Richmond as it means they can run less flap, which annoys the locals below.
@@damcasterspod The were putting the gear down at 200 feet something in my 62 years of flying airplanes is something that I have never seen before or since.
the F 106 is the most beautiful Plane ever made in my opinion
It does have lovely lines
So there are a couple, not just one F-101 such a plane the VoodooII
No time for this beauty??
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder! ;)
We will return to the F-101 when we look at the RCAF post Arrow
Sounds great! Absolutely I'll keep an open eye for that txs great job!!
The F104s blown flap was also problematic when only 1 of the valves opened (there was one for each side). That had a tendency to flip the plane over and dive it into the ground.
Less we forget the F-100 Super "Sabre Dance" were Charles Bronson met his end in the 1961 movie X-15.
Fascinating walk around video and great commentary. Love the century series. Wish you'd spent a bit more time on the superb Voodoo, but first rate all the same!
Thanks!
I will be returning to the F-101 and its Canadian version.
The missing ones were the F-103, which he mentioned, the F-109, which was the proposed designation for what became the F-101B, the F-108 Rapier (I wish that one had flown!), and the F-110 Specter, which was the Air Force's original designation for the Navy's F4H-1 Phantom II.
None of those are "officially" Century Series fighters.
Nice channel.
Just to add, the 104 had the leading edge droop for landing as well. That coupled with the boundary layer control on the flaps lowered the approach speed to 180 or so knots, iirc, but the engine needed to be above 80% for the BLC to work. Otherwise the approach speed increased to over 200knots
How about the F111 it was also a century series fighter bomber jet and the F-4 Phantom for the airforce which started out as the F110 but thanks to the defence secretary MacNamarra he changed the aircraft designations before the first delivery of the F-110A
The F-111 was not technically in the 50s bracket we were focusing on plus I'm not a fan so we skipped it. The F-4 was redesignated before it entered service, therefore we didn't feel it truly counted. We have talked a lot about the Phantom on the pod, especally in our chat with Eileen Bjorkman who was a backseater at Edwards on the F-4.
I don’t know it’s the origin, but Monogram models in the 60s heavily advertised their 100s model kits as “the century series” encouraging people to build them all.
They were NOT un-successful. All groundbreaking in their own right. some served with honor in 'Nam. Led the way to better planes.
Joe's point, which he expands on throughout the video, is from that intial design perspective. Yes, some of them had long careers but it also took a while to work out the quirks. We are big fans of F-105 here and have interviewed Gen Russ Violett about his two tours on the aircraft.
I don’t think they were unsuccessful. The F-100 was outstanding at the beginning of the American involvement in Vietnam. It was moved to other missions and served well for the duration. The F-105 Thunderchief also was a workhorse in Vietnam. The Century series fighters were developed in the 50’s at a time when intercepting Soviet nuclear bombers was the big priority. The fact that they did as well as they did in a completely different kind of war in the mid-60’s in Vietnam is kind of impressive to me.
G'day,
A couple of points.
Vietnam's AmeriKan War was
Fought because Robert MacNamara publicised the mistaken US Navy Midshipman's fear that 2 Dolphins in the Tonkin Gulf
MIGHT Be
"Communist Torpedoes"...;
But
MacNamara and Kissinger then kept the
Updated report - which arrived in Washington, from CINCPAC in Hawaii, 35 minutes later telling that the Not-Torpedoes were actual
Dolphins..., a
Secret which lasted until the release of
The Pentagon Papers in 1971 or '72.
Therefore, thus, and because,
Vietnam fought an
Honest
Honourable
War, defending against an
Invading Nation whose
ENTIRE "justification" for
Launching and waging and making
War..., was a
Dirty filthy transparently fraudulent
Lie.
And so, there was
NOTHING Done by
Anyone who fought for
ANZUS
In Vietnam,
That was in any way, shape, or form,
"Honourable".
Everyone in ANZUS was out there,
Killing Strangers for pay because their own
Politicians pretended that their
"National Honour"
Demanded that SOMEONE had to try not to die,
While living in a
Ditch..., fighting to control a Crossroads - in the
Muddle of nowhere on Earth that anybody in their own Hometown, had ever previously heard of...
Such is life,
Have a good one...
Stay safe.
;-p
Ciao !
Yeah that just made me quit watching, stupid comment
T37 led to better planes.
As you guys forgot the F-110, the ( Original Design Number for what would become the Phantastic F-4 Phantom ) from your "Century Series," How about it's OWN video with all the good , bad and Double Ugly, what some would call a real turkey, but most recognize as the Worlds best Jet fighter for more then 50 years, America at it's finest, when you say Jet Fighter, the F-4 is what comes to mind! And if we were to REALLY split hairs here, you should really do a video on the often forgotten F8U Crusader, the Last Gun Fighter, also a part of the Century series, but it's own special blend of Navy Cool!
As I imply in the introduction, the F-110 didn't really happen as it morphed into the F-4, which is not generally considered to be Century Series. Now, that doesn't mean there isn't a lot of love on the channel for the Phantom (see our interview with Eileen Bjorkman), it just doesn't fit in this discuss. Plus the F-4 is far too big a subject to give justice too when considering all the aircraft we did chat about.
The F110 actually did happen, at least on paper anyway. The USAF tried to call it the F110 and then decided to just go ahead and call their F110 the F4 Phantom like the USN did.
The redesignation was part of the Tri-Service aircraft designation system in 1962 which standardised all US combat aircraft going forward. Based on the F-110 never flew in service and because of that we decided that it didn't count in this discussion. But, it is not that there isn't a lot of love for the F-4 on the channel, as you can see where I hijack my discussion with Eileen Bkorkman to talk all things Phantom at Edwards.
IIRC the inlet had to be on top because otherwise it would interfere with launching the Genie air-to-air nuclear missile.
The F-111 is much loved in Australia as a low level long range bomber. Since it's retirement Australia was left with no long range strike capability.
Austraila made superb use of the F-111. The memory of the aircraft is much less rosy here in the UK where the F-111K cost the Navy her strike carriers and the RAF the TSR-2. Richard Moore's article on the subject in the Winter 2015 issue of Air Power Review is a facinating read.
I'll look it up. It sounds interesting.
That dude is fantastic and really knows his shit
Century Series was a term in use in the late 1950s, while many were still in operation.
F-105 and F-106 being the best at what they were designed to do: low level tactical nuclear delivery and strategic interception respectively.
I also do not remember what the original designation may have been for the A7 and A8 Corsair was. Those may have had a century designation at one point. And there was nothing unsuccessful about them. Although updated in some respect had a flight control system that was used and still as being used in the B1. I don't know why in the world he would think that these were unsuccessful?
The unsuccessful bit was just that, a bit. If we truely thought that, we wouldn't have gotten a Februray sunburn filming them! 🙂 As far I understand, the A-7 and A-8 never had a century designation.
My cousin was a test pilot who almost lost his life doing aileron flutter test on the later extended fuselage F104.
That's the oldest SR-71 that still exists
Video should be titled "All about Wings" as that is what the presenter spends the most time talking about.
There was a small Air Force base where I live while I was growing up (was put in place during the Cuban missile crisis of the early 1960's.) It was originally equipped with F-101's so I was rather disappointed it was skipped over in this video, especially since it set several records when it went into service. The One-O-Wonder and it's Witch Doctors will always have a soft spot in my heart.
The F-106 was a good dog fighter. Also, the first with super cruise.
I always wondered about the 102 and 106 as dogfighters. When I was young I lived on Elmendorf AFB where the resident interceptor squadron flew the 102A. At an airshow one year a local aviator named Red Dodge flew his P-51 in a mock dogfight against a 102 and it really didn't look good for the 102. Of course recips against jets and bullets against air to air missiles isn't really a dogfight but jet against jet looks more like a regional conflict compared to old school fighter battles.
Delta wings lose speed rapidly in manoeuvres, they are stall resistant but the vortices are draggy.