US's Lightning-Proof Super Fast Interceptor

Only Planes
Only Planes
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Published 2024-05-17
The Convair F-106 Delta Dart is often called “the Ultimate Interceptor.” Created in the 1950s as a robust response to the growing threat of attack by Soviet bombers, it soon made its mark at the heart of the United States Air Force’s interceptor fleet.

Nicknamed “The Six,” its revolutionary design included a contoured “coke bottle” shape, delta wings, and highly advanced avionics, making it a fearsome opponent for enemy aircraft day and night, whatever the weather. What’s more, its potent Pratt & Whitney J75 engine boosted the F-106 to the supersonic realm, leading it to break the World Speed Record in 1959.

In its later years, it still stood as a pinnacle of Cold War aerospace engineering and even went on to join the ranks of NASA. Through the 1980s and 90s, it took part in a series of cutting-edge experiments, a fitting end for the remarkable career of “The Six.”
All Comments (21)
  • @barryervin8536
    Some of the footage when talking about the 106 is actually the 102. And one photo is an F101 Voodoo. Also, I think you've got the part about the "Crew escape capsule" wrong. The F-111 had that. The F-106 used 3 different ejection seat designs during it's development but they were all ejection seats, not capsules.
  • @brianmerz6070
    I remember these beauties flying out of Griffiss AFB in Rome,NY. I could hardly wait to see them in the airshows there. What a plane.
  • @robertcombs55
    GREAT Post.....I love your site!!! I am a USAF Brat; remembering the 102 and the 106 at Tyndall AFB FL
  • @rudolfabelin383
    A late friend of mine was the "Group Engineer" for the control systems on the F-106. His name was Björn "Andy" Andréasson, a Swede like me.
  • @user-dz8zn9br7c
    My first and favorite aircraft of my active duty career. Part of the west coast air defense system in the mid 70’s Klamath Falls Oregon. 1973-1975.
  • @scottmurphy650
    The view out of the windscreen was extremely limited. Landing at night and in bad weather must have been a sphincter shrinking event
  • @proteusnz99
    Think you are confusing the F-106 with the B-58. The B-58 did use escape capsules eventually. The early F-106 had a dangerous ejection system, see Jack Broughton’s book, “Rupert Red Two” about these problems.
  • @mcburcke
    I was stationed at Carswell AFB in Texas in the '70s and 80's in a section that recovered and launched aircraft that were just passing through, usually to refuel. I soon learned that the F-106s passing through had a somewhat unique occasional requirement for starting the engine for launch...if the engine didn't start rotating on the first try, all of the pilots carried a little ballpein hammer in the leg pocket of their flight suits, which you would get from the pilot, then open a hinged panel at the right aft of the fuselage by the engine bay, then use the hammer to smack the engine starter housing. Never failed to work...pilot turned the start switch and by golly, engine fires up as advertised! Button up the panel, give the hammer back to the pilot, and marshal the jet out to the taxiway. Job well done!
  • @rick3514
    I worked in NORAD Air Defense Radar Operations at Luke AFB; 26th Air Divison/NORAD REGION for over 4 years, 1976 thru spring of 1980, in weapons control. The F-106 was a vey fast fighter/ interceptor.With one engine it would do Mach 2.34. It also could cary the Genie NUKE and also used DATA LINk from the NORAD computers that guided it to intercept, without talking to a weapons controller.
  • @bradyelich2745
    F-106 ejection seats proved fatal to the early pilots, killing all 12.
  • @KingPantocrator
    Ejecting from an airplane that later on land itself unscathed is a little bit embarrassing
  • @RogerSanGabriel
    I remember these are the tarmac at March AFB in Riverside in the late 1980's
  • @user-ym2ve7be8l
    If the Air Force would've given it anything close to a digital avionics suite, it would've flown until its airframe gave out (rated until 2022.) I second Proteus' point about the ejection system.
  • @prowlus
    The Six never had escape capsules
  • @michelbrown1060
    The f-102 became F-106 following a meeting in NASA of CF-105 team engineers , canada Science engineer, who contested the probable flight caracteristics et A.V.ROE , and NASA top engineer. . . . The 3 days of questions answers, other questions . . It ended by NASA top heads saying : Supersonic is at this time, more of an ART then a science. . You face the same problems as we all do in the industry. . . Your solutions seem very plausible and promising. . . So yes your Arrow is a supersonic capable . . . There were North American engineers in the group. . and they brought in the Coke Bottle , solution to the Bernoulli theory for profiling airflow. . for trans-sonic and super-sonic airplane . to. modify the F-102 . . It changes so much that it became the f-106; a truly superconic controlled airplane. .
  • @dyer2cycle
    I've always loved the look of Delta-wing fighters(and the B-58, too)...I always wondered what the F-106 would have been like had they added a Pratt & Whitney F100 turbofan, modern avionics, and perhaps canards.....