The “100 Series” as these fighter aircraft were labeled were a succession of Mach II capable fighters who were designed for the purpose of protecting the North American continent from thermo-nuclear war. They would serve in such roles as Bomber Escorts, Interceptors, and air defense combat aircraft. Many of these designs were multi-role and made it difficult for design specialists to meet all possible challenges, especially considering that only wind tunnel tests and slide rules provided the flight data, long before computer assisted design. This was a from of trial end error that, at times, caused fatal crashes.

Those jet fighters who were part of the 100 series were:

• F-100 Super Sabre-Built by North American Aviation
• F 101-Voodoo – Built by McDonnell Aviation
• F-102 Delta Dagger-Built by Convair
• F-104 Starfighter-Built by Lockheed
• F-105 Thunderchief-Built by Republic
• F-106 Delta Dagger – Built by Convair

Each one of these aircraft could exceed Mach 1, were capable of carrying nuclear weapons, and formed the backbone of General Curtis LeMay’s Strategic Air Command, yet all had design flaws that would have to be compensated for, and sadly caused the deaths of many a brave test pilot or combat jockey. Even after their impressive maiden flights, at times, unknown in-flight peculiarities could cause unrecoverable flat spins, nose pitch ups, landing failures, engine stalls, and even compressibility when control surfaces cannot handle the speed and G forces to alter flight characteristics, which back in World War II caused a number of P-38 Lightnings to crash when pilot controls locked up!

https://youtu.be/Q2qqKwndFW0

The first workhorse of SAC command was the F-100 Super Sabre capable of making cross Atlantic flights and infight refueling. It flew thousands of sorties even in Vietnam after being rolled out in 1953 too late to serve in Korea. Only awarded 1 MIG kill and a probable, the F-100 would be relegated to ground attack, and eventually would be handed to the National Guard for domestic air space patrol by 1976. Even flying in the “Wild Weasel” Role, hunting enemy surface to air radar sites, a role that would be taken over the F-4 Phantom II. One deadly flaw in the F-100 was the dreaded “Sabre Dance” when ever the pilot exceeded the envelope of the swept wing flaw, descending for a landing at the wrong angle or taking off at too steep an angle leading to a horrific fiery crash that pilots were too low on altitude to eject safely from, the deadly “Sabre Dance” took effect. Eventually the problem was solved.

The F-102 Delta Dagger was considered a transitionary interceptor used for domestic air defense that proved to be less than satisfactory due to the rate of speed and would soon relegated to the National Guard air units.

The F-101 Voodoo served as a multi-role interceptor and fighter bomber and when introduced was setting a number of speed records. It served primarily as a high-speed reconnaissance aircraft once its role as a B-52 Bomber escort had been considered obsolete! Still, it would have served as a deep penetration bomber using the Genie Nuclear missile deployed from an internal Bombay.

https://youtu.be/eOXMpzTxy6w

I spoke with a former F-101 pilot whose mission was to penetrate Soviet Air Space in the event of WWIII. He would deliver the Genie Nuclear missile, go into a half barrel role, and depart the area in full afterburner to escape the 900 mile per hour shock wave and temperature that would exceed the surface of the sun! However, h told me he was perplexed, thinking his chances of escaping the nuclear blast were minimal if a at all. He worked out some computations with a scientist and found out he probably wouldn’t make it in that scenario! One might recall that the US Air Force were using chimpanzees in flight simulators exposed to a lethal dose of radiation to approximate the conditions of actual war and the effects upon human pilots of flying through radioactive fallout to see how long they could fly after exposure.

The F-101 Voodoo served admirable taking photos over Cuba during the 1962 Missile crisis when Castro was caught importing Soviet nuclear missiles. Much needed film data helped the US military determine the threat! The Voodoo also served in the reconnaissance role over Vietnam when the war became a major regional conflict.

The F-104 Starfighter had an infamous reputation, setting speed and altitude records, with amazing performance, but due to a singular design based upon the speed needed or rate of climb and acceleration in order to intercept Soviet bombers, it was not designed for turning or dogfighting. Legendary test pilot and Ace Combat pilot, Chuck Yeager set an altitude record in the F-104 nearly buying the farm when his Starfighter stalled at 106,000 feet and went into an uncontrollable flat spin! Although Chuck managed to eject, his seat collided with the aircraft wing severing his oxygen hose to his mask catching fire and burning the pilot’s face. In his biography he described the painful procedure of the burn scars being peeled off his face as he recovered from those burns.

The F-104 got a bad reputation from the German Luftwaffe who flew these Starfighters from 1960 in the initial deliveries to May 22, 1991 when the NATO response fighter was relieved of duty. known as the “Widow Maker” by German pilots, of the 900 F-104’s delivered some 234 accidents occurred. After careful evaluation, it was discovered that inadequate training was much of the problem. The F-104 served until 2004 for the Italian air defenses.

To this day the F-104G variant remains a test bed for NASA as a chase plane for experimental flight. This aircraft also served in Vietnam, as well as a Q-104 target craft to test missile accuracy as were all above mentioned 100 series aircraft at the end of their service life.

The F-105 Thunderchief, although loved by its pilots, was nicknamed the “Thud” due to the sound it made after crashing due to Vietnamese surface to air missiles or interception by MIG-21 North Vietnamese pilots. With thousands of pounds of ordnance strapped under the wings along with fuel pods, the Mach 2.25 capable Thunderchief was at a maneuvering disadvantage! It was escorted by the F-4 Phantom II to fend off enemy interceptors. Due to attrition, the fleet of 800 fighter bombers would eventually be phased out. It’s notable that it was the F-105 that took out its first MIG kill before future missions became more critical. One veteran fighter pilot who had flown the F-4 Phantom II, the F-15 Strike Eagle, the F-5 Tiger Shark, which was highly recommended by Brigadier General, Chuck Yeager, as an economical high performance fighter jet, and other planes, said he valued the F-105 beyond all others, saying the Thunderchief would do anything you asked of it and even outrun any aircraft if you had to escape.

The F-106 Delta Dart was not only an incredibly fast interceptor and deep penetration fighter bomber, but many consider it to be the best offensive aircraft against the US cold war enemies. It could be remotely operated and guided to a target in case the pilot lost his nerve or went unconscious while in flight. One F-106 had developed in flight engine trouble during a routine mission causing the pilot to “Punch Out”. The F-106 amazingly continued flying until it ran out of fuel and self-landed in a famer’s field. It was recovered with minimal damage and returned to service.

From the period of the early 1950’s following the Korean War, the 100 series were also accompanied by other formidable aircraft such as the F-8 Crusader, the F-4 Phantom II, the experimental F-109, and the F-117 Rapier which would have been a revolutionary jet even by today’s standards, yet was abandoned never to fly in harm’s way. The Super Crusader also by LTV, was a Mach 3 capable jet fighter and a more powerful version of the F-8 Crusader, but lost in a competition to the F-4 Phantom II in a joint fighter proposal that favored the F-4. The SR-71 Blackbird at Mach 3.1 and probably undisclosed higher speeds would have been rivaled by the Super Crusader, though it could not reach the altitudes that the Blackbird was capable of.

Was is any of this important in today’s world of aviation and air defense? These pioneering fighters, interceptors, and bombers were developed at a time that little if any computer assistance was available, so that trial and error, wind tunnel testing, and slide rule calculations by hand produced impressive, high-performance warplanes predating Stealth fighters and bombers we now have today. They were the brave pioneering platforms that discouraged Soviet first strike intentions and helped to prevent a third world war with Cuba and Russia. Without these first-generation fighter aircraft America would not have had an effective deterrent. The sad reality is that we cannot trust those who if they thought they could get away with bold surprise aggression, would, as we found out after the Pearl Harbor disaster.

General Curtis Lemay, known as "Bombs Away LeMay" but the Russians, architect of modern day western hemisphere  and North American air defenses.