https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_F-100_Super_Sabre
The North American F-100 Super Sabre was an American supersonic jet fighter
aircraft that served with the United States Air Force (USAF) from 1954 to 1971
and with the Air National Guard (ANG) until 1979. The first of the Century
Series of USAF jet fighters, it was the first USAF fighter capable of supersonic
speed in level flight.[citation needed] The F-100 was designed by North American
Aviation as a higher performance follow-on to the F-86 Sabre air superiority
fighter
Adapted as a fighter bomber, the F-100 was supplanted by the Mach two class
F-105 Thunderchief for strike missions over North Vietnam. The F-100 flew
extensively over South Vietnam as the air force's primary close air support jet
until being replaced by the more efficient subsonic LTV A-7 Corsair II.[4] The
F-100 also served in other NATO air forces and with other U.S. allies. In its
later life, it was often referred to as the Hun, a shortened version of "one
hundred".
In January 1951, North American Aviation delivered an unsolicited proposal for a
supersonic day fighter to the United States Air Force. Named Sabre 45 because of
was inspected on 7 July 1951, and after over a hundred modifications, the new
aircraft was accepted as the F-100 on 30 November 1951. Extensive use of
titanium throughout the aircraft was notable.[6] On 3 January 1952, the USAF
ordered two prototypes followed by 23 F-100As in February and an additional 250
F-100As in August.
The YF-100A first flew on 25 May 1953, seven months ahead of schedule. It
reached Mach 1.05 in spite of being fitted with a de-rated XJ57-P-7 engine. The
second prototype flew on 14 October 1953, followed by the first production
F-100A on 9 October 1953. The USAF operational evaluation from November 1953 to
December 1955, found the new fighter to have superior performance but declared
it not ready for wide-scale deployment due to various deficiencies in the
design. These findings were subsequently confirmed during "Project Hot Rod"
operational suitability tests. Particularly troubling was the yaw instability in
certain regimes of flight which produced inertia coupling. The aircraft could
develop a sudden yaw and roll which would happen too fast for the pilot to
correct and would quickly over-stress the aircraft structure to disintegration.
It was under these conditions that North American's chief test pilot, George
Welch, was killed while dive testing an early-production F-100A (s/n 52-5764) on
12 October 1954. Another control problem stemmed from handling characteristics
of the swept wing at high angles of attack. As the aircraft approached stall
speeds, loss of lift on the tips of the wings caused a violent pitch-up. This
particular phenomenon (which could easily be fatal at low altitude where there
was insufficient time to recover) became known as the "Sabre dance".
The F-100A officially entered USAF service on 27 September 1954, with the 479th
Fighter Wing at George AFB, California. By 10 November 1954, the F-100As
suffered six major accidents[7] due to flight instability, structural failures,
and hydraulic system failures, prompting the air force to ground the entire
fleet until February 1955. The 479th finally became operational in September
1955. Due to ongoing problems, the air force began phasing out the F-100A in
1958, with the last aircraft leaving active duty in 1961. By that time, 47
aircraft had been lost in major accidents.[2] Escalating tension due to
construction of the Berlin Wall in August 1961 forced the USAF to recall the
F-100As into active service in early 1962. The aircraft was finally retired in
1970.
General characteristics
Crew: 1
Length: 50 ft (15.2 m)
Wingspan: 38 ft 9 in (11.81 m)
Empty weight: 21,000 lb (9,500 kg)
Loaded weight: 28,847 lb (13,085 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 34,832 lb (15,800 kg)
Dry thrust: 10,200 lbf (45 kN)
Thrust with afterburner: 16,000 lbf (71 kN)
*Zero-lift drag coefficient: 0.0130
Aspect ratio: 3.76
Performance
Maximum speed: 750 kn (864 mph, 1,390 km/h, Mach 1.3)
Range: 1,733 NM (1,995 mi, 3,210 km)
Service ceiling: 50,000 ft (15,000 m)
Rate of climb: 22,400 ft/min (114 m/s)
Thrust/weight: 0.55
Lift-to-drag ratio: 13.9
Armament
Bombs: 7,040 lb (3,190 kg) of weapons, including
Conventional bombs or
Special stores:
Mark 7 nuclear bomb[151][152]or
Mk 28 nuclear bomb[151] or
Mk 38 nuclear bomb[151] or
Mk 43 nuclear bomb[151]
Avionics
Minneapolis-Honeywell MB-3 automatic pilot[151]
AN/AJB-1B low-altitude bombing system[151]
AN/APR-26 rearward radar warning
*
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