Check Six: October 24, 1953

Posted on Oct 24, 2015 in 1950's, Check Six

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From the This Day in Aviation website

24 October 1953: At Edwards Air Force Base, California, Convair’s Chief Test Pilot Richard Lowe Johnson took the first prototype YF-102 Delta Dagger, serial number 52-7994, for its first flight. Dick Johnson was a former U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel and a leading military test pilot.

The YF-102 was a delta-wing interceptor developed from the earlier experimental Convair XF-92 Dart. It was designed as an all-weather, missile-armed, Mach 2 fighter. The single-seat, single-engine fighter was powered by an interim Pratt and Whitney J57-P-11 afterburning turbojet engine, which was rated at 10,900 pounds of thrust, or 14,500 pounds with afterburner.

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