C-130 911th AW Nose Art

C-130H of the Air Force Reserve's 911th AW, with nose art from the hometown Steelers team

The 911th has operated C-130Hs since the spring of 1986, when it took delivery of new-build aircraft to replace its C-130Bs. Prior to the Hercules, the 911th had flown C-123K Providers, and before that, C-124 Globemaster IIs.


911th Airlift Wing

F-101 Voodoo walk around

The Voodoo story began as early as 1946, when the not yet independent Air Force was looking forward to the requirements for fighting the next war. The ranges needed to conduct missions into the USSR were well beyond that of any jet fighter then under development, and McDonnell's design for the mission was correspondingly large to accomodate the required fuel. Powered by a pair of Westinghouse J34s fed through wing root intakes, the XF-88 had a 35-degree swept back wing planform. The first flight took place in October 1948, but the anemic Westinghouse engines gave inferior performance. The second aircraft, with afterburner-equipped engines, had greater speed but use of the afterburner greatly increased the fuel burn and cut into the aircraft's range.

SAC's need for an escort fighter was reinforced by wartime experience in Korea, where the F-84 Thunderjets tasked with that mission proved to be outmatched by MiG-15s. This led to the GOR101 requirement of early 1951, for which McDonnell proposed a much scaled up outgrowth of the XF-88. Designated as the F-101, this would be powered by P&W J57s, and have much more internal fuel, a larger (but thinner) wing, and a repositioned horizontal tail.

Procurement of the F-101B interceptor version was pursued to provide an interim aircraft between the subsonic F-89 and the still under development F-106, development of the F-102 having hit many difficulties. The first F-101B flew in March 1957; at one point the USAF had intended to buy 651 examples, but ultimately 480 F-101Bs were built. Just over half of the force was put through the Bold Journey update program in the mid-1960s, receiving the MB-5 autopilot, MG-13 upgrades, and removal of the IFR probe to clear up space for the installation of an infrared sensor.

A few walk around pics of the F-101B preserved at Dayton:

The F-101B was equipped with a rotary door under the forward fuselage that carried pairs of AIR-2 Genies and AIM-4 Falcons on opposing sides

Unlike the XF-88, the F-101 featured a "T" tail. This led to troubles with disastrous "pitch up" behavior when the aircraft was flown at high angles of attack, a problem that was never entirely solved. 

The 123rd FIS of the Oregon ANG converted to the F-101B from the F-102 in 1972, and flew the Voodoo until 1982 when F-4Cs arrived.

The F-101B used the P&W J57-55; this powerplant was substantially more powerful than the -13s used on other Voodoos, but the longer afterburners extended quite far out of the airframe.

The F-101 had enlarged inlets to furnish enough air to the J57s

RF-101 camouflage pattern


Even before the prototype Voodoo had flown, the USAF had expressed interest in buying a derivative as a tactical reconnaissance machine. The RF-101s would be the first American supersonic recon aircraft, and would end up being more important in the USAF force structure than strike-configured Voodoos.

The initial RF-101As replaced the cannon nose with a reconfigured unit capable of carrying six cameras; thirty five production examples and two prototypes were built before production shifted to the RF-101C, based on the structurally strengthened F-101C, with 166 being built.

RF-101C nose gear

RF-101C external tanks

RF-101s were to spend nearly a decade in Southeast Asia, starting with a quartet of aircraft deployed to Tan Son Nhut, South Vietnam under Operation Pipe Stem. This effort only ran for a month, but the following year, Voodoos were back in the theater, flying Able Mable missions over Laos and South Vietnam from Thailand.

RF-101C exhaust detail

 F-101 model, depicting one the of the single-seat strike variants; note the cannon.

Bibliography:

 Photo: "McDonnell F-101A" Aviation Week March 12, 1956 p.79

Photo: "McDonnell F-101 With Experimental Bomb-Fuel Configuration" Aviation Week August 6, 1956 p.151

Photo: "First RF-101A Will Chase B-58" Aviation Week April 8, 1957 p.31

Photo: "McDonnell F-101B With Falcons" Aviation Week April 29, 1957 front cover

Erwin J. Bulban "Jet Tankers Add Margin in Speed Dash" Aviation Week December 9, 1957 p.34-37 2 photos

"F-101B Carries Retractable-Finned, Air-to-Air MB-1 Genie" Aviation Week January 27, 1958 p.29 4 photos

"External Radar on F-101B Tracks Missiles" Aviation Week & Space Technology June 7, 1965 p.57-58 4 photos

L.L. Doty "De Gaulle Seen Viewing RF-101 as Future Political Weapon" Aviation Week & Space Technology July 26, 1965 p.21

"RF-101s Photograph Surprised Red Troops" Aviation Week & Space Technology February 14, 1966 p.100-102 6 illustrations
 

Side-view drawings of F-101A, RF-101C  Scale Modeler September 1980, p.8-9

Robbie Shaw "Voodoo Farewell"  Air International February 1985  p.88-92. A look at Canadian CF-101s in the twilight of their careers; includes color photos of EF-101B 101067, and CF-101B 101043 in "Lynx Squadron Canada" special markings.

 Larry Davis Planes, Names & Dames, Vol III 1955-1975  Includes a photo of RF-101C The Iron Eyeball of the 45th TRS at Tan Son Nhut

Color side-view: RoCAF F-101A  Encyclopedia of 20th Century Air Warfare, p.353

Ray Bonds Classic Fighters: The Inside Story  p.132-135. Includes an F-101B cutaway, frontal view of an F-101A, and a shot of three F-101Bs flying low over New York City.


1/48 scale Monogram Voodoo completed as an RF-101B

An excellent video (in color) showing the propeller-fitted XF-88B

F-84F Thunderstreak / RF-84F Thunderflash camo patterns

Like the F-86H, the swept-wing F-84s survived in service long enough to receive SEA-style camo finishes, although they were never deployed to the fighting in Vietnam. The Thunderstreaks were actually the last pre-Century series fighters to remain in US service, outlasting the last F-86Hs by a year or so.

F-84F at NMUSAF walk around

This SEA-camouflaged Thunderstreak was among the last active US F-84Fs, being retired to display at Dayton in 1970 by the Ohio Air National Guard.

1/48 Republic F-84F Bundesluftwaffe RVL04526


Italian AF F-84F walk around photos 

An impressive array of photos depicting the 1/48th scale Italeri Thunderstreak kit finished as a Turkish aircraft
 

Crash site of F-84F 52-7071

A-37B / OA-37B Dragonfly camo pattern

USAF A-37 paint diagram

YA-37A prototype on display at the National Museum of the US Air Force. This aircraft started out life as a T-37B, but was later fitted out for counterinsurgency strike trials as a YAT-37D. It was retired to Dayton, but was restored for flight operations several years later as a YA-37A. It was finally retired for good in 1970.

Cessna 1/72 scale A-37

1/29 scale A-37 paper model

Building the Hasegawa 1/72 A-37 kit as an aircraft of the Chilean Air Force

F-106 Delta Dart camo pattern

No "Sixes" were ever finished in camo as far as I know, but an official pattern was indeed issued. I just may finish that unbuilt Revell kit sitting on my bookshelf in this scheme.

Bibliography
Magazine Articles and Photos:

"First Flights Made By F-106A, FJ-4B" Aviation Week January 7, 1957 p.28

Photo: "Convair F-106" Aviation Week September 9, 1957 front cover

"First Production F-106s Are Flown" Aviation Week September 9, 1957 p.32-33 2 photos

"Air Force Tests Convair Supersonic Ejection Seat" Aviation Week & Space Technology February 13, 1961 p.106-107 9 photos

David A. Brown "F-106s Modified for Inflight Training" Aviation Week & Space Technology February 5, 1968 p.41-46 4 photos

"Chasing The Dart" Air Forces Monthly July 1988 p.46-49 6 photos


Newspaper Articles and Photos:

"U.S. Jet Sets 1,520 m.p.h. Speed Mark" New York Times December 17, 1959 p.17 c.2 1 photo

"2 in Jersey Escape As Jet Hits House; Pilot Ejects Safely" New York Times March 31, 1966 p.31

"Pilots Unhurt in Air Collision" New York Times April 4, 1985 p.A29

Bell X-16 3-view

Bell X-=16 patent plans

As Soviet air defences increased in the early 1950s, overflights by propeller-driven aircraft became increasingly dangerous, and even jets such as the B-45 and Canberra were becoming vulnerable. This led to efforts to design strategic reconnaissance machines that could operate at extreme altitudes above the ceiling of Soviets fighters. Bell offered a machine powered by two of the new Pratt & Whitney J57s mounted under a slightly swept wing. Altitude performance was to be in excess of 70,000 feet. Bell's proposal won out over rival designs from Martin and Lockheed, but when the first example was over three-quarters complete, the USAF cancelled procurement, opting instead for a wide-span derivative of the B-57.

Republic RF-84F Thunderflash 3-view

The RF-84F was built to replace RF-80s and other aircraft in the tactical reconnaissance role, but like its F-84F fighter counterpart, was not ready in time for Korea. The Thunderstreak had a solid nose for a carrying an array of cameras, and thus, the intakes were moved to the wing roots. USAF RF-84Fs were replaced by RF-101s and RF-4Cs by the early 1960s, but the ANG continued to use the type until as later as 1972. The Thunderflash was widely exported to NATO, and a few foreign aircraft saw second-line use until the early 1990s.


AIRPLANE BY Alexander Kartveli


RF-84K Thunderflash at NMUSAF, July 2012

Bibilography:

Photo: YRF-84F at Edwards AFB. Aviation Week August 25, 1952  p.9

Photo: Overhead view of a flight of RF-84Fs. Air Pictorial May 1960  front cover

Photo: Color image of a US RF-84F in Southeast Asia Camouflage. Air Classics September 1972  p.58