Il Convair F-102 Delta Dagger was an important American-made interceptor fighter used during the Cold War. Furthermore, it was the first supersonic interceptor – made in the USA.
The main users of the aircraft were the US Air Force, the Hellenic Air Force and the Turkish Air Force.
The aircraft was produced by the Convair aircraft company and, in total, approximately 1000 examples were built.
It is worth underlining that theF-102 was developed by the Convair XF-92, while fromF-102 was developed on Convair F-106 Delta Dart.
The first prototype of F-102 It first took flight on October 24, 1953, but initially had problems. It was then modified using the "area rule," which made supersonic flight possible.
The aircraft entered active service with the US Air Force in April 1956.
The aircraft was a very fast supersonic interceptor fighter, thanks also to the natural with delta wings. In fact, the natural innovative gave it a good stability at high speeds and a good interception capability. In addition, the aircraft was equipped with modern radar systems for the period, which allowed it to detect and track targets at long ranges.
However, theF-102 had some critical issues, among which was its limited autonomy. In fact, it had a fairly limited range, which made it less effective in long-duration or long-distance missions. Furthermore, the fighter, in some phases, showed reliability and maintenance problems, which limited its effectiveness from an operational point of view. Furthermore, the aircraft, having been designed as a interceptor fighter, was not suitable as a ground attack or reconnaissance aircraft.
THEF-102 was used, in the Vietnam War (photo at the bottom), as an escort aircraft for bombers and as a ground attack aircraft. Overall, 14 were lost in Vietnam F-102.
The aircraft was used by the Turkish Air Force in the 1970sTurkish invasion of Cyprus (July 20-August 18, 1974).
THEF-102 It was withdrawn from active service by the US Air Force in 1976, and by the Greek and Turkish Air Forces in 1979.
THEF-102A It had a wingspan of 11,61 m, a height of 6,464 m and a length of 20,83 m. Its empty weight was 8777 kg, while fully loaded it was 11110 kg.
Engine: 1 Pratt & Whitney J57. Maximum speed was 1328 km/h at more than 12000 m and ceiling was 16300 m.
The armament consisted of 24 70 mm FFAR unguided rockets and 6 AIM-4 Falcon air-to-air missiles (or 3 AIM-4 Falcon and 1 AIM-26 Falcon with conventional or nuclear warhead).
Photo: USAF / NASA
