Century Series Aircraft.

The Century Series. A name given to a certain group of aircraft, altogether six, of the United States.

These early series of aircraft were the first United States supersonic jet fighters that were built for the United States Air Force during the 1950s, and 60s, and their designation number starts from 100 (North American F-100 Super Sabre.), and so on.


A painting of the Century Series Aircraft. By Douglas Castleman.

Below is a list of the Century Series Aircraft...

• North American F-100 Super Sabre.
• McDonnel Douglas F-101 Voodoo.
• Convair F-102 Delta Dagger.
• Lockheed F-104 Starfighter.
• Republic F-105 Thunderchief.
• Convair F-106 Delta Dart.

What makes them unique...
At the time when these aircraft were introduced, they were state-of-the-art in terms of avionics, and preformed exceptionally. The North American F-100 Super Sabre, for example, was the first aircraft in service with the United States Air Force to be able to achieve supersonic speed in level flight. The McDonnel Douglas F-101 Voodoo was the first aircraft in the United States Air Force to reach speeds up to 1 000 mph (1 600 km/h.); The Convair F-102 Delta Dagger was the first aircraft in the world to use area rule in its design; And finally, the North American F-101 Super Sabre, the Convair F-102 Delta Dagger, and Convair F-106 Delta Dart, was the first in the Air Force to be armed with nuclear air-to-air missiles, two of which, the F-102, and F-106, was the only aircraft in the United States Air Force at that time, where a nuclear weapon was under the control of a single person, during a mission, that is.

Additional Information...

There are two other groups of aircraft that have been named in a similar situation:

• The Teen Series, which is comprised of the Grumman F-14 Tomcat, the McDonnel Douglas F-15 Eagle, the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon, and the McDonnel Douglas F/A-18 Hornet
• The British V-bombers, which is comprised of the Vickers Valiant, the Avro Vulcun, and the Handley Page Victor.