F-0340 Convair F-106B First Flight Video

Convair F-106B First Flight Footage from January 1958. From the archives of the San Diego Air and Space Museum www.sandiegoairandspace.org/re... Please do not use for commercial purposes without permission.
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[@lucasmahood1930]

This is the first bird I was trained to maintain. Tech school @ Lowry AFB, Aurora, CO 1965-66. Had one of the fastest climb rates in her day. Not too bad to work on. Those bay doors scared the hell out of everyone who worked on her. They closed in 0.6 seconds w/ 3K psi air. You always made sure the locks were in place when you worked in the bay. In 1966 these birds were at Selfridge AFB, MI, Edwards AFB, CA, Minot AFB, ND, Loring AFB, ME and a host of other US border bases. I later worked on the Phantoms in SE Asia an eventually the SR-71's at Beale AFB,CA and Holliman AFB, NM. Loved working the flight line especially during ORI's and TAC Eval's.

[@0001943]

Thanks Gary for your first hand impressions. I never thought about those bay doors being a hazard!

[@rrhone]

This aircraft shows to have the J75 engine, is this about the same as the J79?

[@MsRayBob]

Scary working in the missle bay when someone in the cockpit taps on the air brakes. Worked on MA-1 at Tyndall 64-67.

[@PlumbNutz]

Thank you for your interesting comments, please tell us more. It's great to hear first-hand from someone who was actually there.

[@stephencannon3140]

james overlie any movable object can be a hazard espionage the ground. Remember if it needed to launch the missile inside the bay it needed to be powerful enough to overcome the aerodynamic forces and still keep the primary mission focused. If it was launching a air-air missile at enemy aircraft the 106 needed to be able to close the bay soors quick and accelerate either to become defensive and or go back to offensive mode to shoot down the opposing aircraft. Of launching a air-ground weapon you wanted to clean up the profile and get away from the target.

[@cloudstreets1396]

This narrator must have been rolling in dough. In the 50’s he narrated informational footage from vacuum cleaners to nuclear bombs to naval vessels. You name it.

[@christopherneufelt8971]

i really enjoy the 4.44 minute where the guy is checking Hydrazine with full suit, and the guy behind him with a carre-shirt. Oh my god!

[@kerschniggle]

Another excellent piece of archival footage, would love to see more! Thanks for posting!

[@natquesenberry6368]

Looks like the American brother of a Mirage 3. We had some beautiful Deltas from Convair.

[@Absaalookemensch]

The A model was the aircraft the went down in history as the Cornfield Bomber: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornfield_Bomber The aircraft became stable after the pilot was forced to eject, eventually landed on it's own in a cornfield, was recovered, repaired and put back in service.

[@BRAIDERMAN]

This aircraft is also known as the Convair 'Delta Dart'.

[@mhos6940]

Love the Six! Saw at least a dozen fly over sometime in 1974 when I was 4 years old.

[@davidefland1985]

I was stationed in San Diego 1996-98. I saw the building General Dynamics was in. Of course long vacated. Someone who worked there said it was a good place to work and a lot of jobs were lost when they left.

[@srhoow]

Looks so simple, aesthetically pleasing and symmetrical yet tears through the sky at Mach 2, my type of bird!!

[@Oldbmwr100rs]

Besides this and the 102, we never really got into full delta wing aircraft, unlike some other makers. I guess the advantages of the design were cancelled out by the problems.

[@Saadbsth]

I dont think asymmetric things fly smoothly

[@bcask61]

Really clean design. Beautiful aircraft.

[@peterterry398]

My friend worked on the MA1 System on the F-106 Delta Dart at Kingsley field,Klamath Falls Oregon,1/71 to 5/71 ....Miss drinking that Boones farm apple wine with you in the barracks !!!! Can't remember your name but you were from New York!!

[@bcask61]

Really clean lines. Always loved the 106.

[@Siren851]

Beautiful, just beautiful!

[@satyalegawa3290]

test pilot is a challenging profession..salute to them..

[@dverespey]

Air National Guard had these in the 70's in Fresno. They are loud with afterburner at take off. Many a school lesson was interrupted waiting for flight to pass over.

[@fxsrider]

I have a padlock with the Convair logo on it. I also have a working key. Got it from General Dynamics while working on the F-16 program.

[@samsignorelli]

Did you ever work with an engineer -- probably a project manager at the time -- named Frank Signorelli on the 16? Would've been at ione of the San Diego facilities (mostly Lindbergh).

[@Karl-Benny]

The SAAB Draken broke the sound barrier on its first flight while climbing Accidentaly

[@sammysouth8372]

there is nice one at my last duty station McChord AFB. I still live nearby.

[@allgood6760]

Nice!.. like a dart 👍✈️

[@67tomcat]

First of the "weapon system" aircraft. Very advanced aircraft for the time. And of course, beautiful as well.

[@leonardhaddrill8842]

Narrated by Jim Phelps MIF.. A most distinguished voice..

[@davidefland1985]

The F-106 held the speed record at one time

[@MrLuvOldies]

Thanks. Great Delta Wing Jet Fighter---Convair F-106 Delta Dart. A Very Beautiful Airplane also.Mmmmmmmm

[@charlesbiggers1067]

Worked on tail 151 Tyndall FL Ma-1 1977-1980

[@junglized]

It looks like saying cockpit visibility was poor would be a huge overstatement.

[@SPak-rt2gb]

Surprised they didn't have the side by side seating like in the F-102.

[@Slickgoodlin]

Does anybody know what kind of flight helmet the pilot is wearing around the 5:10 mark ? I have been a lifelong military aircraft buff and have never seen anything like it. It appears to be similar to a modern full face racing helmet.

[@koho28]

0:32 - what's the fighter second to the left? Sporting intakes similar to A-6?

[@johannbezuidenhout2976]

TF-102A apparently. "The TF-102A had a wider forward fuselage that seated two crew members in a side-by-side configuration." First time I've seen one.

[@0001943]

Wonder if the pilots ended up crosseyed!

[@tytewire]

Was this not the odd bird whose dual seat version (trainer) was actually faster than the single seat model?

[@0001943]

I think you are thinking of the Lockheed F-80/ T-33 where the two seater was better looking too where this F-106B looked odd.

[@craigw1379]

Sexy machine. Shame the golden days of aircraft design are behind us.

[@johnklar5131]

Sexy? I guess there is room for any desires but I prefer women.

[@davidschwartz5127]

F-106 B, has that similar look of the B-58, Hustler my all-time favorite jet bomber and the sexist jet aircraft plane ever built in my opinion.

[@kyle857]

The F22 looks so much better

[@michaelvrooman5681]

And no computor aided designs back then. This was designed from a drawing board

[@scottfw7169]

F-106, still sexy after all these years.

[@oc999567834]

Oh yea DEATH is so sexy

[@scottfw7169]

@@oc999567834 Death is mandated by God; sexy is a user-supplied option.

[@Hattonbank]

F-104/5/6 all sexy!

[@WarblesOnALot]

@@Hattonbank G'day, So, do you stick your Prong up the Jet Exhaust Orofice, or down the Air Intake ? If ANY Aeroplane causes you to become sexually excited, then you require URGENT Involuntary Admission to the Acute Psychiatric Assessment Ward, at your geographically nearest Lunatic Asylum. Good luck, with your scheduled Leucotomy (Lobotomy). Such is Life. Stay safe. ;-p Ciao !

[@Hattonbank]

@@oc999567834 I do not believe that any F-106 has been involved in a hostlie engagement, so in that respect it has not caused any intentional harm or deaths.

[@Grahamgusbull]

Was it any good?

[@jetvette66]

Just truck it in!

[@givemepizzaorgivemedeath3983]

the hum is very pleasant.

[@justforever96]

"the F-106 is appreciably faster" Yeah, like twice as fast 😅. I guess that was still classified info at that point. I notice they don't give any actual specifications anywhere in the video. So technical in some ways, but without actually giving any kind of detailed info at all, just right rough comparisons with the F-102. Both jets are way underappreciated, but the F-102 in particular doesn't get enough credit for how good a jet it was.

[@artileriu]

this plane looks like sr71

[@wst8340]

Fast as he,.ll.

[@ufoengines]

Dr Lippisch ?

[@samsignorelli]

Y'know....I never thought to ask my father -- a Convair engineer -- if he ever worked with Dr. Lippisch. After the alzheimer's hit, it was far too late (and Dad's gone now). Also....HOW in the hell could the 102 . 106. B-58, and Sea Dart drivers see where they were going with that spar right down the center line of the windshield? I was on the restoration crew of the Sea Dart in San Diego when I was in high school, and I remember sitting in the cockpit, the canopy being lowered, and being stunned at the lack of visibility between the center spar and the angle of the front windshield panels.

[@bigtime9597]

@@samsignorelli The answer to your question is actually really simple. Even before a student pilot steps into the cockpit of any aircraft, they're trained to fly via their instruments, for various reasons such as time of day and weather. The general lesson was "your eyes lie, your instruments do not". As long as you've got a working radar, altimeter, and heading indicator, you'll know where you're going.

[@drpsionic]

The Century Series gets a bad rap because it was never used in the role the aircraft were designed for, destroying Soviet bombers before they could reach continental US airspace. When they were used in Vietnam it was in roles they were not designed for and that is why they largely failed.

[@justforever96]

The F-105 was not designed as an interceptor, and I wasnt aware that anyone claimed they "failed". The closest thing to it was the F-104 and that served for decades. The F-100 was an air superiority fighter and did great as a strike fighter in Vietnam. Served in the US for decades to. The 102 wasn't as good as they hoped but it also served for decades in the US. The only time it failed at all was in Vietnam and that wasn't really a failure, it just wasn't as good as some of the other options. The F-104 we did. The F-105 wasn't an interceptor, it was a deep penetration strike jet. The F-106 only served in the US as in interceptor and was absolutely successful in the role. And the F-110, also called the F-4 was a phenomenal success in all areas. So only two of them come close to fitting your description and one of those wasn't an interceptor, although it was used in a different role than it was designed for. And they didn't so much as suffer from the limitations of the technology of the era.

[@thetreblerebel]

Best "interceptor" ever made. Could get to the bombers and wipe them out over the arctic

[@waldothegreat100]

Best interceptor was the F-14 Tomcat. Never made for air to air combat as in Top Gun. Could intercept 6 bogies at one time. Was designed for fleet defense.

[@CRAZYHORSE19682003]

@@waldothegreat100 You would be incorrect. The F-14 was designed from the beginning with the lessons learned from Vietnam. It was one of the most maneuverable 4th gen fighters. It was also designed for fleet defense but to say that close in ACM was not part of the design is simply not true.

[@MikeBrown-ex9nh]

Beautiful airplane. Sometimes we forget the really cool stuff being invented back then.

[@jwagner1993]

underrated fantastic aircraft. way superior to Mirage III

[@Hattonbank]

Superior? But the Mirage is still in service with many air forces having first entered service in 1960. It was developed as an air to air, air to ground, recce, nuclear strike and built in huge numbers compared to the 106 I have always loved the 106, clean, elegant and fast with good weapons and systems but the Mirage, though less sexy has proved to be better all round

[@timbermicka]

Only as an interceptor, and interception was the F-106's only task: it was a one trick pony, and was never used by the US during their many wars. Similar but older F-102s were deployed in Vietnam on fighter-escort missions though and they performed poorly in that role. On the other hand the Mirage III is a multirole aircraft: it is at the same time an interceptor, an air fighter, a ground attacker, a bomber and a reconnaissance platform. As the previous reply noted, variants of the Mirage III are still in service 60 years after its first flight, while the F-106 is long retired. The Mirage 2000, essentially a heavily redesigned Mirage III, is the only plane to have downed a F-16.

[@thetreblerebel]

So sexy is this Delta birds takeoff

[@holton345]

At 1:04 we clearly see Lamont Sanford making a junk run for his Pop.

[@dalecomer5951]

The F-106 was the most successful of the so-called "Century Series" of USAF fighters. Most of the others were just expensive experiments so aeronautical engineers could learn how to design truly capable jet fighters.

[@thewatcher5271]

I Have Always Been A Fan Of The F-106 But One Might Argue That The F-105 Was The Most Successful Of The Century Series . . .

[@CRAZYHORSE19682003]

I disagree sir, the F-105 was the most successful at getting shot down. The F-104 was most successful in killing its pilots in flight accidents.

[@PointyTailofSatan]

And yet, the US has not had a real interceptor since. Seems so dumb considering areas like Alaska, where an interceptor would be ideal.

[@CRAZYHORSE19682003]

The F-15 can do the job. As technology advanced dedicated interceptors became obsolete. The F-14 although a highly maneuverable fighter was also the greatest interceptor ever in service.

[@justjames9775]

If I was a billionaire.............

[@bestamerica]

' come on american company... american company can makeing many better F-106 airplanes with better smart computers / better jetmotors / better faster and longer range... F-106 is almost same as SR-71 on the top nose cone

[@uberkloden]

Man killer, utter crap, same with 102 and B58

[@uberkloden]

Great plane, Bomber, B-52, with standoff cruise missles, WartHOG, Great fighters, F5, F20,(killed by lobbyists) F16, F15,F86, Fury, F-18. B58, F102,F106, They were pushed through by lobbyists stuffing $1000 bills in the pockets of US Generals, and USCongressmen. utter crap. Gotta give a perk to the F102 though, F102 pilot GW Bush, was able to shirk his Vietnam DUTY, flying hungover, for the TEXAS NATIONAL GUARD.

[@foxonesplash]

+Fred Taylor It was used as an interceptor with NORAD for about thirty years. It had a speed of over 1400 mph.

[@Oldbmwr100rs]

Few children of the wealthy or politicians ever saw real dangerous duty if any at all. Many went off to universities in order to skip the draft.

[@toadman506]

Yet the F-106 was used by various state ANG Units until the late 80s, and REGULARLY took Gunnery trophies at William Tell every year.

[@toomanyhobbies2011]

Clueless child.