QF-106A 59-0130: AMARC, 2000
This F-106A Delta Dart, s/n 59-0130, c/n 8-31-19, last served as an interceptor with the 5th Fighter Interceptor Squadron at Minot AFB, North Dakota.
I took this photograph at AMARC, Davis-Monthan AFB, in January 2000.
(Scanned 35mm color negative)
According to online references,* 59-0130 first arrived for storage in April 1985. It was converted to QF-106A target drone configuration in 1991.
However, a few years later it was taken out of the drone program and modified for NASA's Eclipse Tow Launch Demonstration Project. This program investigated the practicality of towing a fighter into flight using an NC-141A Starlifter. Here's a brief video of one of those tests on YouTube:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrDsI4c0xSQ
Eclipse Tow Launch Demonstration Project (NASA):
www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/news/FactSheets/FS-049-DFR...
I photographed the aircraft at Mojave Air & Space Port in March 1997, before it received all of the modifications necessary for the towed take-off program. You can see that photo here:
59-0130 was returned to storage in May 1998, and various sources agree that it was stored with inventory code AXNE0002. After that, a number of sources have conflicting accounts of this aircraft's final disposition.
This Delta Dart was the subject of a Hasegawa 1/72 scale model, kit, which came with decals for two different units with which it served:
www.scalemates.com/kits/hasegawa-714-general-dynamics-con...
When I built that kit in the early 1990s, I applied the colors and markings of the 5th Fighter Interceptor Squadron at Minot AFB, North Dakota. Here's a photo of this aircraft in service with the 5th FIS at Red Flag in 1983:
www.airliners.net/photo/USA-Air-Force/Convair-F-106A-Delt...
F-106 Delta Dart (Wikipedia):
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convair_F-106_Delta_Dart
*References:
www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1959.html
QF-106A 59-0130: AMARC, 2000
This F-106A Delta Dart, s/n 59-0130, c/n 8-31-19, last served as an interceptor with the 5th Fighter Interceptor Squadron at Minot AFB, North Dakota.
I took this photograph at AMARC, Davis-Monthan AFB, in January 2000.
(Scanned 35mm color negative)
According to online references,* 59-0130 first arrived for storage in April 1985. It was converted to QF-106A target drone configuration in 1991.
However, a few years later it was taken out of the drone program and modified for NASA's Eclipse Tow Launch Demonstration Project. This program investigated the practicality of towing a fighter into flight using an NC-141A Starlifter. Here's a brief video of one of those tests on YouTube:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrDsI4c0xSQ
Eclipse Tow Launch Demonstration Project (NASA):
www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/news/FactSheets/FS-049-DFR...
I photographed the aircraft at Mojave Air & Space Port in March 1997, before it received all of the modifications necessary for the towed take-off program. You can see that photo here:
59-0130 was returned to storage in May 1998, and various sources agree that it was stored with inventory code AXNE0002. After that, a number of sources have conflicting accounts of this aircraft's final disposition.
This Delta Dart was the subject of a Hasegawa 1/72 scale model, kit, which came with decals for two different units with which it served:
www.scalemates.com/kits/hasegawa-714-general-dynamics-con...
When I built that kit in the early 1990s, I applied the colors and markings of the 5th Fighter Interceptor Squadron at Minot AFB, North Dakota. Here's a photo of this aircraft in service with the 5th FIS at Red Flag in 1983:
www.airliners.net/photo/USA-Air-Force/Convair-F-106A-Delt...
F-106 Delta Dart (Wikipedia):
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convair_F-106_Delta_Dart
*References:
www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1959.html