North American F-100 Super Sabre
Operational History: (Continued)
The F-100F two-seat trainer entered service in 1958. It received many of the same weapons and airframe upgrades as the F-100D, including the new afterburners. By 1970, 74 F-100Fs were lost in major accidents.
By 1972, the F-100 was mostly phased out of USAF active service. In Air National Guard units, the F-100 was replaced by the F-4 Phantom II, A-7 Corsair II, and A-10 Thunderbolt II, with the last F-100 retiring in 1979. In foreign service, Danish and Turkish F-100s soldiered on until 1982.
After Super Sabres were withdrawn from service, a large number were converted into remote-controlled drones (QF-100) for use as targets for various antiaircraft weapons, including missile-carrying interceptors.
Project High Wire
High Wire was a modernization program for selected F-100Cs, Ds and Fs. It consisted of two modifications:
1) Electrical rewiring upgrade
2) Heavy maintenance and IRAN upgrade.
Rewiring upgrade operation consisted of replacing old wiring and harnesses with improved maintainable designs. Heavy maintenance and IRAN (inspect and repair as necessary) included new kits, modifications, standardized configurations, repairs, replacements and complete refurbishment.
This project required all new manuals (TOs) and incremented (i.e. -85 to -86) block numbers. All later production models, especially the F models included earlier High Wire mods. New manuals included colored illustrations. All manuals will have the Roman numeral (I) added after the aircraft number (i.e. T.O. 1F-100D(I)-1S-120, 12 January 1970).
Vietnam War
The F-100D arrived in Southeast Asia in 1962 and began flying combat missions, used primarily for close air support and ground attacks within South Vietnam.
On 18 August 1964 the first F-100D, flown by 1LT Colin A. Clark, from the 428th TFS, was shot down by ground fire; Clark ejected and survived. On 4 April 1965 an F-100 piloted by Capt. Donald Kilgus shot down one of the first enemy jet aircraft in aerial combat in Vietnam, a MiG-17, using cannon fire.
The Hun was also deployed as a two-seat F-100f model which saw service as a "Fast-FAC" (forward air controller) in North Vietnam, spotting targets for other fighter-bomber aircraft and conducting SAR (Search and Rescue) missions as part of the top secret Commando Sabre or "Misty" Operation based out of Phu Cat Airbase. It was also the first Wild Weasel SEAD aircraft whose specially trained crews were tasked with locating and destroying enemy air defenses. Four F-100F Wild Weasel Is were fitted with an APR-25 vector radar homing and warning (RHAW) receiver, an IR-133 panoramic receiver with greater detection range, and a KA-60 panoramic camera. The RHAW could detect early warning radars and, more importantly, emissions from SA-2 Guideline tracking and guidance systems. These aircraft deployed to Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base in Thailand in November 1965, and began flying combat missions with the 388th Tactical Fighter Wing in December. They were joined by three more aircraft in
February 1966. All Wild Weasel F-100Fs were eventually modified to fire the AGM-45 Shrike anti-radiation missile.
By war's end, 242 F-100 Super Sabres had been lost in Vietnam, as the F-100 was progressively replaced by the F-4 Phantom II and the F-105 Thunderchief.
Return to Operational History Page One
Sources:
Wikipedia: F-100 Super Sabre
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