As part of our series Today in Aviation History, we discuss the Convair F-106 Delta Dart, which made its first flight on December 26, 1956. Having originated in the design of the F-102 Delta Dagger, the F-106 Delta Dart would serve well into the 1980s, and was a ever-present sight over US airspace during the 1960s and 1970s.
The Delta Dart had been developed from Convair’s original delta-winged supersonic interceptor, the F-102 Delta Dagger, which, as originally designed, had failed to exceed Mach 1 and only did so after significant design modifications, such as the area ruled fuselage. Convair had intended not to build a separate aircraft, but rather a further modification of the F-102, which reflective in the original designation of the aircraft; the F-102B. However, due to all of the changes made to the design of the F-102B, the Air Force announced that on June 17, 1956, the aircraft was to be redesignated as the F-106A.
The first F-106A, 56-451, was built at Convair’s San Diego, California plant, and trucked to Edwards Air Force Base on December 14. On December 26, 1956, Convair’s chief test pilot Richard Lowe Johnson took in 56-451 for the F-106’s maiden flight. Johnson had also been the first to fly the F-102 Delta Dagger some three years prior. The F-106’s first flight was a brief 20 minutes, on account of mechanical difficulties, but not before reaching 30,000 feet (9,144 meters) and 0.8 Mach during the flight. While initial flight testing led to somewhat disappointing results, as Convair had estimated that the F-106 would have much better acceleration and maximum speed than the flight tests had shown, it was likely that modifications in the form of redesigning the inlet duct and charging ejectors would produce improvements. Additionally, a new variant of the Pratt & Whitney J75 afterburning turbojet led to better overall performance.
The F-106As entered operational service with the USAF’s Air Defense Command (ADC) in May 1959 by joining the 539th Fighter Interceptor Squadron at McGuire AFB, New Jersey. By October of that same year, the type became fully operational. On December 15, 1959, Air Force test pilot Major Joseph W. Rogers set a world speed record of 1,525.96 mph (2,455.79 km/h) at 40,500 ft (12,300 m) in F-106A 56-0467 over Edwards AFB, proving the aircraft’s speed capabilities to the world.
The Delta Dart was originally designed to carry only air-to-air missiles and no guns. The standard loadout was four Hughes AIM-4 Falcons, with two AIM-4Fs with semi-active radar homing (SARH) systems, and two AIM-4Gs fitted an infrared-seeker. The aircraft could also be armed with a single Douglas AIR-2 Genie unguided nuclear air-to-air rocket, which carried a 1.5 kiloton warhead, intended to destroy a Sovit bomber formation. In 1972, the F-106s were upgraded through Project Six Shooter with the installation of an M61 Vulcan 20mm cannon with 650 rounds of ammunition in place of the Genie nuclear rocket. Project Six Shooter also saw the Delta Darts receive an optical gunsight for the M61 and a new canopy without metal bracing to improve pilot visibility.
While the Air Force was originally intent on ordering 1,000 F-106s, the reduction in the Air Force order would lead to a total of 342 aircraft being produced, including two prototypes. In addition to the F-106A, Convair also developed the F-106B, a combat-capable training variant that first flew on April 9, 1958, and achieved initial operational status in July 1960. 1960 was also the year that all Delta Dart production stopped, with a total of 277 F-106As and 63 F-106Bs being produced and delivered to the USAF. Unlike the F-102, the Delta Dart, which was often nicknamed “The Six”, the F-106 was never flown in combat or exported to any US allies. Throughout the 1960s, the Delta Dart was one of the Air Force’s go-to interceptors, replacing the North American F-86 Sabre and the Northrop F-89 Scorpion from USAF Fighter Interceptor Squadrons (FIS), and was often called to monitor the activities of Tupolev Tu-95 “Bear” bombers flying just outside US airspace. Eventually, the F-106s were also accepted into service with Air National Guard (ANG) units of Massachusetts, New Jersey, Florida, Michigan, Montana, and California.
On February 2, 1970, an F-106A Delta Dart was involved in one of the most unusual incidents in aviation history. That day, First Lieutenant Gary Foust of the 71st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 24th Air Division, based at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana, was flying F-106A serial number 58-0787 in an air combat training mission, where he and two other F-106s would practice dogfighting maneuvers. Flying against Captain Tom Curtis, the two “Sixes” engaged in a “vertical rolling scissors” maneuver at 38,000 feet (11,600 meters), trying to get behind the other’s tail. During the climb, Lt. Foust’s F-106 stalled and entered a flat spin. Foust would describe the incident thusly: “The aircraft looked like the pitot tube was stationary with the aircraft rotating around it. Very flat and rotating quite slowly.”
Foust did everything in his training to try and recover from the spin, including deploying his plane’s drag chute. When all his actions proved fruitless, Foust ejected from his F-106 at 15,000 feet. But incredibly, the aircraft recovered on its own immediately after Foust ejected, likely due to the balance and configuration changes caused by the ejection and maintained a gradual rate of descent towards the snowy fields below. At that point, the third pilot in the air, Major James ‘Jim’ Lowe, called out to Foust over the radio, “Gary, you’d better get back in it.” After briefly entering the ground effect, F-106A 58-0787 mad an unpiloted, wheels-up landing in a frozen wheatfield outside Big Sandy, Montana. Lt. Foust was found by local snowmobilers, while a local sheriff arrived at the plane to see its engines still running in the field. After telephoning Malmstrom, he received instructions on how to throttle back the aircraft’s engine, but with the plane moving due to melting the snow it was sitting on top of, he decided to let the Delta Dart burn through its remaining fuel until it exhausted its supply. The aircraft had slid an extra 400 yards from where it had landed, and after it was retrieved by an Air Force recovery team, it was repaired and returned to service with the nickname the “Cornfield Bomber”. Foust even flew the aircraft once again as part of the 49th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida before 58-0787 was selected for preservation at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, in August 1986.
By the 1980s, the F-106 Delta Darts were retired in favor of aircraft such as the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle, with the final USAF and ANG units retiring the last of their Delta Darts in 1988. But some 194 F-106s would remain in service to become QF-106A target drones to be blown out of the skies by newer fighters but were still capable of being flown as manned aircraft when they were not being shot at. The QF-106As were kept in service until 1997, when they were replaced by target drone variants of the F-4 Phantom II, the QF-4. A further six Delta Darts were also used as test aircraft by NASA, and some would also be used as chase planes for the Rockwell B-1B Lancer test program.
Today, several F-106As and F-106Bs are on display in aerospace museums across the United States or as gate guardians at several Air Force bases. Its legacy stands as one of the last dedicated interceptors flown by the USAF, along with being an iconic delta winged aircraft that kept the skies calm, save for the roar of its own engine. While the Convair F-106 Delta Dart has long since been retired, its story will continue to inspire future generations of aviation enthusiasts to come.
Today in Aviation History is a series highlighting the achievements, innovations, and milestones that have shaped the skies. All the previous anniversaries are available HERE
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Raised in Fullerton, California, Adam has earned a bachelor's degree in history and is now pursuing his master's in the same field. Fascinated by aviation history from a young age, he has visited numerous air museums across the United States, including the National Air and Space Museum and the San Diego Air and Space Museum. He volunteers at the Planes of Fame Air Museum in Chino as a docent and researcher, gaining hands-on experience with aircraft maintenance. Known for his encyclopedic knowledge of aviation history, he is particularly interested in the stories of individual aircraft and their postwar journeys. Active in online aviation communities, he shares his work widely and seeks further opportunities in the field.
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