World's Fastest Single-Engine Jet Aircraft: The Story of Convair's F-106 Delta Dart Interceptor

Specialty Press books are all over the map; some are crude and poorly written by amateur enthusiasts and full of obvious inaccuracies. This one is flat-out excellent, with lots of technical details including a great discussion of the genesis and development of the insanely complex MA-1 fire control system, intended to serve as the tip of the spear for the entire massive SAGE ground radar and computer system. As the book spells out, the concept was brilliant, but several steps beyond what technology could realistically manage circa 1957. Consequently the vacuum tube based fire control system was desperately unreliable and required absurd amounts of maintenance for the first ~6 years of the F-106's career.Things in this book you'll never find anywhere else: great details about the successful program to set the world speed record, involving only 2 aircraft and a very small team. That the actual maximum speed of the '6 remains unknown, because it was still accelerating at the end of the second record run, and landed with paint blistered off the skin by aerodynamic heating. That it cost much more to purchase and maintain than the massive two-engine, two man F-4, yet had much better performance at high altitudes. That the short-ranged, relatively crude Falcon missile and even cruder Genie unguided nuclear rocket remained the only weapons carried to the end of the '6's career, other than a handful of planes retrofitted with Vulcan 20 mm guns.Probably the book's best features are accounts demonstrating just how difficult it was to get the F-106 into squadron service as a useful military weapon, and what it was actually like to fly and operate.

The best volume on the 106 thus far. I still remember getting rousted out of bed the night we had a fire in an Alert Barn at Selfridge AFB. I was on the disaster control team and we were scrambled with our radiac detectors - not knowing if the birds that were burning were armed with nukes. A scary time for a one striper!Shortly after I reported to an assignment with HQ Air Defense Command in Colorado Springs, the carcass of one of the fire damaged aircraft was refurbished and donated to be displayed at the Air Force Academy. This same aircraft was later written off after having "crashed" during a nocturnal mission across campus, navigated and propelled by a group of Cadets. All of this and much more is contained in this (to me) too short of an examination of America's ultimate purpose designed interceptor.I couldn't seem to get away from the Delta Dart. Examples later followed me to a recruiting assignment in Billings, MT, where a detachment of the 5th FIS had an alert facility at the end of the Civilian runway. To me, seeing a pair of 106's disappearing into the gloom of a rainy or snowy sky epitomized "My Air Force" and remain some of my fondest memories of my service career.

For anyone who has had any connection with this amazing fighter, this is the penultimate reference book, not for the specifications, but for its history and the operational squadrons. The research that must have gone into this is simply staggering.If the development challenges and politics are something you eschew, you can skip those parts, but if you ever thought that developing and building a combat airplane is not a big deal, you'd be missing an incredibly convoluted story.I was astounded that the author discovered a combat mission I flew and thought was classified (yeah, I'm an ex-dart driver). It was a case where they said it couldn't be done, but the Delta Dart did it anyway (see pages 125 and 155).And without this book I never could have appreciated the challenges faced by the maintenance personnel, especially of the fire control system (which seemed to differ from one plane to the next).If you're assigned to an air combat squadron, this book needs to be in your ready room or lounge.There are more pictures of F-106s than I though existed.Warning: there is a plethora of detail on individual planes by tail number, so you may find some of that to be tedious. Just scan that portion and move on to the parts that interest you.Politicians: You need to read this to understand the problems you can create if you're more in to the politics than the country's military needs.

I live in San Diego, and remember quite well (and have many photos) the thundering roar of the Six's afterburner as it took off from LIndbergh Field, having been built in the adjacent Convair factory. They were painted with the zinc chromate primer, and were an interesting shade of chartreuse. Col. Barbier's excellent collection of photos and impeccably well-documented history really brought me back in time to those wonderful days.Every serious aviation enthusiast must have this book in his/her collection. The 106 was one of the fabled "Convair Deltas", and is perhaps the most beautiful aircraft ever designed. Col. Barbier did it justice.

This book has lots of great pictures, excruciating detail on weapons systems and early computers but no performance specifications. In fact there is not one performance table I can find in the whole book. There is a section that discusses aerodynamic refinements but no mention of how this affected performance. I was very disappointed. Just one performance table anywhere in the book would have made this a 5 star book. I had to google the F-106 to find a performance table. I printed this out and put it with the book.

I was a crew chief at McCord AFB 1962 on the F-106,I was involved in the Cuban Missile Crisis sent to Paine AFB and also we were first F-106 FIS to go to Alaska along with Capt (General) Leo Marquez . Our F-106's were new from the factory, we had some problems maintaining the birds but this book has a lot of facts I did not know about some 50 years ago, everything was much more classified. . I have read several books on the F-106 but this book has a lot more details of the problems the F-106 went Thur to become the greatest fighter interceptor ever build.

I bought this for a fellow aviation enthusiasts birthday. If you like Century Series fighters you will love this. I’ve seen these for real in the 80’s so great to get such a concise volume. Must buy a copy myself now (plus the one one Convair Delta’s in the same series!)

Detailed and entertaining guide to the sexy six.Been two others ,though not anywhere near as good as this.Great pictures,of this massive interceptor.Very well written too.Great value.

It was given as a present and was well received

Great book for the serious F106 Fan

Following a quick first look,i found this book quite good actually...Went through the chapter on the ejection seat 💺...very informative about the first supersonic ejection seats ever designed and the problems faced.The chapter on Squadron deployment gives an interesting glimpse into the workings of the erstwhile USAF ADC (Air Defence Command) .The chapter on the addition of the Gatling gun is also interesting as it goes into possible tactical uses and deployment to Vietnam 🇻🇳 .Was intrigued to learn that the F-106 was the US fighter which was most similar to the Mig 21 !Some very nice colour photos ( though the author is apologetic about having to omit coloured squadron markings to keep the cost under control!)Like most Specialty Press publications....it is produced in an easy to understand yet sufficiently detailed format,with a good balance between the text and the illustrations.