The Century Series: The USAF Quest for Air Supremacy, 1950-1960

This is the history of fighter aircraft that transitioned the United States Air Force into the supersonic era. By 1952, fighter designations that started with the Curtiss P-1 in 1923, reached the century mark with the North American F-100 - thus the term Century Series. This occurred at the very point where operational fighters could exceed the speed of sound. The useful lives of the six century series aircraft that saw operational service were long and varied - one performing its military role almost fifty years after its prototype first took to the air. Even today, current production fighters barely surpass the speeds and altitudes at which these aircraft flew. The Century Series story is also one that moves past their initial operational period and into the war in Vietnam. This book includes first-hand accounts by the men who flew intercept missions in the F-102 and F-106. See what it was like to fly reconnaissance in the F-101, Wild Weasel F-100 sorties, and bombing runs in Southeast Asia in an F-105. Experience the tension of a night refueling in an F-100 or the exhilaration of strapping on an F-104 for a flight beyond Mach 2. This is their story; a chronicle of the men, machines and ideas that set the standard for a half-century of fighter development - a must read for aviation enthusiasts.