F-107A: The Ultimate Sabre First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

While the F-100 Super Sabre was just getting into the mainstream of Air Force operations, a new requirement was issued for a supersonic nuclear fighter-bomber. North American offered the F-100B which relocated the intake above and behind the pilot to make room for the required radar in the nose. The cockpit was more flush with the airframe to reduce drag, and a single nuclear store was carried semi-recessed in the belly like the B-58. The resulting aircraft was redesignated as F-107 and was North American's contender to the Republic F-105.

rocket.aero has uncovered some very nice material on this unusual member of the Century series. The DVD contains essentially two documentary movies. The first is a newsreel-like presentation of 55-118, the first F-107 prototype. The movie picks up the story as the aircraft is completed on the production line, then wheeled over into another hangar for initial testing. There is some great close-up footage of the airframe in operation here. Next, the aircraft is trucked over to Edwards AFB, subjected to more testing, then gets her first flight. The flight footage was great though I was trying to eyeball the TF-100C that was flying chase to no avail.

The second video does not have a soundtrack, but like the first, it is a color documentary of the nuclear shape load/unload tests at Kirtland AFB. Once again, there is some great footage of the airframe and tools used to hoist the nuclear shape into the semi-recessed weapons bay. This video also has some nice in-flight sequences of the loaded F-107.

The title has a selection of still photos on the DVD that are presented in a slide-show (automated advance) format. I didn't spend much time trying to stop the auto-advance function but is a useful feature for folks to stop and examine a given photo for details.

This is a very welcome addition to the video library as this is one aircraft that I have never seen in operation either in person or in video. This DVD provides in a very short time the great list of capabilities that was designed into this aircraft as well as allowing the viewer to see in flight.

This video is recommended to all aviation modelers and historians alike! You can order this video directly from rocket.aero by visiting their website at www.rocket.aero

My sincere thanks to rocket.aero for this review sample!