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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 0512.PDF
514 (1) Pitot boom. (2) Dielectric nose-cap. (3) Main scanner. (4) Glide-slope aerial. (5) Forward equipment bay. (6) Main forward fire-control bay. (7) Fire-control access doors. (8) Static-pressure aperture. (9) Boundary-layer bleed. (10) Cast magnesium canopy frame. (11) Forward pressure bulkhead. (12) Windscreen-overheat thermistor. (13) Lightweight Weber ejection seat. (14) Canopy actuating cylinder. (15) Ejection-seat foot-rests. FLIGHT (16) Cockpit pressure relief valve. (17) Cockpit discharge louvres. (18) Canor,y pressure seal. (19) Forward-retracting nose gear. (20) Hydraulic operating jack. (21) Nosewheel door (under). (22) Centre electronics bay doors. (23) Missile-bay doors housing FFARs. (24) Missile-bay side flaps. (25) FFAR folding-fin 2.75in rockets. (26) Hughes GAR-1D Falcon missiles. (27) Rapid-actuating door jack. (28) Left and right electronics doors. (29) I.F.F. aerial in dorsal spine. (30) End of duct bifurcation. 71A CONVAIR F-102... was "sharpened" and lowered to reduce drag and improve pilotvision. The canopy was redesigned with a modified windscreen and a narrower hood with flat side-panels. Cut-back intakes ofrevised design were fitted, to improve pressure-recovery and general behaviour at extremes of the speed range. To increasethrust, a later model of the J57 engine was installed. In addition, the airframe was redesigned so that major sectionscould be assembled, with all systems and equipment installed and tested, before the parts were brought together to make the com-plete aircraft. A number of accessories and other details were relocated, so that items previously inaccessible could be reachedthrough the undercarriage wells, the missile bay, or ad hoc hatches. No other aircraft of recent years has come through so extensive a metamorphosis, and the revised machine, designated YF-102A, was as like its predecessor as chalk is like cheese. There is no doubt that its emergence marked the turning-point in the 102's fortunes. But for the inability of the original aircraft to surmount the Mach hurdle, the production aeroplane would not have been so good; and, to this extent, that set-back was fortunate. Redesigning took 117 working days, and the first YF-102A (serial 53-1787) flew at Lindbergh Field, San Diego, on December 20, 1954. The following day Dick Johnson went supersonic while climbing; he leveled off at 35,OOOft and watched the needle rising still further beyond Mach 1. Thanks to the Cook/Craigie plan only twelve aircraft had been built when the design was changed (the first "production" machine, 53-1781, flew in March 1954) and most of these aircraft were more or less brought up to F-102A standard. Convair were also
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