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With an upwards " bomb-burst " over the USAF airfield at Bentwaters,
Suffolk, seven Voodoos, the world's most powerful operational fighters, roared into the line-up of U.S. air power in
Britain. They were the vanguard of a stream of Voodoos which are
coming to replace the F-84F Thunderstreaks in Third Air Force this
winter.
It was a little after tea-time on a sunny Sunday afternoon when the
seven powerful twin-jet aircraft taxied up to the flight line to be
greeted by an admiring group of friends, wives and civilian base
employees. They had completed a non-stop flight across the Atlantic
from
Bergstrom Air Force Base, Texas, in one minute over eleven hours; a
distance of 5,199 miles. They refuelled twice over the Atlantic from
KC-135 tankers. Eight aircraft had taken off, but one of the pilots
discovered a malfunction in his machine and had to leave the
formation.
He landed safely.The flight-commander of this Voodoo advance party
was Major Walter Eichelberger, a jovial, large southerner who
announced as his canopy rose that he had discovered how to eat an
orange with his oxygen mask on. Not one of the pilots showed any
fatigue as they climbed to the ground to meet the short questions of
the British Customs officer who tried to get a word in edgewise amid
a round of backslapping and gleeful shouts of " We made it, we made
it ! "
Major Eichelberger's band of pilots, all from the 27th Fighter
Bomber Wing at Bergstrom, were Major Brian Lincoln, Captain Charles
Cleveland, Captain Carl Mackenzie, Captain Howard Maree, Captain Jim
Ramsey and Major Adrian Drew. It was Major Drew who, on
December 12th, 1957, flying an F-101A,took the world's air speed
record from Great Britain by setting the mark at 1,207.6 m.p.h. over
the 10.1-mile course at Edwards Air Force Base, California. A
short-lived record, as it happened, for another USAF pilot, Captain
Walter
Wayne Irwin, wrested it from him on May 16th this year in a Lockheed
F-104A Starfighter, clocking an average of 1,404.19 m.p.h.
First to speak to Major Brian Lincoln (left) on arrival was his crew
chief. Other pilots, tired but happy after their eleven hour flight,
are Captains Howard Mare*, Carl Mackenzie, Jim Ramsey and Charles
Cleveland
The arrival of the Voodoos in England means additional striking
power for the United States Air Force in Europe. Earlier this year
it had been announced by Colonel S. Bruce, chief of the atomic
energy division of Air Defence Command, that later-version F-101 B
Voodoos
will carry ; the Douglas MB-1 Genie air-to-air missile which has an
atomic warhead. The Air Force's European ,Headquarters at Wiesbaden
revealed that these fighter-bomber and reconnaissance versions of
the Voodoo would be stationed at Laon and Phalsbourg, in France, as
well as at Bentwaters.
The evolution of the Voodoo began twelve years ago at the McDonnell
Aircraft Corporation's plant at St. Louis, Missouri, when designs
for the first long range penetration fighter, the XF-88, were drawn
up. Making its first flight in October, 1948, the XF-88 had two
3,000
lb. turbojets. It was followed by the XF-88A which was equipped with
short afterburners to boost the 3,600 lb. thrust of its J34-WE-22
jets.
Owing to a cut-back in defence funds, the development contract
awarded by the USAF was cancelled in 1950 and it was not until the
following year that revised Air Force requirements allowed the
project to be revived. Modifications, including an increase in
fuselage length to 67 ft. 41 in. to accommodate greater fuel tankage,
and the installation of Pratt and Whitney J57-P-13 turbojets, were
made
and under the designation F-101A the Voodoo was ordered into
production for Strategic Air Command as a long range escort fighter.
The first F-101A was flown from the Corporation's plant to Edwards
Air Force Base, California, in two Globemasters. unassembled. At
Edwards it was reassembled for the big test. Bob Little, McDonnell's
chief test pilot, flew it out of Edwards for the first time on
September 29th, 1954, and exceeded Mach unity on the first flight.
The Voodoo is, in the words of many a pilot, " some bird ! " Its two
11,700 lb.s.t. (14,500 lb. with afterburning) turbojets make it the
most powerful single-seat fighter in service in the world.
And it is also the heaviest (it has been flown at a gross weight of
49,000 lb.), being about three times as heavy as a normally-loaded
Meteor. Its wings are, however, disproportionately small—a span of
only 39 ft. 8 in. and a gross wing area of under 400 square feet It
is the only supersonic aircraft to have been exposed in flight to an
H-bomb blast (Bikini,, May, 1956). There it proved its capability to
withstand blast and radiation effects.
Voodoo production suffered in 1957 with yet another change in USAF
requirements. Boeing B-52 Stratofortresses began replacing the
elderly Convair B-36s and the need for fighter escort dwindled.
Accordingly, the F-101 A entered service with the Tactical Air
Command as a multi-purpose aircraft, the fighter-bomber role being
added to its repertoire, and, simultaneously, the RF-101A
reconnaissance version was delivered to the same Command. New
production was concentrated on the F-101B two-seat interceptor
fighter for the Air Defence Command and the single-seat F-101 C for
the Tactical Air Command, most of the original long range escort
F-101As being converted for the reconnaissance-fighter role. The
F-101 B was first flown on March 27, 1957, and its overall
dimensions are identical to those of the F-101A, and the F-101C has
a strengthened airframe for low-level ground attack duties.
The RF-101A has been in service with TAC since May, 1957, and at
Bentwaters it will replace the F-84F Thunderstreak as the mission
aircraft of the 81st Tactical Fighter Wing. Most of the unusually
large fuel load from which the Voodoo draws its range of more than
2,500 miles is carried in the fuselage. Provision has also been made
to carry fuel externally and, on short range missions, this capacity
can be used to carry a deadly payload of ordinary bombs and rockets.
One thing will make the Voodoo outstanding in British skies this
winter : its own particular "signature tune." When the afterburners
for the J57 turbojets are cut in at altitude they produce a sound
like an off-key sonic bang !
Larry Ruddock.- Flying Review November 1958
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