Century Series - Century Series Aircraft

Century Series Aircraft

The name "Century Series" stems from the fighter (F-) designation number being in the 100-109 range. The term became popular to refer to a group of generally similar designs of the 1950s and early 1960s.

As it evolved, the attribution of the Century Series moniker reflects models designated between F-100 and F-106 which went into full production:

• North American F-100 Super Sabre
• McDonnell F-101 Voodoo
• Convair F-102 Delta Dagger
• Lockheed F-104 Starfighter
• Republic F-105 Thunderchief
• Convair F-106 Delta Dart

The term "Century Fighters" does not include less successful models between the F-100 and F-109 that did not go past design or prototype stage: the Republic XF-103 Thunderwarrior interceptor concept, the North American YF-107 and XF-108 Rapier prototypes, and F-109 originally assigned to the F-101B Voodoo and later requested but not granted for the Bell XF-109 VTOL concept.

The F- series number sequence used in USAF was a continuance of the pre-USAF pursuit aircraft (P- series) numbering, stretching back as far as to the 1920s. The numbering would continue sequentially up to the F-111, and after this number the 1962 United States Tri-Service aircraft designation system restarted the numbering back from 1. Notably, the fighter-bomber briefly known as the F-110 Spectre was renamed F-4 Phantom II.