Deleted
Currently: Offline
Posts: 0
Location:
Joined: January 1970
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2007 1:38:53 GMT 9
Anyone out there who has flown the F-106 know how well it performed against other aircraft of its era? I know there was talk of sending it to Vietnam to provide top cover for F-4's but that never happened. It had to of been pretty good at ACM if that was considered. I know it was designed to intercept bombers but I was just wondering if it could hold its own in ACM.
|
|
Bill Sullivan
F-106 Qualified
Currently: Offline
Posts: 22
Location:
Joined: June 2004
|
Post by Bill Sullivan on Sept 19, 2007 2:40:41 GMT 9
For a while in the 70's, the F-106 was considered the gold standard against which other fighters were measured. The biggest reasons, IMHO, that it was not eventually deployed to SEA was the relative scarcity of the aircraft and the lack of a gun.
|
|
|
Post by LtCol M. Ross Shulmister on Sept 21, 2007 2:15:09 GMT 9
Most fighter planes are pretty good in a dogfight, if the pilot knows its strengths and weaknesses, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the opposing force, and they are somewhat evenly matched.
The Dart would have done just fine in SEA if it were to have been flown by a properly-trained and experienced pilot, and had a gun.
The F-106 could out-endure any other fighter at the time, but had a maneuverability problem when supersonic. But then, few dogfights are supersonic.
When the 27th FIS finally began air-to-air training, it wasn't too hard to figure out that the most physically fit pilots had an edge. No one was able to stay on my six (o'clock), but getting a missile lock was a real challenge (there were no guns at the time).
There are those who will tell you that the F-106 did poorly against the F-104 and other fighters at the William Tell competition in Florida (think it was in 1969). 27th FIS was invited to compete with their Darts, and sent its most senior pilots to claim fame and glory. The old farts did rather poorly against other units, who sent their finest young pilots. They also complained that the rules put the Dart at a disadvantage (makes me wonder why they bothered to adhere to them - Billy Mitchell didn't).
Reminds me of the time I was flying Thuds out of Ta Khli, and the leadership convinced the Pentagon to let them do a MIG sweep. Only the most senior pilots were scheduled to fly those missions (no kills that day).
If you watch 'Dogfights' on the History Channel, you may see that the Israeli pilots who were the young aggressive ones tended to get the most kills.
Except for the last year or so of the Vietnam conflict, the '6 did not have a gun, and that was a serious flaw.
The F-105 had a gun, and had terrible maneuverability - yet there were many air-to-air kills by F-105s, of enemy planes that strayed in front of the Thud's deadly Vulcan cannon.
M. Ross Shulmister LtCol, USAF Ret. 27th FIS, 1968-70
|
|
Bullhunter
Global Moderator
318th FIS Jet Shop 1975-78
Currently: Offline
Posts: 7,379
Location:
Joined: May 2005
|
Post by Bullhunter on Sept 21, 2007 4:28:31 GMT 9
Love that show and watch it often. They run lots of repeats though. The computer graphics work they do is awesome. LTC. Shulmister, while I was assigned to the 318th FIS we had a U.S. Navy exchange pilot flying our F-106's and just about all the air combat training (ACT) sorties he flew on he whooped the USAF pilots with or own aircraft. Went TDY to Mirmour NAS (Top Gun) once and while we were doing ACT sorties against F-4's he whooped them Navy pilots also. He even went up against an F-14 and whoop the Navy guy in his F-14. He really mastered the F-106. Wish I could remember his name.
|
|
Gian Vito
F-106 Qualified
Airman first class in the '90 (2nd wing, italian air force)
Currently: Offline
Posts: 30
Location:
Joined: September 2007
|
Post by Gian Vito on Oct 6, 2007 2:52:45 GMT 9
I think the F106 was a great fighter, the best among the “century series”. Unfortunately had no Aim 9. The Aim4h was a good solution but Usa stopped the project. I read a lot about the F21 (israelian Kfir) in the Top gun dogfighting. Usa spent money to rent a foreign fighter when they had already the F106 for the same duty! I read that ,over 20000 ft altitude, the F8 Crusader was superior to the F4 Phantom, and a very good adversary for every “century series” fighter. Have you any data/story about it? Bye Bye.
|
|