united states air force Archives

Fighters which did not make the cut – the Lockheed F-90

With its P-80 Shooting Star firmly established in production during 1945, in July of that year Lockheed was able to commit its development team to the start of work on a more advanced fighter. The first step in this process was the creation of a number of conceptual designs, and these eventually totalled more than …

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The US Mach 3 fighter that never was – The North American F-108 Rapier

The North American F-108 Rapier was a prototype interceptor designed to combat supersonic Soviet bombers, but did not manage to get to the production stage.

Far-sighted but cancelled – The North American F-107 prototype

An account of the North American F-107 which was entered into a design competition for a tactical bomber in the 1950s; its development was eventually cancelled in 1957.