Century Jets

The Century Series fighters were the second generation of US Air Force jet fighters, and the first supersonic fighters to become operational for that service. They epitomized the “faster, higher” philosophy of the expansive American aircraft community in the 1950s, a time when aviation technology was galloping forward at top speed, and new design innovations followed one after another at a rapid pace. Advances in turbojet engine technology made supersonic speeds in level flight a routine matter for the Century Series. This was manifest in the Pratt & Whitney J57, and later the General Electric J79 and Pratt & Whitney J75. It was not just the raw power of the Century Series aircraft that set them apart, it was the parallel advances in radar and avionics technology that would have seemed like science fiction to those who has worked with such systems only a decade earlier. The Century Series was so-named because the “F for Fighter” designations of the aircraft within it coincidentally began with the numeral “100.” The six aircraft which reached operational status included the F-100, F-101, and F-102, which are discussed in detail in Volume 1. The remaining aircraft, the F-104, F-105, and F-106 will be discussed in Volume 2. In addition, there was the F-107, which reached flight test status, but never became operational. The F-103 and F-108 were in development, but never flew. These all rate a separate, though brief, chapter in these volumes.