The Convair F-106 Delta Dart: The Ultimate Interceptor

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[@megaprojects9649]

Receive an Amazing New Player Pack, only available for the next 30 days! Play Conflict of Nations for FREE on PC or Mobile 💥 con.onelink.me/kZW6/Megaprojects2022

[@pickeljarsforhillary102]

Is it true that Simon is actually the beard who is just attached to some random guy?

[@BoleDaPole]

Wow thanks for this amazing deal! Just bought the 100$ pack to support the channel, i know every dollar counts for these small channels. wish me luck!

[@tonywilson4713]

If you're going to claim to be anything resembling a serious journalist or serious short documentary producer *THEN STOP THE IDIOTIC TITLES.* If you'd called it the last true interceptor or last purpose built interceptor fine. Calling a plane that never saw combat the "ultimate" is pathetically bloviate. Yeah, a word, that came up in one of Tucker Carlson's judgements. Basically the judge said Tucker "blows" and if Tucker doesn't like it then his legal team lied to the court.

[@Maven0666]

You should definitely do more aircraft videos because they’re interesting to learn about and no two are ever exactly alike.

[@tonywilson4713]

@@Maven0666 There's far better channels than this clown for aircraft video's. Try Ed Nash for starters.

[@mtacoustic1]

Interesting footnotes for the 'cornfield bomber' incident: After its pilotless landing, the 6's engine continued to run, pushing it several hundred feet towards an alarmed farmer's ranch buildings until it ran out of fuel. Then, after the F-106 was recovered and repaired, the original pilot flew it again; making it the only single-seat aircraft that was flown again by the pilot that bailed out of it!

[@andersjjensen]

I hope the farmer was given a few Valiums at Uncle Sam's expense. Back then counselling was probably not even a thing.

[@paoloviti6156]

I know this story from a magazine published years ago! I do remember that the pilot that bailed out never had lived down this story, Lol! Luckily nothing happened to the pilot and encredibly, although with minor scratches, went back to service!

[@RCAvhstape]

I'm trying to imagine this jet beast screaming as it crawls through the mud towards my house. Anxiety much? Also, I wonder if the pilot's call sign was changed to something like "Punchout" after that lol.

[@jayjohnson8353]

It should have been called the wheat field fighter but whatever

[@Lndmk227]

Imagine the bizarre but terrifying sight of a belly-landed Air Force fighter, clawing its way along the ground right towards you, engines still screaming bloody murder as it tries to run you down. Funny now, sure, but I'm guessing the farmer probably had nightmares about being chased by F-106s for a while after that.

[@garyodle5663]

The F-106 Delta Dart was a fantastic interceptor. I used to control them when I was a Weapons Controller in the Air Force back in the 1970's and am very familiar with its performance. It's optimum cruise speed at optimum altitude was Mach .93 at 37,000 feet. It could cruise faster than the speed of sound without using afterburner. It had a display map in the cockpit that allowed the pilot to have excellent situation awareness. It could be controlled by the Weapons Controller via data link which allowed it to be literally flown by the controller at the radar scope while the pilot focused on operating the aircraft's onboard radar and weapons systems. It had really long legs, which allowed us to fight the battle far from home, plus it could be refueled in the air. It was a wonderful, wonderful aircraft for the air defense mission.

[@f-106deltadart]

Thank you,you shall be spared

[@ethandearman3965]

I'm still upset that no simulators or games in general include this aircraft

[@gatch45]

Hi, is the vertical frame in front of the canopy a problem with the pilot's visuals?

[@geemanbmw]

Thank you for your service G man 🇺🇸👍🏼

[@sinistersilverado965]

USAF veteran here too. I was a ROCC tech, are you the guy that called me a said the time was off on the system? When I asked why you thought the time was off you said because you called the bank's time number. When I tried to explain we were synced with the Naval Observatory's Nuclear Clock you didn't understand

[@thefrecklepuny]

The F-106 is one of the most handsome fighters ever built. Very clean lines.

[@dave_h_8742]

Is that the same shape as the Javalin?

[@thefrecklepuny]

@@dave_h_8742 If you mean the Gloster Javelin, then the fact they both are deltas is the mainl thing they have in common. The F-106 was a Mach 2.35 fighter. The Javelin could barely pass Mach 1.0. The F-106 was very, very sleek. The Javelin as a lot chunkier, with a much thicker wing. A lot draggier altogether. Plus, the F-106 was a sing seat, single engine type whilst the Javelin was a two seat, twin engined machine.

[@f-106deltadart]

Thanks

[@wtstfire]

Yes Sir, Buddy. 6's are the HANDSOMEST airplane ever built or flown. And they kicked a*s too.

[@md11hud]

My dad was flying F-106’s at Castle AFB in Californian when I was born. He still has his flying boots with the stirrups that were attached to the seat by cables and would suck your legs in during ejection. Unfortunately the seats were not very reliable back then and he lost several squadron mates to accidents. When I was an ROTC cadet going through the Third Lieutenant Program at McChord 20 years later, they were still flying the F-106 with the 318th FIS. Although I didn’t get a 6 ride, I got to fly along side of them in a T-33 acting as a radar target over the ocean. While I was there the squadron got a visit from weapons school instructors from Nellis in F-15 Eagles as the squadron would soon be transitioning from the 6 to the 15. I went on to fly the Eagle in Germany at Bitburg after getting my wings.

[@connavorx17]

My grandpa on my dad side was also stationed there. He was in the 456th interceptor squadron near 1968 f-106A's

[@bierce716]

You left out the most important modification that turned the 102 into the 106- applying "area rule" to the fuselage, the famous "coke bottle" shape. It dramatically reduced drag, increasing both speed and range.

[@gilbertponder5307]

Operational F-102s were equipped with the area rule "wasp waist", and in fact that redesign was necessary for them to even go supersonic.

[@alexander1485]

He didnt do enough research or one of his helpers either

[@T.E.S.S.]

@don s lol

[@BigDickMark]

@@alexander1485 Yup. IDK, I should stop watching his vids. there are better aircraft channels.

[@jamespmullin21753]

The F102 Delta Dagger went about half as fast as the F106 Delta Dart. Big difference.

[@jeralddunn3782]

I was once stationed at Loring Air Force Base in northern Maine where we had a f-106 unit. One day I witnessed 16 of the 16 airplanes they had fly low over our base. They had returned from Canada where they had flown over another NORAD base. The Canadians paid them back with their own low flyby over our base in the f-101 voodoo. 16 of them not to be outdone by The Americans. It was impressive, both flybys. The f-106 was my favorite

[@blowmeyotbweknowugoodfklit2549]

That's cool I lived across the border in New Brunswick seen all kinds of stuff because on the otherslde of our province was Chatham air force base got to see some planes moving at high rates of speed chasing each other canada had the Voodoo.

[@jflatley38]

My grandfather was there from 59 to 63. 27th FIS.

[@jeralddunn3782]

@@jflatley38 27th FIS was there when I was at Loring

[@jflatley38]

@@jeralddunn3782 awesome!!!

[@lindeleasley]

49th FIS (Griffiss AFB, Rome, NY) from 77 to 85. I had the pleasure to work the radar system (Weapons Control System) of the Six.

[@michaelpipkin9942]

You GOTTA do the F-15 Eagle. Please. The beast definitely deserves a spot.

[@tylerhyvonen8036]

F-15c, the goat!

[@f-106deltadart]

The F-15 sucks

[@edin5317]

@@f-106deltadart literally the best air superiority fighter after the f22 and no contest

[@stevend1325]

Dude the 106 is a very nice plane but for you to say it's better the the f-15, you instantly have zero credibility lmo.

[@blue387]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/ppisaJ16mZybrdk

[@28ebdh3udnav]

The F-106, a fighter that never got the full appreciation it deserves

[@lancerevell5979]

Convair had plans on the drawing board for advanced versions, bigger radar and canards on the intakes, like the Israeli Kfir. Sadly never adopted.

[@jacobmccandles1767]

​@@lancerevell5979that IS sad. The fuel and lift provided by a slightly thicker wing, mught have made the Six-shooter a fantastic Fighter Bomber, the likes of which we wouldn't see until The F-15E.

[@cdstoc]

I always loved the F-106. I'm surprised no mention was made of the addition of area rule to the design of the F-106, it was a big part of the reason it was faster than the F-102. They actually were in Vietnam for some evaluation against other fighter types, but as mentioned they could not carry the ground-attach weapons that the F-4 could. If you really want some detail about the flight characteristics then visit F-106 pilot Bruce Gordon's channel.

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

I was wondering about the _area rule_ thing myself.

[@RCAvhstape]

@don s Bruce tells some great stories about dogfighting F-104s and F-4s in the F-106, and how a good pilot could beat either of them. He also tells a great story about shooting down a BOMARC supersonic missile with a AIM-4 in a supersonic head-on pass over the Gulf of Mexico, pretty thrilling stuff.

[@83zillafan]

but the area rule was also applied to the F-102 when it entered service. it was the prototype that could barely go supersonic which warranted redesign incorporating the area rule for the next 'A' variant prototypes and the production models.

[@lancerevell5979]

The F-102's "area rule" was applied via the left and right bulges either side of the exhaust. Not fully efficient. The Six had the area rule incorporated into it's core design.

[@83zillafan]

@@lancerevell5979 still area rule nonetheless.

[@beefgoat80]

My father flew the F-106 in the Florida Air National Guard. He liked to tell stories of playing "grab-ass" with Migs around Cuba.

[@Inari007]

LOL I guarded the F-106's at Homestead AFB until they retired them. Probably saw your father there!

[@beefgoat80]

@@Inari007 his name was Wallace, not gonna say the last name for internet reasons lol. From what I understand, he was a bit of a troublemaker. 🤣🤣

[@guaporeturns9472]

@@beefgoat80Oh yeah , I remember ole Wallace. We used to call him “Wallace the woman” because of his fondness of dressing up in drag and kissing all the pilots.😂 I miss him. 💋

[@lancerevell5979]

I was an avionics tech on the F-106A/B, as well as the F-101B Voodoo and T-33A trainer, at Tyndall AFB, Fl. in the late 1970s. Tyndall was an ADC training base for interceptor pilots, and was the ADWC or Air Defense Weapon Center, where a lot of things were tested. Including the 20mm Vulcan gun pod. We had two planes carrying it during my time there, including tail number 795 which is seen a couple times in this video. The Six Shooter program was successful, though the gun pods, which reached operational service were rarely carried The internal mod, including the ammo magazine, replaced the Genie nuclear tipped rocket. All four Falcon missiles were still carried in the weapons bay. The Falcons worked well in the Six, though were not successfull when adapted to the USAF F-4 Phantom II. The F-4's fire control just wasn't compatible. So the USAF F-4 got the Sidewinders like the Navy Phantoms. The F-106 had a data link with the SAGE controllers, and could actually fly the entire intercept on ground control, the pilot only doing the take-off and landing..... but what fun is that for the pilot? The Six's pilots loved it. It was a bit of a maintenance nightmare, the way so many systems were integrated. Many have now been expended as QF-106 target drones. Sad end for me a fine thoroughbred airplane. The F-106A still holds the official speed record of 1,525MPH for the fastest single engine jet aircraft, set in 1959!

[@VernonBrumley]

I ETS at Tyndall in 73. The 106's were not my favorite. I favored the F101's as an Avionics Tech.

[@larry648]

I was stationed at K.I. Sawyer in ‘85 when the 87FIS stepped down. I loved those birds. The Red Bulls. We did have the New Jersey ANG keep coming by to train until ‘88 when the last of the Sixes were finally taken out of service.

[@carlmarburger7513]

As a kid, I remember 106s heading for the coast from the 144th out of Fresno Air Terminal. They would routinely break the sound barrier over the city before that was prohibited. They were loud and fast. I always stopped and watched them go over.

[@penzlic]

Either knowingly or not, Delta dagger, dart and Mirage III are planes drawn by all aircraft obsessed kids around the world since 1950's . There is something about delta wings that naturally makes plane goes faster in childs mind.

[@paulm749]

You could put the Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow in the same category. It's a shame they killed that project.

[@nickbayer7847]

💯

[@donise8406]

I remember as a kid in the 50's it was one of my favorite aircragt to "draw"

[@ApolloVIIIYouAreGoForTLI]

I gues delta wings similar to the Ferrari F40s spoiler in that sense then..

[@winternow2242]

It was easier to draw. For me anyway....

[@EvanDunville]

There is an F-106 on display in Stephenville Newfoundland. The town had a US military base during the cold war and the US often comes back for air shows. The story was that the F-106 came for one of the air shows but had a breakdown while there and it was given to the town instead of being repaired or moved.

[@grapeshot]

I have a good friend that used to work on electronics of the f-106 he told me all about the genie nuclear rocket. His squadron operated along the east coast and he told me in the 80s that they would escort those Russian bear bomber who were flying down the East Coast on their way to Cuba, if they got too close to the United States they would scramble and escort them until they got out of American airspace.

[@jflatley38]

Do you know which squadron by any chance? My grandpa was in the 27th out of Loring AFB.

[@grapeshot]

@@jflatley38 I believe it was either in Virginia or Maryland and he told me they would go down to Panama City Florida to train a lot.

[@mikekendzierski6349]

They weren't actually in US airspace. Many countries including the US have what is known as an ADIZ (Air Defense Identification Zone), typically this zone extends 200nm from the border, once an unidentified aircraft enters that zone fighters will scramble, intercept, and identify the aircraft in question. Normally Russian aircraft coming down the East Coast toward Cuba would be intercepted by Canadian fighters, then at a point the US would pick up the escort of the plane, the plane would be handed off to another set of fighters and then another until it entered Cuban airspace.

[@grapeshot]

@@mikekendzierski6349 In US airspace or not. I'm going to go with my friend he said to me that they come very close enough to be considered in American airspace so they scrambled our jets.

[@lancerevell5979]

@@grapeshot I worked avionics on the F-106 at Tyndall AFB, Panama City, Fl. from 1976 to 1980. We hosted the William Tell weapons meet every two years. I got to see the 1978 meet. We had F-106, F-101 and F-4 Phantom II squadrons come down. Great fun!

[@_shannanigans_]

My mom was the crew chief for the Six when it was rotated out for the Eagle at Langley. Her crew received the one of the first Combat ready 15's in the USAF. She always said the Eagle was a beautiful beast, but the Six was just plain gorgeous.

[@ignitionfrn2223]

2:30 - Chapter 1 - Development 7:05 - Chapter 2 - Specifications 8:35 - Chapter 3 - Ejection seats 10:00 - Chapter 4 - F106 in service 11:35 - Chapter 5 - Bears, badgers & bison 12:50 - Chapter 6 - F106 Milestones 13:40 - Chapter 7 - Drone conversion & retirement

[@Cheka__]

Very nice of you 😁

[@BoleDaPole]

Bruh you skipped the advertisement. How else will youtubers eat??

[@toddjohnson5692]

We often had delta darts flying over when I lived in Spokane WA. Fairchild AFB was then a SAC base with B-52s. The delta darts weren't around all the time but were fun to see.

[@mikekendzierski6349]

McChord AFB had a squadron of 106s.

[@lewiscole5193]

The 498th Fighter Interceptor Squadron of F-106s at Gieger AFB supposedly reached "initial operational capability" in October, 1959. Gieger was closed in 1963.

[@bobgehrls8538]

I had the pleasure to be in the 87th Red Bulls, Marquette MI, 76-80. I worked on the MA-1 radar/computer/ir/weapons control system. It weighed 2200 pounds for the system. A beautiful plane on the ground sitting and a beautiful plane to watch take off, especially at night with the afterburners flaming.

[@mr.pavone9719]

The F-106 couldn't have been that bad. It took 2 of the most awesome planes ever to replace it.

[@ReverendMeat51]

My dad flew these during the cold war, among other planes including the 100 in Vietnam, but the 106 was easily his favorite

[@Kevin_747]

When I was a young man there was F-106's based at Richards-Gebaur Air Force base near my home. They had ready/alert hangars on the north end of the base that you could see driving by the north end of the base. They were huge Quonset Hut style hangars and they were there many years after the base was abandoned.

[@neilbodwell9172]

Great video. My grandfather worked for convair for a lot of years. Years after he passed I was looking at the Dagger/Dart in a book and my grandmother said "oh I remember one of the test flights of those, your grandfather called home and said I should go out on the porch and watch.

[@65TossTrap]

Thank you for this wonderful presentation. I would argue that the F-106s did engage in combat in Korea in 1968-1969, during the Pueblo Crisis. Once the 106's pointed their planes towards the Mig-21s, the Migs broke off.

[@tigertrap2269]

I was stationed at K.I. Sawyer from 82 - 86 and we had the 87th Fighter Interceptor Squadron flying F-106's there. They were a fast and durable plane. We had one come in to land with a malfunctioning nose wheel that didn't want to come down. The pilot flying it did an outstanding job of landing it.....bringing the nose down slowly at the very last moment. A write-up in the base newsletter said that, aside from the mildly scraped up sheet metal, nothing else was damaged.

[@RCaIabraro]

As usual, Mr. Whistler provides the curious viewer with an accessible, succinct, well-rounded overview of a military aircraft model.

[@ethannaftalin2395]

Not quite sure this would be a Mega-Project, but you should do an episode on the Fletcher class Destroyer, the most produced American Destroyer in history.

[@ApolloVIIIYouAreGoForTLI]

Oh no that’s fine.. Bewteen viewers suggesting interesting subjects that are at best, a Kilo project, Simon & friends are pretty loose on requirements… Is it’s a cool event/car/period in Soviet history/unclassified stain on one or all of The US’ intel agencies ? Then it’s a mega project. Naturally some complain but aviation/war history content can brings a certain type or commenter out for us to roll our eyes at.

[@ApolloVIIIYouAreGoForTLI]

Also I think he has…. Is that the WW2 one that was designed to be pumped out in a day or two?

[@ethannaftalin2395]

@@ApolloVIIIYouAreGoForTLI I checked. I haven't found a video on it.

[@3108frank1]

I was a jet engine mechanic on the F-106 at Malmstrom AFB where the cornfield bomber was stationed with the 71st FIS. I was TDY on Okinawa with an F-106 unit from Dover when that incident took place. The jet shop was on Okinawa and the planes were in Korea. I remember being told about this when I was overe there. There was nothing like the sound of a 6 lighting the afterburner and taking off. It shook the whole base.

[@kkloikok]

The mission: Go fast as fuck.

[@mikekendzierski6349]

I worked the F-106 from March 1983 to May 1985 in the 5th FIS at Minot AFB. To this day it is still my favorite aircraft and I was working A-10s when I retired in 2003.

[@danlemke6407]

I was a jet mech on the 6 at Minot from 74-77. Lived in the old WW2 barracks and loved seeing the 6 fly. When they would FCF the plane and you got the right pilot, he would keep it on the deck to build up speed, then pull back, and shoot her straight up into the sky. It was awesome. In the summer I would lay on the wing where the fuel was to cool off, and in the winter, you could crawl into the afterburner of a recently parked 6 and get warm. I only did that once. Balls 10 (0010) ran off the runway, poked the gear through the wing and what saved him was it had wing tanks on and that is what it rode on instead of ground looping.

[@tompantle3884]

My OIC in the Air Force was an ex-106 pilot. He called it "The Cadillac of Interceptors". He transitioned to F-4's, which he called "Supersonic Bomb and Missile Dump Trucks". F-106's were certainly the more elegant of the two but for exuding pure badass it was the -4 by a mile.

[@RCAvhstape]

According to F-106 pilot Bruce Gordon (check out his youtube channel), the main reason the F-106 never saw combat in Vietnam was because it lacked the electronic countermeasures required to operate in a lethal air defense environment over or near enemy territory. As an interceptor defending friendly territory such as Canada or Alaska it didn't need to be equipped to deal with surface-to-air missiles and enemy fighters. The fact that it couldn't do air-to-ground missions was a factor, but survivability was the main one. As it turned out the 106 did a fine job of defending NATO turf for 3 decades and was ahead of its time technology wise for the 1950s, with a good radar and data link to the SAGE air defense system.

[@lewiscole5193]

With all due respect to Mr. Gordon, I don't buy his explanation for why the F-106s weren't sent to Vietnam. The F-100 and F-104 were daylight air superiority fighters and generally lacked anything that could be called electronic countermeasures (except for the latter when some were used as "Wild Weasels"). My own *GUESS* would be that the F-106s weren't sent to Vietnam because they were WAY more expensive, both in terms of fly-away cost and cost per flying hour, and lacked the "versatility" of an F-4.

[@lewiscole5193]

@@dukeford8893 > To be fair, Col Gordon has stated other reasons > besides the lack of ECM. None of which were mentioned in the OP. > That factor didn't stop the USAF from using the > F-104 and F-105 over the North. Or the F-100. > They just fitted both aircraft with ECM pods. Ummm, no they didn't ... at least not in the case of the F-104. If you believe otherwise, please provide a reference to support such a claim. > I imagine they would have done the same with > the Six. Again, please provide evidence that this was done for the F-104. And then please provide evidence that the F-106 could carry such a device when it apparently couldn't carry bombs. > The reasons the F-106 wasn't used in Vietnam > were: 1. lack of versatility (no provisions to carry > bombs); Oddly enough, Colonel Bruce Gordon states that there were two (count 'um TWO) basic reasons why the F-106 wasn't used in Vietnam in an Aviation Geek Club article (< theaviationgeekclub.com/former-f-106-pilot-explains-why-the-delta-dart-although-fast-and-agile-was-never-used-in-vietnam/ >), neither of which had anything to do with a lack of electronic countermeasures. And those reasons were: "1. It didn't carry bombs, and most of our missions were bombing. 2. MiGs wouldn't come up to fight if the odds weren't in their favor." Reason 1 sort of matches your first reason although again, while the F-104 could carry bombs (and did in fact carry out one bombing mission in Vietnam), it usually didn't and yet it ended up in Vietnam anyway ... and the North Vietnamese went out of their way to avoid it. > 2. there weren't enough of them; The Air Force accepted 277 F-106As and 63 F-106Bs for a grand total of 340 aircraft. Meanwhile, the Air Force accepted 663 F-104s, but only 296 were for their own use, so any claim that they weren't sent to Vietnam based on numbers doesn't pass the smell test. > 3. they were needed for CONUS protection. Yeah. Right. Since we're clearly speculating here, may I not so humbly suggest that there was the small matter of cost. The F-104 was dirt cheap both to buy and operate and the Air Force wasn't particularly pleased to have them around anymore while the F-106 was far more expensive to buy and operate and the Air Force still wanted it for the role it was designed for ... whether or not it made any sense or not.

[@michaelwhalen2442]

The 106 has to be one of the most beautiful airplanes ever built.

[@f-106deltadart]

I do find myself rather handsome

[@KenH737]

Heard a funny story regarding the cornfield bomber incident. The force of the ejection caused the aircraft to recover from its spin condition which resulted in a wings level slight nose down attitude which aided in its “landing”. After seeing this the wingman of the ejected pilot transmitted over the radio “Hey wait..get back in!”

[@عبدالله-ن6ه2ص]

Simon I think that the giant Saudi projects are among the most daring, innovative, sustainable and distinguished in their idea, including: 2. The Qiddiya project to build the largest entertainment city in the world according to the latest designs and build the most exciting games to break 3 records (The site is associated with one of the most important geological features in the Arabian Peninsula ، Before Islam, Arab poets wrote many poems about the Najd plateau) (Saudi tourists are among the world’s most spenders on entertainment, and this will limit the travel of many Saudis abroad) 3. Al-Ula oases project with a unique design in one of the most important archaeological cities to build a tram linking the five oases to be the largest open museum in the world and provide a rich tourist experience by visiting these stations by establishing services in institutes, museums, academies, exhibitions, cafes, etc... that meet the needs of the tourist Project title (Discover The Journey Through Time Masterplan, AlUla, North West Arabia) 4. The unique Red Sea Islands project in its idea of ​​benefiting from renewable and clean energy without affecting the environment for its sustainability and building very distinctive and innovative hotels in their designs The Amaala project will be parallel to the Red Sea Islands project in luxury hotel services in the field of health and recreation ، So that the two projects compete with the best international projects in island tourism 5. Al-Soudah Company’s project, which has completed the final design to make the city of Abha one of the most important tourist cities for nature lovers after studying the advantages of the most important and most beautiful tourist cities in the world ، And taking advantage of the relative advantages of the culture of the Asir region, which is characterized by Asir architecture, fine arts, folklore, etc. 6. The downtown Jeddah project, which started the rapid demolition operations to rebuild Jeddah according to the latest engineering designs and take advantage of the advantages of Hijazi architecture as a landmark that distinguishes the city of Jeddah from other cities in the world and building a civilized city that competes with the most beautiful cities in the world 7.Diriyah project: which aims to be the largest cultural city in the world and be a major tourist and cultural attraction ، Which has hosted international sports tournaments such as Formula E and the World Boxing Cup, etc. Its political symbolism is that it is the first capital of the Saudi state in 1744 AD ، The project focused on the shape of the old city in the Najdi urban style 8.The King Abdulaziz Road Project in Makkah to improve the quality of life for the people of Makkah and a main goal for Makkah to receive about 30 million pilgrims and pilgrims annually. 9. Knowledge Economic City of the Madinah : creating an exciting and dynamic urban district offering the largest and most diverse shopping, dining and entertainment venue in the globally significant pilgrimage destination. 10. King Abdullah Economic City project / to be a major logistic center for ports between the three continents and a center for exports of industries from the industrial cities ، It is the fifth largest industrial city in the world 1. NEOM projects, most notably: the largest solar chips project in the world, green hydrogen facilities projects Which may be the project that will save the Europe from global warming

[@kevinferrin5695]

In the early seventies, I had the thrill of seeing a pair of these pop over the mountain that overshadowed my grandfather's farming community in southeast Arizona and streak away to the north. Beautiful.

[@emjackson2289]

What's brilliant about the F106 is the fact they were still allowed to be painted in colours like bright red and yellow. F102s went to Vietnam and shot down nothing, indeed their IRST systems were used to attack trucks.

[@dmk0210]

The ADC (Air Defense Command) aircraft were often painted vibrantly. Many of the F4s that served in the ADC as dedicated interceptors were also painted ADC gray with bright squadron colors as well. Now the ADC is gone, and this role is mostly served by the Air National Guard with more drab paints schemes. Fitting in a way though, with the ANG badge displaying a Minute Man.

[@larrytolemy2621]

Great acft. I was a crew chief @ Langley AFB in "71", trained on base Commanders plane, then moved on to the F-4 Phantom in "72" SE Asia. CRAZY TIMES!

[@NesconProductions]

Story circa (about) 1976. Had an uncle (Mike) who was a traveling salesmen and formerly served in the USAF from 1947 - 49'. In his free time he liked to travel the back roads of S. Jersey and bring me along on occasion. Once we were driving by Pomona Air Station that had a squadron of F-106's. He knew I was into military aircraft so turns into the entrance to the base. Gave some salesman line to the guard we were through. Joy was short lived for as soon as we made a left turn to the flight line their were MP vehicles in front & behind us :-P. They didn't give uncle Mike a hard time (still carried around his old military ID) but had to leave 'immediately' the way we came. His comment after we left, "It was worth a shot..". Indeed it was.. for the F-106 was one pretty aircraft. Thank for trying uncle Mike ;-) RIP.

[@dennisswaim8210]

The Century series of Fighters produced some of the most beautiful aircraft to ever serve in the US Air Force history. My favorites being the F-104 and F-106's. True hot rods.

[@raynus1160]

@1:46: Great shot of a NJANG F-106A equipped with the M61 Vulcan 'belly pack' 20mm cannon.

[@genej501]

I ran the base photo lab at McCord in the '70s. I had a chance to photograph the Delta dart flying around Mount Rainier for the bicentennial. Beautiful aircraft.

[@ditzydoo4378]

If you want to hear about the interceptor line to include the F-106 than look no further than Bruce Gordon a log time US Air Force interceptor pilot who's done it all. He has a KZbin channel with many stories of his time in service. The man is a sharp as the day he entered service and can clear up many misconceptions.

[@Westen_Haus]

Every time I see stories on this fighter I always think it's amazing. My grandfarther was on the prototype program for this dealing with coms. So cool.

[@arsonjudge707]

Man my whole perception of this dude got totally changed, I never saw him more than just a washed QB but now I have so much more respect for the guy and hope he gets that fire back even if it’s just to be the Backup, respect!

[@wuskers]

After vietnam my dad (Col Larry Wusk) flew 106's until they were decommisioned, was squadron commander of the 49th for a few years dudring the time they excelled at William Tell. We moved to AFB's anywhere a 106 squadron was, Dover, KI Sawyer, Malmstrom, Mcchord, and Griffiss; it was an amazing time to be an air force brat. Btw the famous “cornfield bomber” which landed itself after a flat spin during and excercise. My dad was good friends with the pilot Gary foust for years and the wingman that was doing the maneuvers against him was on of my dads best friends, the infamous Jimmy Lowe, who coincidentally drove a riding lawnmower into the officers club one time and bit the panty hose off the generals wife. Dick Stultz drew during dinner out with the sqaudron in Rome NY for my dad (an original artwork "The Wusk Wonders" it still hangs in my parents house). also the memorable John Kane who was a young pilot at the 87th when he ejected during my dads time there, i thought that guy was so cool with his black eye and scars from hangin by his chute in a tree, one night at the sqaudron party he tuaght me how to pump the keg for the pilots and told meto have a beer so i helped myself to a few beers at 10 years old. Long and amazing stories I grew up listening to those men talk with theirs hands while drinking too much scotch and lots of laughs; back then when it was truly the old days of the Air Force, most of them farmers turned pilots from simple backgrounds. My dad was good friends with a lot of legends as I call them. He would just say they were damn good pilots, but not as good as him. John McCain, robin olds, Yeager, and the great Robbie Risner. Amazing test pilots, and combat pilots. Most of those air force fighter pilots are gone now, was an honor to sit and listen to their stories as a little kid.

[@mattfaneuf2174]

This was the first aircraft I loaded munitions on in my Air Force career. Fond memories of my first flight in a b model.

[@javiermoya2801]

Since I see quite a few recommendations for the F15 I shall jump on that band wagon. I can also see you enjoy comparing Cold War counterparts so I shall also throw out for a potential future episode Sukhoi Flankers Su 27 and onward

[@mike-in-fla4717]

Stationed at Tyndall AFB 1978 - 1982. Primary crew chief at different times of F-106A 58-0795 and F-106B 58-0900 & 58-0904. The "A" model -0795 was primarily a test bed used by the 475th Test Squadron for the gun modification. This aircraft flew many sorties with several camera pods installed to record the gun test flights. The aircraft had a HUGE VCR mounted in the left electronics bay behind the cockpit to record the camera feed. Various Tyndall aircraft are in the video and identified with the red, white, and blue tail flash on the rudder.

[@wtstfire]

Gotta love the Six. Can't count how many times the 49th FIS' sonic booms rattled my windows when I was a kid.

[@philiplewis8213]

I read that the last Air National Guard F-106 unit in Portland OR, still did quite well in Airforce competitions till they were phased out. Often doing better than far more modern planes.

[@Bacchas]

As a kid in the 80's I built a model of this plane! Thanks for the video!

[@lindeleasley]

Nice to see someone give the Six a little love. Thanks!

[@benfoster5426]

Look into SAGE, the Air Force's Semi-Automatic Ground Environment that was used to vector theses birds to the inbound bombers. or other bogies. My dad was in the Air Force and worked at two SAGE facilities to monitor ADIZs (Air Defense Identification Zones). I saw my first track ball there on a Saturday visit with my dad who ran a simulated target for me to intercept. I was 15 years old. It was awesome. I also saw a light gun in use by a controller. It was used to identify a target.

[@theworldsnewsplainview952]

Thanks for the history lesson Simon. Love the videos.

[@jflatley38]

Thanks for doing this! I love the Six! My grandfather worked with them in the 60s. Going to visit one in person at a museum tomorrow!!!

[@spdrcr1010]

Note the Stanley Aviation tag on the ejection seat, I work minutes away from the old Stanley factory in Denver, and now it has been turned into a multi-business marketplace with bars and restaurants. Some of the old factory elements are still visible, it's a neat place to visit.

[@paulthebaker]

I live in Panama City Florida, home of Tyndall Air Force Base. I have watched the F106’s flyover head since junior high school. Locally there were all of the Century series in the sky. Now you can scuba dive on a number of them that have been sunk as artificial reefs.

[@comradeiosif2794]

If we're talking Cold War aircraft, why not the B-36 Peacemaker? It was the largest bomber to enter USAF service.

[@patrickhorvath2684]

Largest, and heaviest bombload of any bomber ever built, to this day.

[@thomasbaker6563]

The realised version of an America bomber; in a terrible German accent. It would be cool to cover.

[@Michael_Michaels]

This beast of an airplane was capable of 2.3 Mach!!! It's amazingly underrated!!!

[@andreabindolini7452]

​@don s Well, no. But it was surely the most agile of the Century Series. The delta wing assures a very tight first turn, but bleeds great amounts of energy. If you add a t/w ratio good but surely not in the same ballpark of the best 4th gen fighers, you find that the Dart can be a dangerous fighter in a one circle fight only if the fight doesn't go on too long. The tight turn is a pretty defensive maneuver. In a two circle fight against an F-15, or in a fight along the vertical plane, assuming equally trained pilots, the F-106 is plain dead. But this machine was not conceived for close dogfight.

[@6h471]

@@andreabindolini7452 The best name for turn fighters is loser.

[@russvoight1167]

Knew an egress guy, Bob Dourte who was almost killed at Castle AFB when the seat he was working on fired. Threw him up over a beam in the hangar and landed on the wing

[@TheCoyote808]

Little Known fact about F-102 and F-106, the last US F-102 squadron was Hawaii Air National Guard in 1977. At a time when the F-106 was still in active service and being transferred go the National Guard, Hawaii Air National Guard skipped the F-106 and went straight to the F-15A which they kept in service until being one of the only Guard unit to receive the F-22 in 2010. Most other guard units had switched to F-106s in the 70s and didn't get F-15 or F-16 until the mid to late 80s.

[@thefrecklepuny]

One vital omission in this video was the AIR-2A Genie air to air rocket. One of the most unique air to air missiles in history as not only was it unguided, but carried a small nuclear tipped warhead to wipe out Soviet bomber formations.

[@hokutoulrik7345]

It did get a small mention when he was talking about the loadout of the Dart.

[@billkunert7281]

The Genie was also carried by the F 101B. 2 were loaded on the rotary armament door.

[@martinbayliss3868]

The f106 was certainly a looker and should have paved the way for many US delta aircraft. Why that never happened is a mystery. Certainly from a SST point of view. Convair must have had loads of useful data for a scaled up SST delta.

[@timmotel5804]

I always thought this was a beautiful aircraft. Thank You

[@nickbayer7847]

One of my favorites from the Century Series 🤠🤠

[@SimchaWaldman]

Beautiful plane. The fact it was underrated and nearly cancelled makes me sad.

[@vladsnape6408]

When talking about the duck and cover drills, you should have also shown the turtle cartoon that was used to teach about duck and cover.

[@soylentgreen7074]

The New Jersey National Guard unit here finally got rid of their last F106’s in 1990 when they got their F-16s. Now everyone is slowly going to F 35s.

[@samsignorelli]

Not sure, nit the 106 may have been one of my father's projects when he was an engineer at Convair. The "Cornfield Bomber" actually came down in a wheat field. Currently, she's in the livery of her last unit, the 49th FIS (Fighter Interceptor Squadron) out of Griffiss AFB, Rome, NY (I would've preferred her to be in the Malstrom AFB colors from the incident). The 49th FIS was the last active duty Air Force unit to fly the plane, transitioning to the F-15 a few months after I arrived at the base. I met one of the pilots -- Lt. Col. Steve Rogers (who said he could not make Major fast enough after getting his Captain's bars!) -- and asked him what the best thing about the F-15 was. "I have a gun now!!"

[@jayberman8923]

Sorry but the 49th FIS never got the F-15s. We closed the squadron in 1987.

[@samsignorelli]

@@jayberman8923 Huh.,..,my memory must be fading. I remember flying the BUFF simulator in NCO prep school...crashed right into the 485th EIG,,,,MY unit!

[@Old_B52H_Gunner]

We had one of these do a gear up landing at Minot AFB, ND.

[@billkunert7281]

The F 106 still holds the speed record for single engine aircraft. I don't believe the 106 ever served in Europe. The 102 served in Spain, Germany, and the Netherlands. A total of 6 squadrons.

[@m1k3droid]

hey, the desks made back then were tanks, the metal was thick, the tops were solid wood, usually an inch and a half thick

[@valhallaab8399]

A video on the J-35 (Draken) or Ja/Aj-37 (Viggen) would be awesome, some real advance tech and tactics, RB-04 (which already existed on the J-32 Lansen), RB-05, BK-90, Rb-15, Datalink 10-20 years ahead, jammers, chaff/flare pods etc. Short parade, 20 years earlier than sukhoi's cobra... Anti-ship missiles, roadbase capable, radar lock on a SR-71 (Blackbird)... And I can go on. the Draken is mostly cool to look at and it found super-stall capable dogfight uses.

[@sten1939]

Use to watch the F106s in the Montana National Guard do emergency operation drills out of Helena MT airport as a kid. They always looked like they were going Mach every time they flew.

[@theyzforme]

Same here. I remember them flying out of Great Falls. Gorgeous aircraft!

[@reynaldoangnged1864]

14:32: "trolling for lightning"... Dang, it's like playing practical jokes to Zeus/mother nature with man's unmanned creation.

[@chrisgreener5599]

I’d like to see an episode on the German night fighters of WWII. The TA154, Me110, He219, etc. maybe work in some of the Mistel combinations they conjured up in desperation.

[@ChopBassMan]

I just watched the "Skinwalker Ranch" video on your Decoding The Unknown channel. The picture of Uinta County (4'53" into the video) that you used has an interesting group of round, sunken areas which are in a relatively straight line which look interesting. Maybe you could do a Geographics video on them. I imagine that they might be volcanic collapses, but I haven't seen anything like that before. The supervolcano in Yosemite has below ground geography similar to this, due to continental drift - but the several crater-like objects in the picture are all above ground.

[@DanielBrown-sn9op]

A beautiful interceptor.

[@loke6664]

There is certainly an advantage to have a dedicated interceptor compared to a Jack of all trade plane like the F-35. It is of course more expensive and harder from a logistic standpoint but dedicated planes tend to beat generic planes in what they are built to do. The F-106 Achilles heel was it's short range, you really want an interceptor to have twice that range. It's limited loadout of missiles was not as big of a problem, an interceptors job is to reach a bomber before it can bomb your cities and you honestly don't need a ton of missiles to do that job. An air superiority fighter is a very different thing and there more missiles is great. Sure, you can air refuel and put on drop tanks but when you need to intercept a bomber quickly you don't really have time to fuel up in the air and drop tanks slows you down. Besides, long range is never a bad thing. And yeah, the F-106 did look rather awesome. :)

[@jamisonmaguire4398]

I've heard about the F106 previously in Col. Jack Broughton's book "Going Downtown: The War Against Hanoi and Washington". He tested it during the Vietnam war and thought it was the best thing he tested for combat in that country and wondered why it wasn't adopted.

[@rogerkay8603]

Never had to dogfight one then?

[@jamisonmaguire4398]

@@rogerkay8603 Broughton flew F105 Thud's in combat. I'm certain he thought it would have been better than that.

[@dorsk84]

That picture with the F-106 and the Russian Bear was from my dad's squadron. He mostly harassed the Russian "trawlers" *cough* spy ships *cough*. They weren't down this way all that much when he flew.

[@guaporeturns9472]

MiG-25 and MiG- 31 are the ultimate interceptors in my world.. but I love the 106 too

[@WilhelmKarsten]

@@guaporeturns9472 *yeah, but you're a loser that can't admit that Britain can't make its own jets anymore.*

[@dave8599]

area rule modification is one of the big deals in getting these planes to go faster.

[@promxriderfromcanada]

Only reason to live today, thanks Simon.

[@bluskytoo]

as kid at McChord afb my brother and i would low crawl through the grass at the end of the runway as the 106s were taking off in burner and C-124 s going right over our head.

[@a5209283]

You need to do the English Electric Lightning. Apart from fuel consupmtion, it was the best interceptor ever.

[@lancerevell5979]

But it had two engines. The Six only needed one. 😉

[@andreabindolini7452]

Definitely not "the best interceptor ever" (not even close), but surely one of the most impressive aircraft of those years.

[@dave_h_8742]

@don s Didn't need range as Russians were coming towards us and it's an interceptor not an SR71(My fave fast jet)

[@kl0wnkiller912]

I live in North Texas and while on my way to lake Murray in Oklahoma I saw an F-106 (no wings) sitting on a flatbed beside a farmhouse. It had the orange nose so was probably a drone but I always wondered how it came to be there.

[@martinstallard2742]

2:25; development 6:59; specifications 8:29; ejection seats 9:55; f-106s in service 11:29; bears.badgers and bison 12:47; f-106 milestones 13:34; drone conversation and retirement

[@rovercoupe7104]

Mastermind: “Name?” “The bloke from Mega projects.” “Specialist subject?” “Everything”.

[@CausticLemons7]

Video idea: you could discuss the end of the Soviet Union in terms of how it happened. Specifically glasnost and perestroika and how the transition was expected to go versus how it actually happened.

[@lyfandeth]

Our grade school teachers were perhaps unaware that even under our desks, a Soviet ICBM landing 20 miles away would have blown away our entire brick school.

[@BoleDaPole]

Yea no shit, it was still better than just standing there, especially if you where on the outskirts of a blast. I'd rather have 10 kids out of 100 survive than all die. Remember, they found people alive within 50 feet of the Hiroshima detonation.

[@geodkyt]

At 20 miles, your odds would have been pretty good with duck and cover. Even a 10Mt (a rather large warhead - typical Soviet ICBM warheads of the era were 1-5 Mt, or even smaller) airburst detonation only has a 5PSI radius of under 10 miles. The threat from 20 miles away is flying glass from blown out windows, and flash burns. The duck & cover drill would provide great protection from both of those threats, provided you did it the *instant* you saw the flash (for thermal damage, and you'd be at the very edge of that) or at least within a few seconds for flying glass. Now, where I went to school, we were literally *surrounded* by Tier 1 targets, to the point my school was within the oerlapping "total destruction" radius of at least *6* Tier 1 targets that would have taken at least one warhead apiece. Heck, we were a half a mile from one of those targets... So, Duck & Cover wouldn't even happen, as we would have been *within* the fireball before seeing the flash.

[@lyfandeth]

@@geodkyt No, some years later Scientific American came out with the actual Soviet paylods and targeting errors. An error of 20 miles could be expected, and the warheads were still big enough to take down six story and larger masonry over steel construction. It caused a great deal of news at the tjme. It was confirmed by rather embarrassed US military sources. The average Soviet payloads and efficiency had been vastly underestimated. Perhaps not "blown away" but leveled, completely.

[@geodkyt]

@@lyfandeth The larger warheads came *later*. They literally didn't have the *lift* capability to loft larger warheads in the early 1960s from their ICBMs (heck, the first Soviet ICBM want operational until 1959...) The bomber delivered nukes *did not* suffer from the same CEP issues. And even then, the gravity bombs tended to be 10Mt or smaller. Monsters like the Tsar Bomba were *test articles* , not operational weapons. As for the CEP issues, you realize that would be just as likely to benefit you at any given location 20 miles from the intended target than to harm you, right? Odds are, the miss would be farther away from you as closer.

[@pamelamays4186]

More military Megaprojects, please. Aircraft, ships and vehicles from countries other than, the US, Russia and Canada would be interesting. Also, how the names for them are come up with.

[@JDWDMC]

The F102 was a victim of the lack of knowledge amongst the designers of the Area Rule. Look at an F102 and an F106 from above and the F106 fuselage has a coke bottle shape to it where the F102 is cylinder with a pointy nose.

[@lewiscole5193]

Ummm, kinda/sort of. The Germans discovered the "area rule" during WWII, but it was re-discovered by Whitcomb in 1952. NACA wind tunnel testing clearly indicated that the designers of the F-102A hadn't taken into account the aircraft's drag correctly and it took until 1953 for them to be convinced that they were wrong and that the fuselage needed to be area ruled. But by then, it was too late for the F-102A (it's first flight was late in 1953) and so this was something that was added to the wish list for the new and improved version that would come out "Real Soon Now", AKA the F-102B AKA the F-106. But in addition to the drag being greater than expected, the F-102A also blimped up in weight and lacked a decent engine which didn't help the aircraft's performance either. And even with a more powerful engine, the F-102B/F-106 didn't meet it's target specs either. It couldn't reach 70,000ft like it was supposed to and it coudn't accelerate worth a damn from around Mach 1.5 to Mach 2. Also keep in mind that the "area rule" isn't just a single rule per se. The Coke bottle waisting is an application of the TRANSONIC "area rule". At supersonic speeds, the "area rule" changes a bit and so there's a SUPERSONIC "area rule" which gives a different shape.

[@thesovietvorona1007]

All important aircraft were missing in this series: F-5 Tiger & the best aircraft never built- The F-5G(F-20) Tigershark.

[@ahtheh]

Make a video on the Pacific fleet of USA.

[@Darkstar.....]

13:20 imagine the lad he would be instead if it was a two cockpit plane with no co pilot and accidentally tripped the wrong switch or malfunction stopped his seat from firing. It would fix his spin save the plane and prevent him from bailing early forcing him into legendary status. but I'd say that would require some one sitting in the co pilots seat.

[@freddiecarr7602]

Good one