In 1955, the IF-101A interceptor program was
officially endorsed by Headquarters USAF.
This would lead to the F-101B version that served into the mid-1980s.
Photo: The IF-101A was one of two different Voodoo interceptor proposals considered for production as a backstop to the continually delayed F-102 program. While the proposed IF-101B had systems more along the lines of the "ultimate" F-102B interceptor (to become the F-106), The IF-101A was a minimum-change version of the basic F-101A that would borrow the fire control system and armament of the "interim" F-102A to provide a high-performance long-range interceptor with a relative minimum of technical risk. Within a short period of time, the IF-101A concept would undergo rapid evolution. Here, the J57-P-13 engines and "pitch-up fillets" that first appeared on Block 15 F-101A aircraft are visible.
Photo Credit: McDonnell Douglas via Bert Kinsey / Detail & Scale
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