Magazine Articles and Photos:
[Photo: "Convair F-102A"] Aviation Week March 12, 1956 p.80
Richard Sweeney "TF-102A Passes Mach 1 Region Smoothly" AW October 1, 1956 p.30-31 4 photos
[Photo: "Convair F-102 Rocket Sled"] AW March 12, 1956 p.189
"Convair Converts Test F-102As To Latest Tactical Configuration" Aviation Week August 19, 1957 p.63-65
William S. Reed "Automatic Landings Performed in TF-102" Aviation Week & Space Technology January 1, 1962 p.70-76 2 photos
[Photo: "F-102 Escorts Bear in Flight Over Arctic" Aviation Week & Space Technology January 13, 1964 p.27
Warren Thompson "Unsheathing The Dagger!" Wings February 1991 p.22-41, 52-53 46 photos
Newspaper Articles and Photos:
"Pilot Safe in Crash-Landing" New York Times June 1, 1960 p.39 c.3
"Three Jets Crash in Air, And No One Is Killed" New York Times May 26, 1961 p.4
The Convair company was very interested in Alexander Lippisch's
delta-wing concepts and came up with a concept for a delta-winged
interceptor, designated the "XP-92". It originally was to be a "flying
stovepipe" using rocket / ramjet propulsion, with a cylindrical body,
delta wings and tailfin, and the cockpit in the engine inlet
centerbody. It was an implausible-looking contraption, later being
compared to a prop from a "Flash Gordon" movie serial. Since the design
was so radical, actual flight experience with delta winged aircraft
being very limited, Convair decided to build a fast-track demonstrator,
originally designated the "Model 7002", to flight-test the concept.
The Model 7002 was put together cheaply, using existing components when
possible -- for example, nose gear from a Bell P-63 Kingcobra, landing
gear from a North American FJ-1 Fury. The Model 7002 was powered by a
single Allison J33-A-23 non-afterburning centrifugal-flow turbojet with
23.1 kN (2,360 kgp / 5,200 lbf) thrust, fed by a circular inlet in the
nose, and had delta wings with a 60 degree sweepback; a triangular
tailfin; tricycle landing gear, with the nosewheel retracting forward
and the main gear hinging from the fuselage into the wings; plus a
framed clamshell canopy. It had no combat equipment.
The Air Force gave the Model 7002 the service designation of "XF-92A".
The first flight of the XF-92A, in natural metal finish, was on 8 June
1948, from what was then Muroc Dry Lake in California and with company
test pilot Sam Shannon at the controls. After initial trials, the
aircraft was refitted with an afterburning J33-A-29 turbojet, providing
33.4 kN (3,400 kgp / 7,500 lbf) thrust, with the new engine fit
involving a fuselage stretch. The XF-92A was painted white and
continued its sequence of flight tests at Edwards Air Force Base (AFB),
as Muroc had been renamed in the meantime.
from an article by Greg Goebel