| Century Series |
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| u.s. fighter aircraft 1950-1959 | |
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The Century series aircraft were a series of early US Supersonic Jet Fighters built for the United States Air Force during the 1950s and early 1960s . It was so named because the numbering of this series of aircraft started at F-100:
The unifying characteristic of Century aircraft was advanced performance and avionics when they were introduced. The F-100 was the first aircraft in USAF capable of exceeding the speed of sound in level flight. The F-101 was the first aircraft in USAF capable of exceeding 1,000 mph (1,600 km/h). The F-102 was the first aircraft in the world to utilize Area Rule in its design. Three of the Century Series aircraft — F-101, F-102, and F-106 — were armed with nuclear air-to-air missiles. F-102 and F-106 were the only aircraft in USAF arsenal at the time in which a nuclear weapon was under control of a single person. Similar advancements were made in this period by the United States Navy with the F4D Skyray and the F8U Crusader carrier-based aircraft. The attribution of the Century Series monicker is somewhat arbitrary. The series presents a mix of fighter-bombers (F-100, F-105) and interceptors (F-101, F-102, F-104, F-106). Not included are the Republic XF-103 Thunderwarrior and the North American XF-108 Rapier prototypes, the McDonnell F-4 Phantom II (briefly F-110 Spectre) fighter-bomber, or the General Dynamics F-111 and Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk strike aircraft. See List Of Military Aircraft Of The United States . |
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