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F-102 Delta Dagger

The Convair F-102 Delta Dagger was an American interceptor aircraft built as part of the backbone of the United States Air Force's air defenses in the late 1950s. Entering service in 1956, its main purpose was to intercept invading Soviet bomber fleets.

The aircraft's development was long and troubled, and by the early 1960s, it was being supplemented by F-101 Voodoos, replaced by F-106 Delta Darts and later by F-4 Phantom IIs. Many of the F-102s were transferred to United States Air National Guard duty by the mid-to-late 1960s, and the plane left service altogether in 1976.

Design and development

The F-102 was developed from the XF-92A delta wing research aircraft of the late 1940s. The Air Force took a new approach in putting out the request for proposals for an operational interceptor, considering both the aircraft and armament together in what became known as a "weapon system". The RFP for Project MX-1554 went out 18 June 1950, and in January 1951 six manufacturers responded, of which Convair, Lockheed, and Republic were chosen to proceed with design. Three of these projects were too expensive, and in November, only Convair was allowed to continue with its Model 8-80, an interim project using the less-powerful Westinghouse J40 turbojet in lieu of the Wright J67 which was still in development.

The YF-102 made its first flight on 24 October 1953, but was lost to an accident nine days later. The second aircraft flew on 11 January 1954, confirming a dismal performance: Approximately 812 mph, while supersonic, it was far below the requirements. The problem was solved by the use of the area rule, which entailed narrowing the aircraft down in the mid-section, moving the cockpit and intakes back further, blending the outer contours of the intake duct, lengthening the nose and adding two fairings on either side of the engine nozzle, resulting in the new "'YF-102A design'". The new design was more than twice as fast as the non-area ruled design. The "'YF-102A'", however was not exactly the same as the production F-102A design in that its nose was considerably longer than the "'F-102A.'"

Somewhere along the way, the Wright J-67 was cancelled, and the J-40 was replaced with a Pratt & Whitney J-57.

The production F-102A had the Hughes MG-3 fire control system, later upgraded in service to the MG-10. It had a three-segment internal weapons bay under the fuselage for air-to-air missiles. Initial armament was three pairs of GAR-1 Falcon missiles, a mix of infrared and semi-active radar homing. The doors of the two forward bays each had tubes for 12 x 2.75 in FFAR rockets (for a total of 24). The F-102 was later upgraded to allow the carriage of a GAR-11 Nuclear Falcon missiles in the center bay. The larger size of this weapon required redesigned center bay doors with no rocket tubes. Plans were considered to fit the MB-1 Genie nuclear rocket to the design, but it was never adopted.

Because of the changes that had to be made in redesigning the aircraft with the area rule in mind, the ambitious plan to produce the production aircraft on the prototype tooling had to be abandoned; two-thirds of the 60,000+ pieces of tooling had to be scrapped or heavily modified.

To train F-102A pilots, the TF-102A trainer was developed, with 111 eventually manufactured. The aircraft was fitted with a side-by-side cockpit to facilitate ease of pilot training. This required a redesign of the cockpit and nose incorporating a set of vortex generators on the top of the cockpit to prevent flow separation under certain circumstances, and repositioning of the intake ducts. Despite the many changes, the aircraft was combat-capable, although this variant was predictably slower, only reaching subsonic speeds in level flight.

The F-102's direct successor was the related F-106 Delta Dart, which was originally designated YF-102B. The design underwent so many aerodynamic changes including a larger J-75 turbojet and a variable-geometry inlet design that it essentially became an entirely new plane.

Operational history

The first operational service of the F-102A was with the 327th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron at George Air Force Base, in April 1956, and eventually a total of 889 were built. The F-102's official name, "Delta Dagger" was never used in common parlance, with the aircraft being universally known as the "Deuce." The TF-102 was known as the "Tub" because of its wide fuselage.

During the time the F-102A was in service, several new wing designs were used to experiment with the application of increased conical camber to the wings. Ultimately, a design was selected that actually increased elevon area, reduced takeoff speed, improved the supersonic L/D ratio and increased the plane's ceiling to 56,000 feet. A modification was required to the gears due to the wing redesign.

The USAF Air Defense Command had F-102 Delta Daggers in service in 1960 and the type continued to serve in large numbers with both Air Force and Air National Guard units well into the 1970s. George W. Bush, later President of the United States, flew the F-102 as part of his Air National Guard service in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Vietnam service

The F-102 served in Vietnam, flying fighter patrols and serving as bomber escorts. A total of 15 aircraft were lost in Vietnam: one to air-to-air combat, several to ground fire and the remainder to accidents.

Initially, F-102 detachments began to be sent to bases in Southeast Asia in 1962, when radar contacts that were detected by ground radars were thought to possibly be North Vietnamese Il-28 "Beagle" bombers, which was considered a very credible threat during that time period. F-102s were sent to Thailand and other nearby countries to intercept these aircraft if they indeed threatened South Vietnam at any time.

Later on, B-52 strikes, codenamed ARC LIGHT, were escorted by F-102s based in the theater. It was during one of these missions that an F-102 was shot down by a North Vietnamese MiG-21 using an AA-2 Atoll heat-seeking missile. The MiGs approached undetected, and one of the F-102s was shot down. The other F-102 pilot managed to shoot off some AIM-4s at the fleeing MiG-21s, but no hits were recorded. This was the only air-to-air loss for the F-102 during the Vietnam War.

Interestingly enough, the F-102 became fairly heavily used in the air-to-ground role. The interceptor was equipped with 24 x 2.75-in FFARs in the fuselage bay doors, and these weapons were used to good effect against various types of North Vietnamese targets. Additionally, heat-seeking Falcon missiles used in conjunction with the F-102s nose-mounted IRST (Infrared Search & Track) were employed on night time harassment raids along the Ho Chi Minh trail. This is likely the only time an air-to-air missile has been used for air-to-ground operations.

Operations with both the F-102A and TF-102A two-seater (which was used in a Forward Air Control role because its two seats and 2.75-in. rockets offered good versatility for the mission) in Vietnam until 1968 when all F-102 aircraft were sent back to the United States.

Later use

In 1973, six aircraft were converted to target drones as QF-102A and later PQM-102 series, simulating MiG-21s. This began a program where hundreds of F-102s were converted for use as target drones for F-4 and F-106 aircraft as well as later F-15 aircraft and testing of the US Army's Patriot missile system.

Some F-102As were configured to accommodate a single AIM-26 Super Falcon in each side bay in lieu of the conventional 2 x AIM-4 Falcons.

The F-102 and TF-102 were exported overseas to both Turkey and Greece, with those aircraft seeing combat missions during the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus. There have been claims of air combat between Greek F-5s and Turkish F-102s. The Greeks claimed to have shot down two F-102s while the Turks claim to have shot down an F-5; however, both sides deny losses. The F-102 was finally retired from both of those air forces in 1979. The F-102 left US service in 1976, while the last PQM-102 drone was expended in 1986. No F-102s remain in flyable condition today although many can be seen at museums.

Variants

YF-102 - The first prototypes: Performance was unsatisfactory; drag was twice as high as it should have been due to interference-effects. Maximum Speed: 812 miles per hour

YF-102A - Area-ruled prototypes: New design featured a fuselage that was narrow in the mid-section, with aerodynamic fairings added on either side of the engine-nozzle to conform to the area-rule. Additionally, cockpit and intakes were moved further aft, the nose lengthened, and the outer contours of inlets were blended with the forward fuselage.

F-102A - Production Model: Single-seat all-weather interceptor fighter aircraft. Nose shorter than original F-102A, but featuring more powerful J-57 turbojet. 889 built.

TF-102A - Two-seat training version, 111 built
F-102B - The original designation of the F-106A
F-102C - Two converted A's with improved structural design and avionics as YF-102C, with new J57-P-47 engine for a tactical attack role; AF canceled project.
QF-102A - Two piloted target drones, (converted from the F-102A).
PQM-102A - 200+ unpiloted target drones, (converted from F-102A).
PQM-102B - Unpiloted target drones.

Operators

Survivors

Below is a partial list of museums or locations with an F-102 Delta Dagger on display:

YF-102A,serial No: 53-1787 in the Air Park at Jackson Barracks Military Museum, New Orleans, LA
YF-102A,serial No: 53-1788, Carolinas Aviation Museum, Charlotte, NC formerly on display at Florence, SC
F-102A, serial No: 54-1405, Strategic Air and Space Museum, Ashland, NE formerly near Offutt AFB, NE

F-102A, serial No: 56-0984, at Wings Over the Rockies Museum,, (former Lowry AFB) Denver, CO
F-102A, serial No: 56-0986, at MAPS Air Museum, Akron-Canton Regional Airport, OH
F-102A, serial No: 56-1053, (painted 56-1274) at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska Heritage Park.
F-102A, serial No: 56-1109, at Peterson Air and Space Museum, Peterson AFB, Colorado Springs, CO
F-102A, serial No: 56-1368, tail number 0-61368 at Evergreen Aviation Museum, McMinnville, OR
F-102A, serial No: 56-1413, at Castle Air Museum, Atwater, CA
F-102A, serial No: 56-1416, at Nat'l Museum of the USAF, Wright-Patterson AFB near Dayton, OH
F-102A, serial No: 56-1476, at Minnesota Air National Guard Base, Minneapolis, MN
TF-102A,serial No: 56-2317, at Grissom Air Museum, Grissom Air Reserve Base, Peru, IN.
TF-102A,serial No: 56-2352, at Kelly Field Heritage Museum, Lackland AFB/Kelly Field Annex (former Kelly AFB), San Antonio,TX
F-102A, serial No: 56-1515, at McChord Air Museum, McChord Air Force Base, Washington.
Aero-Web: List of F-102 Delta Dagger on display in the US.

Specifications (F-102A)

References

Notes

Bibliography

Drendel, Lou. Century Series in Color (Fighting Colors). Carrollton, Texas: Squadron/Signal Publications, 1980. ISBN 0-89747-097-4.
Green, William. The World's Fighting Planes. London, Macdonald, 1964.
Gunston, Bill. Fighters of the Fifties. Osceola, Wisconsin, Specialty Press Publishers & Wholesalers, Inc., 1981. ISBN 0-933424-32-9.
Hobson, Chris. Vietnam Air Losses: United States Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps Fixed-Wing Aircraft Losses in Southeast Asia, 1961-73. North Branch, Minnesota: Specialty Press, 2002. ISBN 1-85780-1156.
Pace, Steve. X-Fighters: USAF Experimental and Prototype Fighters, XP-59 to YF-23. Oscela, Wisconsin: Motorbooks International, 1991. ISBN 0-87938-540-5.
Winchester, Jim, ed. "Convair F-102 Delta Dagger." Military Aircraft of the Cold War (The Aviation Factfile). London: Grange Books plc, 2006. ISBN 1-84013-929-3.