Tag Archives: f-102

The Deuces Wild: When F-102s were the coolest things in the air, yah

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This is a great ~9 min video from the Wisc. Air Guard on the Deuces Wild. You know about them, yes?

They were the Wisconsin Air National Guard’s Cold War-era precision flying team, taking a break from their normal mission of North American Air Defense to wow the crowds, part-time.

Between 1969 and 1974, Airmen with the 176th Fighter Squadron at Truax Field, Wisconsin used their primary aircraft, the Corvair F-102 Delta Dagger to form a five-ship flying demonstration team. The Deuces Wild allowed the Madison-based unit to honor flyby requests while increasing recognition of the mission of the Wisconsin Air National Guard.

Have a ripple

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convair-f-102-delta-dagger-31793-firing-rockets

A combination shot of two screen frames of Convair F-102 Delta Dagger, 53-1793, as it ripple fires 24 × 2.75 in (70 mm) FFAR (Folding Fin Aerial Rocket) unguided rockets from its missile bay doors.

The world’s first supersonic, all-weather jet interceptor and the U.S. Air Force’s first operational delta wing aircraft, the F-102 used a very complex fire control system for the time, the Hughes MG-3/10 series, which would automatically fire the onboard air-to-air rockets and missiles. Besides the FFARs shown, the Dagger could carry a mix of a half-dozen semi-active radar homing (the AIM-4A Falcon) and infrared homing (the AIM-4C Falcon) guidance air to air missiles as well as the brutal AIM-26A Nuclear Falcon, which sounds like a classic Air Force weapon.

F-102A-5-CO s/n 53-1793 served in the following Fighter Intercepter Squadrons:

*USAF 18th FIS.
*USAF 37th FIS.
*USAF 460th FIS.
*USAF 16th FIS.
*USAF 509th FIS.
*10/1965: Stuck off charge at Clark AB, Philippines.