It looks like something ripped straight out of a 1950s sci-fi comic. Honestly, the North American F-107 is one of those airplanes that makes you do a double-take because of that massive, gaping air intake sitting right on top of the fuselage behind the cockpit. It’s weird. It’s aggressive. And for a brief moment in the mid-1950s, it was supposed to be the future of the United States Air Force.
The F-107 was basically the evolution of the F-100 Super Sabre, but don't let the "Super Super Sabre" nicknames fool you. This was a completely different beast designed to go Mach 2 while carrying a nuclear weapon. But it lost. It lost to the Republic F-105 Thunderchief, a plane that would go on to become a legend—for better or worse—in the skies over Vietnam.
Why did it fail? Was it just bad timing, or was that overhead intake actually a death trap for pilots?
The Weird Design of the North American F-107
The first thing anyone notices is the "Suck" hole. Formally, it's a Variable-Area Inlet Duct (VAID). North American Aviation engineers didn't just put it on top because they wanted to look edgy. There was a very specific, very practical reason for it. The Air Force wanted a tactical fighter-bomber that could carry a massive, special store—which is a polite 1950s way of saying a Mark 28 hydrogen bomb—semi-recessed under the belly.
If you put the intake on the chin or the nose, you've got no room for the radar or the weapon. If you put it on the sides, you deal with airflow interference at high angles of attack. So, they stuck it on the roof.
It worked. Sort of.
The North American F-107 used a sophisticated system of internal ramps to control the air flowing into the Pratt & Whitney YJ75-P-9 engine. This allowed the plane to scream past Mach 2. In fact, it was one of the first planes to actually hit Mach 2 in level flight. It was fast. Blisteringly fast. But that intake placement created a nightmare scenario for the guys in the cockpit.
Imagine you have to eject. In a normal plane, you go up and out. In the F-107, if you eject, you are being fired directly toward a massive jet engine intake that is sucking in air at a rate that defies logic. Engineers had to design a complex ejection system to ensure the pilot didn't end up as engine fodder. Surprisingly, test pilots like Bob Baker and Scott Crossfield (yes, the X-15 legend) actually found the plane remarkably pleasant to fly despite its terrifying silhouette.
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The Battle Against the Thud
While North American was tweaking their overhead intake, Republic Aviation was busy building the YF-105. Both planes were competing for the same contract. The Air Force wanted a supersonic nuclear delivery vehicle.
On paper, the F-107 was the superior flyer. It had an all-moving vertical fin—the whole tail moved—to give it incredible control at high speeds. It featured "spoiler-diffusers" instead of traditional ailerons for roll control. It was advanced. Maybe too advanced.
The F-105, nicknamed the "Thud," was more conventional. It had an internal bomb bay. The Air Force liked that. They felt an internal bay was more versatile than the semi-recessed pod on the F-107. Plus, Republic was already deep into the production planning for the F-105, and the Air Force was worried about North American being spread too thin. North American was already juggling the F-100 and the X-15 program.
Politics played a role. It always does.
The Air Force eventually chose the F-105. Only three F-107s were ever built. They were designated AF serials 55-5118, 55-5119, and 55-5120. Instead of bombing runs, they ended up as high-speed research tools for NACA (which became NASA).
What It Was Like to Fly
Test pilot Scott Crossfield once noted that the F-107 was one of the most stable and predictable aircraft he’d ever piloted at high Mach numbers. That’s high praise coming from a man who flew the X-15.
The cockpit was surprisingly roomy. Because the intake was above and behind the pilot, the visibility out of the front was actually better than many of its contemporaries. There was no long nose cone or radar housing blocking the downward view during landing. However, the sound was something else. Having a massive jet engine screaming right over your head is a sensory experience most pilots weren't exactly lining up for.
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The Pitch-Up Problem
Early Century Series fighters were notorious for "pitch-up"—a dangerous aerodynamic quirk where the nose would suddenly jerk upward, often leading to a stall and a crash. The F-100 was famous for the "Sabre Dance."
North American fixed this in the F-107 by using that all-moving vertical slab. It gave the pilot much more authority to manhandle the plane back into level flight. It was a technological leap that actually worked.
The Legacy of the "Ultra Sabre"
The F-107 didn't go into combat. It didn't win wars. But it paved the way for the F-108 Rapier and the B-70 Valkyrie. It proved that you could fly at twice the speed of sound with a weird configuration and live to tell the tale.
Today, only two remain. One sits at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. The other is at the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona. The third one (55-5120) had a rough ending; it suffered a continuous series of mechanical failures and was eventually used for fire-fighting training and destroyed.
It’s a shame, really.
If the F-107 had won the contract, the Vietnam War might have looked very different. The F-105 took massive losses in Southeast Asia. Would the F-107 have fared better? It was faster and more maneuverable, but that overhead intake might have been a massive vulnerability against ground fire. We’ll never know.
Technical Reality Check
Let's look at the numbers. They don't lie.
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- Top Speed: Mach 2.1 (Approx 1,295 mph).
- Engine: Single Pratt & Whitney J75-P-9 turbojet.
- Thrust: 24,500 lbf with afterburner.
- Armament: Four 20mm M39 cannons and a whole lot of "special" stores.
The F-107 was a beast. It was a bridge between the gun-fighting days of Korea and the missile-slinging era of the Cold War.
Understanding the "Special Store" Mission
To understand why the F-107 looks the way it does, you have to understand the tactical nuclear doctrine of the 1950s. The plan wasn't to dogfight. The plan was to fly very fast, very low, under the radar, toss a nuke at a target, and then get the hell out of there before the shockwave caught up.
The semi-recessed belly pod was designed for the TX-28. Because the bomb was tucked into the fuselage, it reduced drag compared to a standard wing-mounted pylon. This gave the F-107 the range it needed for deep penetration missions.
It was a specialized tool. A scalpel made of titanium and steel.
Real Insights for Aviation Enthusiasts
If you're looking to research the F-107 further, you've got to look past the "failed prototype" label. It wasn't a failure because it didn't work; it was a failure because the military-industrial complex chose a different path.
- Visit the Museums: Seeing the F-107 in person at Dayton is the only way to appreciate the scale of the intake. It is gargantuan.
- Read the NACA Reports: The flight test data from 55-5118 and 5119 is public. It details the challenges of the "V" shaped intake ramps and how they handled supersonic shockwaves.
- Compare the Controls: Look at the "augmenter" system. It was an early precursor to fly-by-wire logic, using mechanical linkages to interpret pilot input for the spoilers.
The North American F-107 stands as a testament to an era when engineers weren't afraid to try something completely insane. It represents the peak of 1950s "what if" engineering.
Actionable Next Steps
If you want to dive deeper into the history of the Century Series, start by comparing the F-107's flight test results with the early teething problems of the F-105. Specifically, look for the "Area Rule" application differences between the two. You can also research the work of Bob Baker, the North American test pilot who arguably knew this airframe better than anyone. Finally, check out the digital archives of the National Museum of the USAF; they hold original blueprints for the cockpit layout that show just how radical the instrumentation was for its time.