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82-537: The exercises involved 6,000 sorties flown by aircraft of the United States Air Force , Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and Royal Air Force (RAF) (1961 only), simulating Soviet fighter and bomber attacks against New York , Chicago , San Diego , Los Angeles , Washington and more. They were among the largest military aviation exercises ever held. The United States and Canada assured citizens that their defenses were "99 percent effective", but

164-521: A flat spin after its pilot had ejected, belly landing relatively intact in a snow-covered field; it was recovered and continued to be flown for numerous years afterwards. The F-106 was gradually withdrawn from USAF service during the 1980s as the arrival of newer air superiority fighters , particularly the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle , had made the role of dedicated interceptors obsolete. Numerous F-106s would be operated for

246-741: A flight for Oct. 14 or 15, better look at the clock before you take off." An estimated 2,900 U.S. and Canadian flights, scheduled to carry around 125,000 passengers, were cancelled. Operation Sky Shield II occurred on October 14, 1961, from 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. It was one of the largest defense maneuvers ever held in the western world, involving approximately 250 bombers against 250 missile sites and 1,800 fighter planes flying more than 6,000 sorties. More than 50 U.S. fighter-interceptor squadrons participated, including those equipped with McDonnell F-101B Voodoos , Convair F-106 Delta Darts and F-102 Delta Daggers , Lockheed F-104 Starfighters , Northrop F-89J Scorpions , and Douglas F4D Skyrays . Across

328-611: A front-page article entitled "U.S. Air Defense to Test Muscle in Operation Sky Shield II." This article outlined the North American Air Defense System's (NORAD) plan to simulate a missile-free mock war to test NORAD air defense systems for long-range bombers. The article outlined that the exercise was planned to take twelve hours beginning at 1 p.m. on Saturday, October 14, through 1 a.m. Sunday, October 15. The article continues to outline

410-617: A mock-up with the expected layout of the MX-1179, now known as the MA-1, was inspected and approved. On 18 April 1956, an extended production contract for 17 F-102Bs was issued to Convair, representing substantially fewer aircraft than had been originally anticipated at this stage. On 17 June of that year, the aircraft was officially re-designated as the F-106A. On 18 August 1956, the USAF issued

492-453: A performance gain over the F-102 than had been anticipated. Specifically, both the acceleration and maximum speed were beneath Convair's own estimates. Furthermore, both the engine and avionics proved to be somewhat unreliable. These combined problems, and the delays associated with them, were nearly responsible for the termination of the program. However, the service decided to persist with

574-520: A redesigned vertical tail surface was used. The engine's two-position afterburner exhaust nozzle was also used for idle thrust control, held open to decrease thrust by 40%, resulting in slower taxiing and less brake wear. Throughout its early development, the F-102B had to compete for attention and resources with the F-102A; the aviation author Marcelle Knaack observed that there were fewer funds to develop

656-419: A search triangle 600 miles from New York was set up looking for the missing crew. A US Coast Guard (USCG) cutter reported seeing an orange flare at 12:15 a.m. on the 17th of October, but the eight crew members were eventually presumed lost at sea. These were the only casualties of the three operations. General Laurence Kuter was quoted in media after Sky Shield II ranging from Air Force Magazine to

738-571: A single 1.5 kiloton -warhead AIR-2 (MB-2) Genie unguided air-to-air rocket intended to be fired into enemy bomber formations. Like its predecessor, the F-102 Delta Dagger, it could carry a drop tank under each wing. Later fighters such as the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II and McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle carried missiles recessed in the fuselage or externally, but stealth aircraft would re-adopt

820-583: A slightly upgraded version of the MX-1 already in use on subsonic designs. The resulting aircraft became the F-102A, and in spite of being considered barely suitable for its mission, the Air Force sent out a production contract in March 1954, under which the first deliveries were expected during the following year. By December 1951, the Air Force had already turned its attention to a further improved version, which

902-536: A systems development directive that called for development and production of the F-106 to occur simultaneously; Knaack attributed this policy as being responsible for several later problems in the program. During April 1957, the USAF formally rejected Convair's F-102C proposal (essentially a reengined model of the F-102) to concentrate on the more advanced F-106 program, which it had then anticipated to enter service during

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984-648: A time by the Air National Guard . Many withdrawn aircraft were promptly converted into target drones and redesignated QF-106 under the Pacer Six program, which were used up in 1998. A handful of F-106s were operated by NASA for experimental purposes, such as the Eclipse Project , through to 1998. The F-106 was the ultimate development of the USAF's 1954 interceptor program of the early 1950s. The initial winner of this competition had been

1066-485: The Chicago Tribune , calling Sky Shield II "the greatest exercise in information analysis, decision-making, and action-taking in continental aerospace defense in all our history." But Kuter deflected calls for a score of the operation, reiterating that Sky Shield's intent was, "by no means, a contest between offensive and defensive forces." After the operation, NORAD produced an exhaustive report, presented it to

1148-507: The Air Transport Association (ATA) wrote that "[e]stimated cost figures from only nine of the many air carriers affected totalled approximately one-half million dollars." (equivalent to $ 5,150,000 in 2023) Operation Sky Shield took place as planned on September 10, 1960, from 1:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. CDT. The operation included 1,129 fighter scrambles which were flown by approximately 360 interceptors against

1230-519: The F-102 Delta Dagger , but early versions of this aircraft had demonstrated extremely poor performance, being limited to flying at subsonic speeds and relatively low altitudes. During the testing program the F-102 underwent numerous changes to improve its performance, notably the application of the area rule to the fuselage shaping and a change of engine, and the dropping of the advanced MX-1179 fire control system and its replacement with

1312-503: The Strategic Air Command (SAC) decided against it and instead opted for smaller exercises to be held beginning in 1964 under the code name Top Rung. When the friendly plane units posing as the enemy broke preauthorized flight patterns and attempted to simulate the enemy as much as possible by flying below the preauthorized fly zone and in patterns that also deviated from the initial plans, they caused great difficulties to

1394-452: The Strategic Air Command (SAC) strike force of Boeing B-47 Stratojets and Boeing B-52 Stratofortresses , which simulated an "enemy" (Soviet) force of 310 bombers. The response after the operation from the FAA and ATA was they would continue to support NORAD. William Becker said "The airlines will continue to cooperate to the fullest extent where military requirements dictate the necessity. In

1476-506: The "ultimate interceptor" that the USAF had originally sought. However, while initial work on the Olympus design appeared to go well, by August 1953 Wright was already a full year behind schedule in development. Continued development did not resolve problems with the engine, and in early 1955 the Air Force approved the switch to the Pratt & Whitney J75 . The J75 was somewhat larger than

1558-603: The American aircraft manufacturer Convair . The F-106 was designed in response to the 1954 interceptor program. Envisioned as an imagined "Ultimate Interceptor", it was a development of the F-102 Delta Dagger , and commenced as the F-102B prior to being redesignated by the United States Air Force (USAF). The F-106 was designed without a gun or provision for carrying bombs, instead carrying its AIM-4 Falcon air-to-air missiles within an internal weapons bay, its clean exterior

1640-549: The Arctic Circle to Mexico was grounded, sometimes for up to twelve hours. The estimated cost of the shut downs was millions of dollars. In the reporting of the September 11 attacks in 2001, these exercises were often overlooked, with news agencies reporting that the similar but unplanned evacuation of US airspace during that incident had been first ever clearing of US airspace of all civilian aircraft. In late July 1960,

1722-668: The Canadian government briefly considered purchasing the F-106C/D. To standardize aircraft types, the USAF was directed to conduct Operation Highspeed, a flyoff competition between the USAF F-106A and the U.S. Navy F4H-1 (F-4B) Phantom, which was not only as capable as the F-106 as a missile-armed interceptor but could carry as large a bomb load as the Republic F-105 Thunderchief fighter-bomber. The Phantom

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1804-761: The Department of Defense gave airlines an eight-week notice that it would mobilize an unprecedented number of combat aircraft in a training exercise so vast that it could succeed only if civil aircraft did not interfere and that the airlines should adjust their schedules accordingly and notify their reservation holders. An estimated 1,000 U.S. commercial flights – carrying around 37,000 passengers – and 700 general aviation aircraft were affected by this exercise. To comply with this, Canada had 310 flights with 3,000 passengers affected, and 31 foreign flights scheduled to land in North America were canceled. William B. Becker of

1886-530: The F-106 and the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II determined the latter to be marginally superior, yet the type continued to be operated for a further two decades due to extensive demand for the F-4 in other roles. Convair proposed various improved models of the F-106, typically focused on the radar , communications, and other avionics, but none of these schemes were pursued. In one high-profile incident over Montana on 2 February 1970, an unmanned F-106 recovered from

1968-656: The F-106 in 1981, with "The Sixes" typically passed on to Air National Guard units. The F-106 remained in service in various USAF and ANG units until 1988. Between 1 June 1983 and 1 August 1988 the Delta Darts were incrementally retired and sent to the Military Storage and Disposition Center in Arizona. When the need for a high performance Full Scaled Aerial Target Drone was required, the USAF began withdrawing Delta Darts from storage. Starting in 1986, 194 of

2050-475: The F-106 program after the Air Defense Command had heavily advocated for it. Based upon the test data submitted, USAF officials had determined that modifications to the inlet duct cowling and charging ejectors were likely to increase both acceleration and speed; modifications would be made following the completion of Category II testing and were evaluated during Category III testing. At this stage,

2132-541: The F-106 proved a disappointment for dogfighting over Vietnam. The F-4 had a higher thrust/weight ratio with superior climb, better high speed/low-altitude maneuverability and could be used as a fighter-bomber. Air combat experience over Vietnam showed the need for increased pilot visibility and the utility of a built-in gun, which had been added to the "E" variant of USAF Phantoms. In 1972, some F-106As were upgraded in Project Six Shooter that involved fitting

2214-573: The F-106 was Mach 2.3, during the lightning experiments it was flown at subsonic speeds into clouds at 300 knots (350 miles per hour; 560 kilometres per hour) from 5,000 to 40,000 feet (1,500 to 12,200 metres). The aircraft was equipped with optical sensors which consisted of a video camera and a light detector. Data acquisition was performed with 1980s state of the art digital waveform recorders . NASA used six drones in its Eclipse Project which ran from 1997 to 1998. The Dryden Flight Research Center supported project Eclipse which sought to demonstrate

2296-481: The F-106 with a new canopy without metal bracing which greatly improved pilot visibility. Also added was an optical gunsight and provision for a M61 Vulcan 20 mm cannon . The M61 Vulcan had 650 rounds of ammunition in the center of the weapons bay, being used in place of the AIR-2 Genie. Many F-106 units opted to fly without the gun, retaining their nuclear payload instead. The F-15A Eagle started replacing

2378-475: The J57 in the F-102A, and had greater mass flow. This demanded changes to the inlets to allow more airflow, and led to the further refinement of using a somewhat shorter variable-geometry inlet duct to allow the intakes to be tuned to best performance across a wide range of supersonic speeds. The fuselage grew slightly longer, and was cleaned up and simplified in many ways. The wing was slightly enlarged in area, and

2460-723: The Joint Chiefs of Staff, and then filed it in secure archives. It wasn't until 1997 that most, but not all, of the Sky Shield results were declassified. Conclusions showed that nearly one-half of enemy flights at low altitude had escaped detection, and of those initially detected, 40 percent then eluded tracking radar by changing their formation shape, size, or altitude. No more than one-fourth of bombers in Sky Shield II would have been intercepted. Sky Shield III, held on September 2, 1962, from 1:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.,

2542-484: The LAX ramp sat Western Airlines 's tiny 1926 Douglas M-2 biplane. During Operation Sky Shield II, airports continued to hold open houses, and many airlines threw parties for their staff. Los Angeles International had 40,000 visitors, while workers took advantage of the closing to install a new air traffic control tower. At San Diego's Lindbergh Field , maintenance workers shut down power and performed 12 hours of repairs in

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2624-750: The Mexican border, the Aircraft Control and Warning bases located in the Gulf coast were all made aware of the operation and on stand-by. The estimated 1,880 U.S. civilian domestic and international air fleet were all to remain grounded during Operation Sky Shield II, in addition to the estimated 70,000 general aviation planes also located in the United States. In conformation with the Air Force's Security Control of Air Traffic plan, all foreign air carriers would also be grounded from sending planes to

2706-690: The QF-100 Super Sabre drone; the last shoot down of a QF-106 (57-2524) took place at Holloman AFB on 20 February 1997 after which the QF-106 was superseded by the QF-4S and QF-4E Phantom II drone. Six F-106s were retained by NASA for test purposes through 1998. An F-106B two-seat trainer was operated by NASA Langley Research Center between 1979 and 1991. This Delta Dart was used in research programs ranging from testing supersonic engines to improving maneuverability of fighters. Between 1980 and 1986

2788-525: The USAF ultimately only ordered 350 of the planned 1,000 F-106s. Becoming operational in June 1959, the F-106 was the primary all-weather interceptor aircraft of the USAF through much of the Cold War era; it ended up being the final specialist interceptor to be used by the service to date. It was never used in combat nor were any export opportunities secured. During the 1960s, a competitive evaluation between

2870-645: The USAF, said the report was "completely without foundation". The Chicago Tribune newspaper reported; "We do not know whether the Royal Air Force leaked the story to show up the Kennedy administration because of its decision to scrap the Skybolt air-to-ground missile." The US DoD statement as read in the above paragraph suggested that RAF Vulcans had participated in 1960. However, Vulcans did not participate until 1961. The first Vulcan B.2 (serial XH558 )

2952-545: The United States as part of the NORAD defense system. United States Navy Airborne Early Warning Squadrons consisting of Lockheed WV-2 Super Constellations and Navy picket ships were planned to be the first warning line in the NORAD defense system by being positioned on the outer ring of the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean defense systems. The WV-2s would patrol the northern part of the oceans with their large fuel reserves, while

3034-479: The United States. FAA Administrator Najeeb Halaby commented that the Sky Shield grounding of all civilian air traffic was necessary to allow NORAD and SAC pilots full range of motion at all altitudes. He also noted that the use of radar jamming equipment by the attacking force would severely affect all civilian traffic and make them incapable of using their radar equipment to maneuver and land their planes. Other unnamed FAA officials commented and stated that there

3116-542: The Weber interim seat was the Convair/ICESC (Industry Crew Escape System Committee) Supersonic Rotational B-seat, called the supersonic "bobsled", hence the B designation. It was designed with supersonic ejection as the primary criterion since the F-106 was capable of Mach -2 performance. Fighter pilots viewed high speed ejections as the most important. Seat designers viewed an ejection at low altitude and slow speed as

3198-409: The aircraft takes off. For example, one mission involving six aircraft would tally six sorties. The sortie rate of a unit is the number of sorties that it can support in a given time. This military -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Convair F-106 Delta Dart The Convair F-106 Delta Dart is an all-weather interceptor aircraft designed and produced by

3280-547: The aircraft to be steered by controllers. The MA-1 proved extremely troublesome and was eventually upgraded more than 60 times in service. Similarly to the F-102, the F-106 was designed without a gun, or provision for carrying bombs, but it carried its missiles in an internal weapons bay for clean supersonic flight. It was armed with four Hughes AIM-4 Falcon air-to-air missiles (either AIM-4G infra-red guided missiles or semi-active radar homing (SARH)-guided (which detected reflected radar signals) AIM-4E/F missiles ), along with

3362-480: The aircraft was modified for the purpose of lightning strike research and became known as the Lightning Strike Plane and was struck 714 times without damage. On one hour-long flight at 38,000 feet (12,000 metres) in 1984, lightning struck the research aircraft 72 times. One significant modification was the replacement of the composite nose radome by a metallic radome. Although the maximum speed of

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3444-651: The aircraft was universally known simply as "The Six." The arrival of the F-106 in quantity quickly led to the withdrawal of various older aircraft that were being used in the interceptor role, such as the North American F-86 Sabre and the Northrop F-89 Scorpion . Although contemplated for use in the Vietnam War , the F-106 never saw combat, nor was it exported to foreign users. After the cancellation of their own Avro Arrow ,

3526-446: The approaches and posting the defenders, any sortie from a besieged place must be checked with loss in their advance, when the approaches are still distant; or when the approaches are near, should a sortie succeed in pushing into them by a sudden rush, the assailants must inevitably be driven out again in a moment, with terrible slaughter. In military aviation , a sortie is an aircraft flight or mission (training or combat), starting when

3608-520: The contiguous US, Alaska, and Iceland, as well as for brief periods in Germany and South Korea. The F-106 was the second highest sequentially numbered P/F- aircraft to enter service under the old number sequence (the F-111 was highest), before the system was reset under the 1962 United States Tri-Service aircraft designation system . In service, the F-106's official name, "Delta Dart," was rarely used, and

3690-676: The continent, some 150,000 airfield and flying personnel and 50,000 more in close support would also play a part, spanning NORAD, the U.S. Air Force, Army, Navy, Air National Guard, and the Royal Canadian Air Force. RAF Avro Vulcan B.2s participated in Sky Shield II, four from No. 27 Squadron ( serials XJ824 , XH555 , XJ823 , and one other), again flying from Kindley Air Force Base , Bermuda, and four aircraft from No. 83 Squadron flying from RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland. They simulated Russian heavy bombers operating at

3772-414: The defenders. The NORAD remote radar stations that were considered high-risk for destruction survived all three simulated ground attacks. The Distant Early Warning and Ballistic Missile Early Warning System lines were often penetrated by enemy cells of up to four aircraft even while flying at the radar's optimal altitude for tracking. NORAD acknowledged that real enemy bombers would fly much lower than

3854-511: The defending F-102 Delta Dagger interceptors, covered by the other three Vulcans providing jamming, and tracked round to the north, landing at Plattsburgh Air Force Base , New York. The northern force, attacking in a stream, reported a single instance of radar contact by an interceptor and all four landed in Newfoundland . Sky Shield II phases were transmitted to Royal Canadian Air Force stations by secure media, but in case of intercept, not

3936-483: The details. Operations were given RCAF code names, and planning conferences included Trusted Agents. Final pre-event checklists were dubbed Double Take A or B. The harried, last moments: Fast Pace. The Go hour: Cocked Pistol. Various milestones were designated Big Noise A or B and so on, through Fade Out. A B-52 lost in the Atlantic Ocean accounted for the eight lives lost during the exercise. On 15 October 1961,

4018-469: The downtime and reduced the price of phone calls between each other from 15 to 10 cents for the first five minutes. Sortie A sortie (from the French word meaning exit or from Latin root surgere meaning to "rise up") is a deployment or dispatch of one military unit, be it an aircraft , ship , or troops, from a strongpoint . The term originated in siege warfare . In siege warfare ,

4100-408: The event that an exercise of the magnitude of Sky Shield is justified in the future, we strongly urge that a minimum of 90 days' advance notice be given. The exercise should be conducted on Saturday night-Sunday morning of a three-day holiday weekend." The American public also responded well, and when given a reasonable amount of time to reschedule their flights were fully understanding and supportive of

4182-410: The exercise in great detail. The Leader-Herald stated that the purpose of this exercise was to provide operational training for the entire North American Air Defense System program. The beginning of this Sky Shield operation was to begin when a force of Strategic Air Command (SAC) B-47s and B-52s accompanied by a number of British bombers initiated contact with NORAD's systems. The defense system

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4264-514: The feasibility of a reusable Aerotow- launch vehicle . The objective was to tow, inflight, a modified QF-106 aircraft with a C-141A transport aircraft. The test demonstrated the possibility of towing and launching a space launch vehicle from behind a tow plane. On 2 February 1970, an F-106 of the 71st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron , piloted by Captain Gary Foust, entered a flat spin over Montana . Foust followed procedures and ejected from

4346-411: The following year. On 26 December 1956, the first prototype F-106, an aerodynamic test bed, performed its maiden flight from Edwards Air Force Base . On 26 February 1957, the second prototype, which was outfitted with a fuller set of equipment, made its first flight. Early flight testing around the end of 1956 and beginning of 1957 demonstrated somewhat disappointing results, having achieved less of

4428-508: The highest altitude – 56,000 ft (17,000 m), above the United States Air Force (USAF) B-52 Stratofortresses at 35,000–42,000 ft (11,000–13,000 m) and the lower-level B-47 Stratojets. The RAF had invested considerable effort in developing their jamming technique after lessons learned in their Exercise Ardent a decade earlier, and their attacks were all successful without any (simulated) losses, or even successful detection. A 27 Sqn Vulcan, flying from Bermuda, successfully evaded

4510-576: The idea of carrying missiles or bombs internally for reduced radar signature . The first ejection seat fitted to early F-106s was a variation of the seat used by the F-102 and was called the Weber interim seat. It was a catapult seat which used an explosive charge to propel it clear of the aircraft. This seat was not a zero-zero seat and was inadequate for ejections at supersonic speeds as well as ground level ejections and ejections at speeds below 120 knots (140 miles per hour; 220 kilometres per hour) and 2,000 feet (610 metres). The second seat that replaced

4592-474: The metropolitan targets that were presumed to be under mushroom clouds . All T-33s were on the ground in Canada within 49 minutes, and in the United States within 72 minutes. The closings for this operation were 1,800 scheduled airline flights in the United States, 130 more in Canada, and 31 foreign airlines. The total cost of these closings was estimated to be $ 1 million. Sky Shield IV was planned for 1963, but

4674-594: The military defense operations. However, John Diefenbaker , who was the Canadian prime minister at the time of the operation, shared his objections to Sky Shield repeatedly until the Americans called off the operation on September 15. Planning for Sky Shield II was more organized than the first operation. In August 1961, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association published an article in its Pilot magazine saying "Don't Forget Sky Shield", and "If you've planned

4756-428: The more capable systems of the F-102B, which would have been useful in more quickly overcoming some of the technical difficulties that arose. The number of F-102As on order grew substantially beyond that which had been originally forecast, indicative of the growing importance attached to what had once been intended to be an interim or 'stop-gap' aircraft to fill in until the F-102B could be delivered. During December 1955,

4838-747: The most likely possibility. The ejection sequence with the B-seat was quite complicated and there were some unsuccessful ejections that resulted in pilot fatalities. The third seat, that replaced the Convair B-seat, was the Weber Zero-Zero ROCAT (for Rocket Catapult) seat. Weber Aircraft Corporation designed a "zero-zero" seat to operate at up to 600 knots (690 miles per hour; 1,100 kilometres per hour). High-altitude supersonic ejections were rare and ejections at relatively low altitudes and low speeds were more likely. The Weber "zero-zero" seat

4920-411: The new passenger terminal and ramp. To go along with this, at every gate across the airport different airliners were showing off their latest planes. United Airlines showed off its Douglas DC-8 and Boeing 720 jets, Convair 340 , and Douglas DC-7A cargo-liner. Bonanza Air Lines opened its Fairchild F-27 ; Pacific Air Lines a Martin 4-0-4 , and National Airlines a Lockheed Constellation . On

5002-672: The picket ships escorted by destroyers would survey the southern part of the oceans with their long-range radar systems. Protecting the Arctic Cap were the Canadians and their radar systems. Their Pinetree Line stations along the Distant Early Warning line, the Mid-Canadian line, and the U.S. border were also coordinating with the NORAD defense system. While there would be no participation by any planes south of

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5084-520: The planned fleet of 1,000 aircraft. Deliveries of the single-seat F-106A and the twin-seat F-106B combat-capable trainer variant commenced to 15 fighter interceptor squadrons in October 1959. On 15 December 1959, Major Joseph W. Rogers set a world speed record of 1,525.96 mph (2,455.79 km/h) in a Delta Dart at 40,500 ft (12,300 m). That year, Charles E. Myers flew the same model aircraft at 1,544 mph (2,484 km/h). The F-106

5166-467: The relief force, etc. Sir John Thomas Jones , analyzing a number of sieges carried out during the Peninsular War (1807–1814), wrote: The events of these sieges show that a bold and vigorous sortie in force might carry destruction through every part of a besieger's approaches, where the guard is injudiciously disposed and ill commanded; but that if due precautions have been observed in forming

5248-505: The results showed how unsuccessful the defense would be against a Soviet air attack. No more than one quarter of bombers in Sky Shield would have been intercepted, according to later reports. The results of the tests were classified until 1997 over fears that they could be used by the Soviets to engage the US more effectively in the event of World War III . In the exercises, all air traffic from

5330-459: The service enacted several measures to hasten development towards production; in April 1957, it authorized the conditional acceptance of several F-106s being used by Convair for flight testing; it also took several quick decisions to settle outstanding development questions. By mid-1957, funding for 120 F-106As had been allocated. The USAF ultimately opted to order 350 F-106s, substantially fewer than

5412-399: The start of 1961; this can be partially attributed to two major modification and retrofit program conducted during this timeframe. Following the resolution of initial teething problems – in particular an ejection seat that killed the first 12 pilots to eject from the aircraft – its exceptional performance led to the aircraft becoming relatively popular amongst its pilots. The F-106 served in

5494-605: The surviving surplus aircraft were converted into target drones and these were designated QF-106A s and used for target practice vehicles under the Pacer Six Program by the Aerial Targets Squadron . The last was destroyed in January 1998. The drones were still capable of being flown as manned aircraft, such as for ferrying to a test; during the test they were flown unmanned. The QF-106 replaced

5576-624: The terminal, and across San Diego at the Mission Valley Inn, Pacific Southwest and American Airlines held a crew luncheon and pool party. At Chicago O'Hare , Eastern Air Lines , American Airlines, and Continental swung open the doors to their Boeing 707s and 720Bs . Trans World Airlines presented its Convair 880 , and United Airlines its new Sud-Aviation Caravelle twin-jet from France. At Chicago's Midway , American, United, and TWA displayed Douglas DC-6s and DC-7s. The two Chicago airports also worked on communications during

5658-475: The test altitude and be more successful. The SAGE radar system was able to track less than one-third of the total mileage flown within radar range. While NORAD had prepared for high-tech electronic warfare and countermeasures , the low-tech chaff is what affected SAGE the most. SAGE was affected so much that NORAD had to move to manual plane tracking, which allowed the enemy to get into bombing range before being tracked. The penetrations by RAF Vulcans in 1961

5740-406: The word sortie refers specifically to a sudden sending of troops against the enemy from a defensive position—that is, an attack launched against the besiegers by the defenders. If the sortie is through a sally port , the verb to sally may be used interchangeably with to sortie . Purposes of sorties include harassment of enemy troops, destruction of siege weaponry and engineering works, joining

5822-505: Was North America's first test of procedures for clearing national civilian air traffic at short notice, such as would be done in the event of a Soviet attack. Hundreds of USAF trainers were used to simulate normal civil traffic levels and routes. The Air Force trainers took off in 319 Lockheed T-33 light jets, 263 in the U.S. and 56 in Canada, from random and unannounced locations. As the alert horn sounded, Federal Aviation Administration controllers hustled to get them to civil airports far from

5904-420: Was a possibility of an enemy attack during the operation and that the NORAD defenders would be easily able to identify actual enemy aircraft from other participants in the operation. During Operation Sky Shield, airports and airlines prepared tours charging around 50 cents for a 20-minute tour. For example, at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) temporary guides met visitors at ticketing posts and showed off

5986-529: Was a reasonable match for the F-4 Phantom II in a dogfight, with superior high-altitude turn performance and overall maneuverability (aided by the aircraft's lower wing loading ). The Phantom had better radar – operated by an additional crewman – and could carry a load of up to four radar-guided AIM-7 Sparrow and four infrared AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles, while the AIM-4 Falcon missiles carried by

6068-515: Was beneficial to supersonic flight. Major differences from the F-102 included the adoption of the more powerful Pratt & Whitney J75 turbojet engine, heavily redesigned air inlets along with a variable-geometry inlet duct to suit a wide range of supersonic speeds, application of the area rule to the fuselage shaping, and a general increase in size. On 26 December 1956, the first prototype performed its maiden flight . After flight testing demonstrated lesser performance gains than anticipated,

6150-603: Was envisaged as a specialized all-weather missile-armed interceptor to shoot down bombers. It was complemented by other Century Series fighters for other roles such as daylight air superiority or fighter-bombing. To support its role, the F-106 was equipped with the Hughes MA-1 integrated fire-control system , which could be linked to the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) network for ground control interception (GCI) missions, allowing

6232-436: Was estimated to reach 150,000 with another 100,000 coordinated into rescue teams and maintenance staff on stand-by. Fifteen Army National Guard Nike-Ajax missile bases in the northeast United States were to remain in stand-by mode, purely as practice because no missiles were to be fired during the exercise. Thirty Air National Guard interceptor squadrons were planned to patrol along the northern and southern perimeters of

6314-682: Was first reported in a British newspaper, the Daily Express , in January 1963. It was initially strenuously denied by the United States Department of Defense , which in Flight magazine quoted "that British aircraft last took part in a Strategic Air Command exercise over the United States in the Autumn of 1960 [sic]", the '[sic]' being added by the magazine indicating an error. In a later statement, Eugene Zuckert , Secretary of

6396-406: Was initially referred to as the F-102B. The main planned change was the replacement of the F-102A's Pratt & Whitney J57 (which had itself replaced the original J40 ) with the more powerful Wright J67 (a Bristol Olympus produced under license ). By the time this engine would be available, the MX-1179 was expected to be available, and thus it was selected as well. The intended result would be

6478-592: Was not delivered to the RAF until 1 July 1960; the first delivery to an operational squadron, No 83 ( XH563 ), occurred on 23 December 1960. The B.2s were replacing the Vulcan B.1s the squadron had been flying since 1957. This confusion over dates may have led to urban legend that "The RAF Nuked America Twice [in 1960 and 1961]." On Wednesday, October 11, 1961, the Leader-Herald of Gloversville and Johnstown, N.Y. wrote

6560-564: Was said to consist of a NORAD fighter squadron composed from both the U.S. and Royal Canadian Air Forces. This squadron would consist of about 6,000 sorties consisting of F-102, F-106, and F-89 jets. The NORAD defense coordinator for this operation was General Laurence S. Kuter located in Colorado Springs. In addition, Lt. Gen Robert J. Wood would command the U.S. army air defense units in coordination with Kuter's plans. The total estimated number of military personnel and civilians

6642-454: Was satisfactory and was retrofitted to the F-106 after 1965. Early operations of the F-106 were troubled by numerous technical issues. These included generator defects, fuel-flow issues (particularly during cold weather), and combustor-starter malfunctions. During December 1959, all F-106s were temporarily grounded following the accidental jettisoning of the canopy mid-flight on one aircraft. Many, but not all, of these problems were resolved by

6724-686: Was the winner but would first be used to escort and later replace the F-105 fighter-bomber in the late 1960s before replacing older interceptors in Air Defense Command in the 1970s. The F-106 was progressively updated in service, with improved avionics , a modified wing featuring a noticeable conical camber, an infrared search and track system, streamlined supersonic wing tanks which provided virtually no degradation to overall aircraft performance, better instrumentation and features like an inflight refuelling receptacle and an arrestor hook for landing emergencies. Air-to-air combat testing suggested "The Six"

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