The North American F-100 Super Sabre Part 2. The "Hun" is an American supersonic jet fighter aircraft that served with the United States Air Force (USAF) from 1954 to 1971 and with the Air National Guard (ANG) until 1979. The first of the Century Series of USAF jet fighters, it was the first USAF fighter capable of supersonic speed in level flight. The F‑100 was designed by North American Aviation as a higher-performance follow-on to the F-86 Sabre air-superiority fighter.
Adapted as a fighter-bomber, the F-100 was superseded by the high-speed Republic F-105 Thunderchief for strike missions over North Vietnam. The F‑100 flew extensively over South Vietnam as the air force's primary close air-support jet until being replaced by the more efficient subsonic LTV A-7 Corsair II The F‑100 also served in other NATO air forces and with other U.S. allies. In its later life, it was often referred to as the "Hun", a shortened version of "one hundred".
n January 1951, North American Aviation delivered an unsolicited proposal for a supersonic day fighter to the United States Air Force. Named Sabre 45 because of its 45° wing sweep, it represented an evolution of the F-86 Sabre. The mockup was inspected on 7 July 1951, and after over 100 modifications, the new aircraft was accepted as the F-100 on 30 November 1951. Extensive use of titanium throughout the aircraft was notable. On 3 January 1952, the USAF ordered two prototypes followed by 23 F-100As in February and an additional 250 F-100As in August.
The YF-100A first flew on 25 May 1953, seven months ahead of schedule. It reached Mach 1.04 on this first flight in spite of being fitted with a derated XJ57-P-7 engine. The second prototype flew on 14 October 1953, followed by the first production F-100A on 9 October 1953. The USAF operational evaluation from November 1953 to December 1955 found the new fighter to have superior performance, but declared it not ready for wide-scale deployment due to various deficiencies in the design. These findings were subsequently confirmed during "Project Hot Rod" operational suitability tests.
Six F-100s arrived at the Air Proving Ground Command (APGC), Eglin Air Force Base, in August 1954. The Air Force Operational Test Center (AFOTC) was scheduled to use four of the fighters in operational suitability tests and the other two were to undergo armament tests by the Air Force Armament Center. The Tactical Air Division of the AFOTC was conducting the APGC testing under the direction of project office Lieutenant Colonel Henry W. Brown. Initial testing was completed by APGC personnel at Edwards Air Force Base.
Particularly troubling was the yaw instability in certain flight conditions, which produced inertia coupling. The aircraft could develop a sudden yaw and roll, which would happen too fast for the pilot to correct and would quickly overstress the aircraft structure to disintegration. Under these conditions, North American's chief test pilot, George Welch, was killed while dive testing an early-production F-100A (s/n 52-5764) on 12 October 1954.
Another control problem stemmed from handling characteristics of the swept wing at high angles of attack. As the aircraft approached stall speeds, loss of lift on the tips of the wings caused a violent pitch-up. This particular phenomenon (which could easily be fatal at low altitude with insufficient time to recover) became known as the "Sabre dance".
Nevertheless, delays in the Republic F-84F Thunderstreak program pushed the Tactical Air Command (TAC) to order the raw F-100A into service. TAC also requested that future F-100s be fighter-bombers, with the capability of delivering nuclear bombs.
General characteristics
Crew: 1
Length: 50 ft (15 m)
Wingspan: 38 ft 9 in (11.81 m)
Height: 16 ft 2.75 in (4.9467 m)
Wing area: 400 sq ft (37 m2)
Aspect ratio: 3.76
Airfoil: NACA 64A007
Zero-lift drag coefficient: CD0.0130
Drag area: 5.0 sq ft (0.46 m2)
Empty weight: 21,000 lb (9,525 kg)
Gross weight: 28,847 lb (13,085 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 34,832 lb (15,800 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Pratt & Whitney J57-P-21/21A afterburning turbojet engine, 10,200 lbf (45 kN) thrust dry, 16,000 lbf (71 kN) with afterburner
Performance
Maximum speed: 924 mph (1,487 km/h, 803 kn)
Maximum speed: Mach 1.4
Range: 1,995 mi (3,211 km, 1,734 nmi)
Service ceiling: 50,000 ft (15,000 m)
Rate of climb: 22,400 ft/min (114 m/s)
Lift-to-drag: 13.9
Wing loading: 72.1 lb/sq ft (352 kg/m2)
Thrust/weight: 0.55
Armament
Guns: 4× 20 mm (0.787 in) M39A1 revolver cannon each with 200 rounds per gun
Hardpoints: 6 with a capacity of 7,040 lb (3,190 kg), with provisions to carry combinations of:
Missiles: ** 4× AIM-9 Sidewinder or
2× AGM-12 Bullpup or
2× or 4× LAU-3/A 2.75" (70 mm) unguided rocket dispenser
Bombs: Conventional bombs or Mark 7, Mk 28, Mk 38, or Mk 43 nuclear bombs
Avionics
Minneapolis-Honeywell MB-3 automatic pilot
AN/AJB-1B low-altitude bombing system
AN/APR-26 rearward radar warning
#F100 #SuperSabre #aircraft
