September 21, 2009
The “Jaws” of Cold War Fighters
Photo: NASA Dryden Flight Research Center
From the company that brought you the P-51 Mustang, F-86 Sabre, and F-100 Super Sabre came the F-107, North American’s entry in a 1950s Mach 2 fighter-nuclear bomber competition. Though it was based on the F-100 design, evident in the wings, aft fuselage, and tail section, something went seriously wrong with the rest of it: An internal fire control radar in the fuselage necessitated placing the voracious intake just aft of the cockpit. Any pilot considering an ejection would think long and hard before doing so, hence the nickname, “man eater.”
In the end, Republic’s F-105 won out. Two man eaters went to the NACA High-Speed Flight Station (now NASA Dryden, in California); one retired to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Ohio.
One F-107 (serial number 55-5118) has been at the Pima Air Museum in Tucson, Arizona for over 2 decades. The paint scheme on the Pima bird is similar but not identical to the one in the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center photo above.
http://www.pimaair.org/collection-detail.php?cid=209
Comment by Mike Burkholder — September 22, 2009 @ 12:03 am
Mr. Burkholder, thanks for the heads-up. The airplane at Pima was the very first F-107. It reached Mach 1.03 on its first flight on Sept. 10, 1956. But the brake chute failed to deploy on landing, and the nose gear strut broke. SN 55-5118 and SN 55-5120 (pictured) both went to the NACA, where -5120, with Scott Crossfield at the controls, was damaged beyond repair.
Comment by Pat Trenner — September 22, 2009 @ 1:49 pm