The Super Sabre was the Air Force’s first supersonic fighter, but it was never credited with an air-to-air victory.
"Icons of Aviation History" is a diary series that explores significant and historic aircraft.
F-100 Super Sabre on display at the Smithsonian’s Udvar-Hazy Center
During the Korean War, the US Air Force’s premier fighter was the F-86 Sabre, which had proven to be more than a match for the Soviet MiG-15. But even before the war had ended it was already becoming clear that the F-86 would itself soon be faced by newer opponents like the MiG-17 and MiG-19, and design teams from North American Aviation were eager to move beyond the subsonic Sabre into the realm of supersonic fighters. In January 1951, the company approached the Air Force with a proposal.
The US had already broken the sound barrier with the experimental X-1, and several test planes had managed to go supersonic in a power dive, but the Air Force wanted a frontline interceptor that would be capable of maneuvering at sustained supersonic speeds in level flight. In November 1951, North American Aviation contracted with the USAF for a successor to the F-86 that would be larger, more powerful, and faster. The project was originally named “Sabre 45” because the upgraded jet would have wings that were swept back 45 degrees. Later it was dubbed the YF-100 "Super Sabre”. The Pentagon placed an order for two prototypes, and North American agreed to simultaneously develop the production version and deliver some 275 operational aircraft in its first year.
It was a challenge, however. Nobody had designed a supersonic fighter before, there were many questions to be answered and tested, and it took four years of development. (At the time, the plane became famous as the first American fighter to cost over $1 million each.) The new aircraft would be built around the Pratt & Whitney J57 engine, which in afterburner could produce 15,000 pounds of thrust. It was intended to be a daylight interceptor, armed with four 20mm cannons which were aimed with the aid of ranging radar and a computerized gunsight. It was seven feet longer than the old F-86, and 3,000 pounds heavier. The airframe was made from titanium metal in all of the areas that would be subjected to high temperatures, and this required the development of new manufacturing and machining techniques.
There were, however, performance problems right from the start. To reduce drag and allow supersonic speed, the wings and tail fins had to be small and thin, but this reduced the area of the control surfaces and led to instabilities. Technical issues with the swept wings prevented the use of flaps, which necessitated a dangerously high landing speed—and when automatic wing slats were added to deal with that problem, they introduced reliability issues of their own.
The Air Force pushed on, however, and the project was officially designated the F-100 Super Sabre, though it would become known to most pilots as the “Hundred” or “Hun”.
The prototype first flew in May 1953 and reached a sustained speed of Mach 1.05. (It was not actually the first supersonic fighter, though, since the Soviet MiG-19 had already flown in January of that year.) The test pilot was George Welch, who had already gained fame as one of the few American fighters to have gotten into the air over Pearl Harbor and who had scored a number of victories against the Japanese attackers. Welch found that the new plane had significant stability issues, especially at high angles of attack--which would eventually kill him in a crash in October 1954.
The Air Force talked about canceling the project, but as the Cold War raged on, the military decided instead to convert the Super Sabre into a supersonic fighter/bomber that was capable of carrying the new Mark 7 tactical nuclear weapons, and North American responded with the F-100C modifications allowing the plane to carry some 2.5 tons of ordnance, before the first Super Sabre had even entered service.
The first production F-100A models entered active duty in September 1954. Six of them promptly crashed in the first three months, leading the Pentagon to temporarily ground the entire fleet and make more modifications, including longer wings and enlarged control surfaces. The F-100C, however, with an upgraded engine, was deployed in the summer of 1954 and still suffered from many of the same issues, as did the F-100D, which would become the most-produced model. In total, almost 2300 Super Sabres of various types were produced (about half of them D models), and almost 900 of the jets would be lost due to crashes and accidents of various sorts.
In 1958, the Air Force took steps to begin the process of phasing out the Super Sabre. But when the Cold War heated up during the Berlin Crisis in 1961, the Pentagon decided to retain the large number of F-100s that it still had in service. A number of the fighters were converted to RF-100 photo-reconnaissance versions (known as “Slick Chicks”), and flew secret spy missions over the USSR.
In 1964, with the Vietnam War ramping up, the Air Force sent several F-100 combat squadrons to Southeast Asia, where they were deployed as ground-attack fighter-bombers to take out pinpoint targets like bridges and supply convoys. Two-seat trainer versions of the Super Sabre were converted into the first “Wild Weasel” anti-SAM and anti-radar aircraft. In total, F-100s flew over 360,000 combat missions in Vietnam, finally being withdrawn in 1971, replaced by newer F-105 Thunderchiefs. Some 190 were shot down by enemy ground fire.
Some of the retired Super Sabres were purchased by Taiwan and Turkey. Others were deployed for a time with US-based Air National Guard units before being retired in the 1980s. Many F-100s ended their lives as unmanned target drones for weapons testing.
Today there are at least 100 Super Sabres of various models on display at air museums in Europe, Taiwan, the United States and elsewhere.
NOTE: As some of you already know, all of my diaries here are draft chapters for a number of books I am working on. So I welcome any corrections you may have, whether it's typos or places that are unclear or factual errors. I think of y'all as my pre-publication editors and proofreaders. ;)
