The prominent fairings on each side of the jet pipe on the Convair F-102A Delta Dagger came as a result of the YF-102 prototypes being barely supersonic. At the time, NASA aerodynamicist Richard Whitcomb had developed the idea of area ruling to minimize transonic drag. Since the fuselage couldn’t be “pinched” to the degree needed without a drastic redesign, the fairings in effect created the “pinched waist” needed for area ruling. In addition to a more powerful version of the J57 engine, the production F-102As were much better performers. For it’s day, the F-102A pushed the state of the art and many of the problems that dogged the early Delta Daggers were finally resolved, but the aircraft’s early reputation as troublesome stuck. While most F-102s served stateside with the Air Defense Command, some were stationed in Europe and Okinawa. In 1962, F-102s were moved to South Vietnam to protect against potential (but never occurred) North Vietnamese air attack. From 1062-1972, the F-102s were actually one of the safest aircraft with only 8 lost to operational accidents. One was downed by a MiG-21, two were lost to ground fire, and four were lost to ground attacks by Viet Cong sappers. Under Project Stovepipe, F-102s used their IR sensors to look for enemy campfires at night over the Ho Chi Minh Trail, sometimes even firing a heat-seeking Falcon AAM at the target. F-102s also flew daytime attacks, firing unguided rockets from the weapons bay. 618 ground attack missions were flown by the F-102As. Though wholly unsuited for ground attack, the F-102s had the fastest response time when emergent close air support was needed- all of South Vietnam was within 3 minutes’ flying time of Delta Daggers based at Tan Son Nhut AB at Saigon. November Aviation Photo Challenge | @kjdphoto1971 | #1119planes | “Delta Wing” | Day 17⠀ #avgeek #aviation #aircraft #planeporn #PimaAirandSpaceMuseum #Pima #Tucson #DavisMonthan #Arizona #airport #planespotting #instaplane #instagramaviation #Convair #F102 #DeltaDagger #USAF #mil_aviation_originals #instaaviation #aviationlovers #aviationphotography #flight #AvgeekSchoolofKnowledge #AvGeekNation (at Pima Air & Space Museum) https://www.instagram.com/p/B4-W3mdhIBR/?igshid=m9hbu9nwrr7j
