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North American F-100 Super Sabre
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Thumbnail Index
- North American F-100 Super Sabre: The world's first supersonic fighter.
- Mike2416: SN: N416FS and N416FS returning from Deci. over the Italian Alps. Circa 1999.
- 2xdeci: SN: N416FS and N419FS over the south coast of Sardinia on the way to Deci. Circa 2000.
- 416: N416FS over the village of Villichedro (spelling) just north west of Deci. Circa 1999.
- 419: N419FS with DOSK10 dart heading to the North Sea range. Circa 1993
- F100WTM2: N417FS outside our hangar at Wittmund waiting to go. Circa 2000
- Towing targets with F-100s out of Wittmund Germany the paint color is white with a blue strip down the side of the fuselage. Here is a beautiful picture taken by an avionics tech on a maintenance trip.
- F-100Cs of the Thunderbird Flight Demostration Team.
"Progenitor of the U.S. Air Force Century Series of fighters, North American's F-100 Super Sabre was so far advanced beyond any exiting fighting plane that it was truly a fore runner of a new generation of war planes. It was the world's first production supersonic airplane and was designed from the outset to operate at speeds above Mach 1 for sustained periods. However, the technical advance which produced the F-100 also fringed on an unknown area of supersonic flight. Consequently, the Super Sabre became a victim of unexpected areodynamic phenomena which were to have an effect on the design of all subsequent fighters.
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"Deliveries to Air Force squadrons had begun in September 1954, when several of the new fighters crashed for unknown reasons. As a result, the F-100s were grounded on November 11, 1954, while an intensive study was made to determine the cause. It was found that when the Super Sabre was rolled, the long fuselage with its weight evenly distributed , caused the plane to pitch up and down and simultaneously sway from side to side. Normally, the vertical tail compensated for this movement; but under certain conditions the forces were too great for the tail surfaces to correct, leading to the complete loss of control. to correct this condition, the vertical area was increased by 27 percent and the wingspan was increased by 26 inches. Following these modifications, the planes were restor4ed to flying status and began a long and successful career with the U.S. Air Force and several foreign air arms."
--Parapharsed from U.S. FIGHTERS by Lloyd S. Jones, 1975
- Contractor: North American Aviation, Inc.
- Type: fighter-bomber
- Power Plant: Pratt & Whitney J57-P-21A turbojet
- Thrust: 17,000 pounds
- Length: 47 feet
- Height: 15 feet
- Wingspan: 38 feet 9 inches
- Weight: 34,832 lbs
- Speed: 864 mph at 35,000 feet
- Range: 1,500 miles
- Ceiling: 45,015 feet
- Crew: one
- Armament: four 20mm cannon; 7,500 lbs external stores
- Date Deployed: Circa 1956
The first F-100F was a C model that was converted to a F model and first flew in August 1956 as aircraft serial number F100C-20 NA 54-1966 which later crashed. Alvin White was the pilot of the first flight of TF100C 54-1966 which was the first two seat prototype. The aircraft crashed on a later flight but pilot unknown to us. The first actual F-100F was S/N 56-3725 which flew on 7 March 1957 and was flown by NAA Gage Mace.
A total of 339 F models were manufactured. The maximum external stores on the F was 5000 lbs and the D carried a maximum 7040 lbs. Maximum speed was 760 Knots with a cruising speed 540 knots. With 450 gallons tanks the cruising range was 1661 miles. With 335 gallon tanks range was about the same. The 335 tanks were originally 275 gallons; however, they could not be refueled in flight. When they were modified to 335 gallon inflight refueling tanks around 1962, 450 gallon tanks were scrapped.
The F-100 overseas used 275 and 200 gallon drop tanks up till about early 1965 but the aircraft was somewhat unstable with the 200 on the inboard stations yet we pulled Victor Alert with these for quite sometime with a Mark V11 on the center line station. Also, the F model had only 2 guns instead of the 4 that the D model had. The D model for some reason was a tad bit faster then the F probably because the fuselage was more streamlined.
In 1965, four crews flying modified F-100F Super Sabres carry out the first Wild Weasel radar suppression mission near the North Vietnam boarder.
--A tip of the Ol'Kunnel's beanie to Larry for providing this information.
Check out his web site -- Click Here!
--A tip of the Ol'Kunnel's beanie to Larry for providing this personal history.
My aircraft F100F 56-3837 that I crewed during the cold war and pulled Victor Alert with flew as a Misty Fac in Viet Nam from 1969 out of the 416 TFS Phu Cat. Here is a photo of it taken in Libya N. Africa in 1961 and also a photo of it shown at Davis Monthan as a QF Drone.sitting in the desert. The last photo [not shown here - OK] shows it dismantled as I was able to save it from being turned into a soda can. It now awaits shipment to Wright Patterson AFB Museum for restoration and display as a Misty Fac survivor. It would already be there if 9/11 had not happen as it was ready for airlift on 15 Oct 2001 and is still waiting for a C5 airlift.
The History of the aircraft is as follows:
- Manufacturer: N. American Aviation 1957
- Delivered to USAF 1958 or late 57
- Luke or William's ATC can not remember which base but it was one or the other
- 481 TFS 27 TFW Cannon AFB N.Mexico 1960 to ?
- 416 TFS Misty Fac 1969 to 1970
- Returned to USA by the 35 TFW Phan Rang 1971
- 1971 to 1979 Indiana ANG Baer Field
- 1979 Davis Monthan AFB Storage
- 1990 Oct to Movja for conversion to QF Drone and then to Tyndall. For some reason it was rejected and the conversion was not completed.
- 26 Feb 1991 returned to Davis Monthan for storage
- 20 Aug 2001 dismantled for shipment to Wright Patterson for restoration
- 15 Oct 2001 completely dismantled awaiting air lift
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09:21 9/15/2002
The last 4 remaining F100Fs are returning to the USA from Wittmund, Germany in June. They are presently owned by Tractor Flight Systems and will be landing at Mojave, California some time during the month of June if all goes well. Other than the two presently flying in the USA, these are the only other F models that are flyable along with one C model and possibly one D model. All others are museum pieces and are either gutted or stripped and nothing but shells. --As reported by Larry...
13:33 4/12/2002
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