A Brief History of Convair F-106A
SN 59-0010
By Christopher T. Carey (Life Support & Egress Historian, Aerospace Museum of California)
Convair
F-106A (SN 59-0010) is a very interesting aircraft, having survived a number of
unusual ‘adventures’ in its long service career. After being produced off the Convair
production facility at Lindberg Field (San Diego), 59-0010 was immediately assigned to Minot
AFB’s 5th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, an Air Defense Command unit formerly flying
F-86D ‘Sabre Dogs’ and F-102 ‘Deuces’ at Suffolk County Airfield in New
York State
The
aircraft spent its entire life on the 5th Fighter charge, operating
from Minot Air Force Base North Dakota from arrival in 1960 through 1985, when the unit
transitioned to newer F-15A Eagles shortly before being inactivated. In its 25 years of service with 5th
FIS, aircraft 59-0010 became known as a particularly lucky bird, due to its having
undergone several incidents that would have in most instances permanently grounded many aircraft.
In a 1975 incident, 59-0010 ran off the runway, owing to slick surface conditions,
and a locked brake caused it to end up stuck in the mud between the taxiway
and the main runway. On another occasion the aircraft was successfully landed
‘dead-stick’ after a flameout complicated by hydraulic problems. There was
talk of writing the aircraft off at that time, but fate intervened and it was decided otherwise.
The
most notable ‘escape’ 59-0010 experienced occurred on 17 September 1979. Flying
59-0010 was 5th FIS pilot Major Paul Norton. He and his wingman, Captain Randy Hardy
(in
57-0236) had just emerged simultaneously from a cloud formation in marginal weather and
suffered a mid-air
collision. 57-0236 suffered damage to one of its elevons, while 59-0010 had its entire
nose radome and nose forward of the MA-1 system bay entirely sliced off by 236’s wing! Amazingly (and perhaps a testament to
the capabilities of both pilots), both aircraft were able to recover safely to MAFB and
touch down without further mishap. Interviews with some of the ground crew at Minot AFB, post
accident, revealed that a few of 59-0010’s MA-1 weapons system ‘black boxes’ had
actually been ingested into its engine, although how that failed to
‘FOD out’ the engine is a question that lingers to this day. With such severe nose
damage, 59-0010 sat in a hanger at MAFB for
nearly a year, getting progressively
more run-down until finally ADC higher command decided to resurrect it to flying status
and issued repair orders for it be resurrected at McClellan Air Logistics Center
(S-ALC). A
crew was flown in from SALC to affix a temporary nose and the aircraft was finally readied
for a check flight. This was followed up by a
flight to ALC for permanent repairs. Thereafter 59-0010 was reassigned to Minot
and 5th FIS, where it remained on active
In
1985, Minot’s 5th FIS flew their Sixes on their last one way
squadron flights to DMAFB’s AMARC (then known as MASDC), where 59-0010 was
placed in long-term storage with all of the other 200+ other Sixes released from ADC squadrons.
59-0010 was then designated to be assigned to the QF-106 “Pacer Six” remotely flown
drone
program and its drone conversion was completed by TRACOR (later BAE) at Mojave
Airport. Assigned initially to Holloman AFB in the QF-106 target role, it would
have been likely destroyed in aerial weapons testing, as were many of its stable
mates. However, in the mid 90s, fate once again intervened in favor of
59-0010 and it and another ex-5th FIS bird
(59-0130) were saved from the ignominious fate of being blown out of the sky as
aerial targets when they were selected for use in the ‘PROJECT ECLIPSE’
program (operated by a private contractor in cooperation with NASA at Edwards’
Dryden Flight Research Center.
The 'Project Eclipse' program was evolved to demonstrate the concept of towing a reusable orbital vehicle to altitude before firing its engines to achieve orbital insertion. As delta-winged aircraft, very similar to the projected ‘Eclipse’ vehicle envisioned, the Convair F-106 was an ideal substitute for the projected winged spacecraft. 59-0130 was to be used as primary ‘proof of concept’ demonstrator, while 59-0010 was to be backup airframe for the program (in the image below, 59-0010 is shown at the 2 o'clock position, with other Dryden aircraft in 1997)
As
things turned out, 59-0010 managed to escape the hazards 59-0130 was exposed to
in actual tow flights and quietly sat the program out in a corner of the Dryden
hanger until the project terminated in 1998. 59-0010 was then reconsigned to
AMARC, where it joined a very small number of other F-106 drone program
flight-capable survivors and is further remarkable for having been one of the last remaining
flying F-106s (out of the over 263+ total that were built).
Our own McClellan Aviation Foundation Museum applied for and eventually received permission from USAF Museum Headquarters in about 2003 to recover this splendid example of one of Convair’s most spectacular and storied aircraft. I am pleased to announce that as of 12 May 05, this splendid surviving example of the Convair F-106A Delta Dart was successfully brought to McClellan Aviation Museum (now the Aerospace Museum of California), from storage at AMARC. It underwent a lengthy restoration to its original appearance (this was completed in December of 2006) when it was on active duty with 5th FIS at MAFB!
In summary, this is a particularly interesting and considerably 'storied' specimen of the Convair delta winged ‘Ultimate Interceptor’ that protected US airspace successfully for over 30 years, and one whose history as an American combat aircraft we can take special pride in preserving in our museum for the edification of our air-minded public.
(Above and below: Two pictures of 59-0010 as it appeared in mid-1980s, just prior to end of active service duties and transfer to AMARC for drone conversion).
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(Footnote, dated 10 Jan 2007: Convair F-106A Delta Dart SN 59-0010 was retrieved from desert storage at DMAFB's AMARC facility in Arizona and has now been fully restored to museum display (non-flying) condition. It arrived in Sacramento via truck in May of 2005, after a monumental effort to secure it and bring it to the Aerospace Museum of California (formerly, the McClellan Aviation Museum). Final restoration and a paint-up in original operational squadron colors was completed late in 2007 and it now takes its place as the showpiece of our complete 'Century Series' collection, being sited in 'pride of place' on 'Century Series Row' at the new seven million dollar museum pavilion's air park. The Aerospace Museum of California has thus been able to acquire and display one of the few complete collections of the remarkable (and for their time quite advanced) Century Series aircraft in the United States. See a few of the pictures of this process below and watch for more to appear as they are made available.)
(Below: 59-13093 as it sat at AMARC in Feb 2002, awaiting whatever destiny fate had in store for it)
(Below: 59-0010 at Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards in 1998, as backup aircraft for NASA 'Project Eclipse')
(Below: May 10, 2005. The McClellan Aviation Museum "Balls-10" recovery team--LCol. Dick Stultz, 2nd from right, has over 3000 hours of time in Sixes!)
(Below: May 10, 2005. Arrival at the museum's McClellan Business Park hanger for this grand old bird! Better days to follow shortly)
