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North American F-107A

Please note: This aircraft is in storage.

The F-107A was a mid-1950s development of the successful F-100 Super Sabre. Special features of the F-107A included an engine air intake above the cockpit, an all-moving vertical fin, and a system (called a Variable Area Inlet Duct) that automatically controlled the amount of air fed to the jet engine.  

The first of three prototype F-107As flew in September 1956, attaining Mach 1 (Mach 1 is the speed of sound). A few months later, an F-107 flew at Mach 2 (twice the speed of sound).

 

The following year, after seriously considering the production of the F-107, the USAF instead chose to buy the F-105 Thunderchief.  The first and third F-107A prototypes were then leased to the NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics), predecessor to NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), for high-speed flight research.

 

The F-107A on display is the second prototype, which was used for weapons testing with both conventional and atomic bombs. It was flown to the museum when the program ended in 1957.  

 

TECHNICAL NOTES:

Engine: Pratt & Whitney J75 of 23,500 lbs. thrust with afterburner

Armament: Four 20mm cannons, 108 2.75-inch rockets and up to 4,000 lbs. of bombs

Maximum speed: Mach 2+

Range: 1,570 miles

Service ceiling: 48,000 feet

Weight: 41,537 lbs. maximum

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