Convair F-106 Delta Dart

F-106A 58-0787 — the F-106 that famously landed itself in a Montana wheat field on 2 February 1970. The aircraft entered an unrecoverable spin during a training flight, and pilot Captain Gary Foust ejected at altitude. The unmanned F-106 then recovered from the spin, settled into stable level flight, and glided onto a snow-covered field near Big Sandy, Montana, executing a wheels-up landing on its own with no occupant. Local farmers reported watching it glide in. The aircraft was recovered with its engine still running — ground crew shut it down through the cockpit — repaired by Sacramento Air Material Area, and returned to USAF service. It eventually accumulated additional flight hours and was retired in 1988. Today it is displayed at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, Dayton, Ohio. The 'Cornfield Bomber' nickname captured the absurdity of the unmanned-recovery event.

The delta-wing configuration was Convair's preferred design for high-altitude interceptors throughout the 1950s. It offered low wave drag at supersonic speeds (good high-Mach cruise and dash performance), strong high-altitude turn rate thanks to a large wing area producing a high lift coefficient, and structural simplicity with fewer components than a swept-wing layout. The trade-offs were poor low-speed performance — high approach speeds, with no flaps possible due to delta geometry — and limited carriage of underwing stores. The F-106 was the most refined U.S. delta-wing aircraft of the Cold War era; subsequent USAF interceptors abandoned the delta in favour of conventional swept-wing designs such as the F-15 Eagle.

The two aircraft represented different design philosophies for the same broad mission of high-altitude interception. The F-104 was a tiny, lightly loaded, very-high-speed point-defence interceptor with poor maneuverability — 'a missile with a man in it'. The F-106 was larger, heavier, and more versatile, with delta-wing high-altitude turn rate, sophisticated MA-1 fire-control and SAGE integration, and longer endurance. The F-106 was preferred for sustained high-altitude bomber-intercept missions, the F-104 for point-defence sprint-intercept. Both served alongside each other in USAF service through the 1960s.

An air-to-air rocket with a 1.5-kiloton W25 nuclear warhead, designed for use against Soviet bomber formations. The Genie was unguided in pure ballistic flight with a 6-mile range; the nuclear warhead's 1,000-foot lethal radius did not require precise guidance. F-106, F-101 Voodoo, and F-89 Scorpion interceptors all carried the Genie as part of NORAD's air-defence doctrine for engaging large Soviet bomber formations. It was tested live exactly once, on 19 July 1957 in 'Operation Plumbbob John', when a USAF F-89J Scorpion launched a Genie at 18,500 ft over the Nevada Test Site — the only live U.S. nuclear air-to-air weapon test. The weapon was retired in 1985 in favour of conventional air-to-air missiles. Around 3,000 Genie warheads were produced.

Several factors. The Cold War CONUS air-defence mission persisted from 1959 through the 1980s, and the Soviet long-range bomber threat remained relevant throughout. The F-106's combination of high-altitude and high-speed performance with SAGE / MA-1 integration was hard to replicate in later USAF aircraft. Its successors, the F-15A and F-15C, were not deployed in the air-defence role until the late 1970s. The Air National Guard transition kept F-106s in service from 1972 through 1988 — longer than any other USAF interceptor. Pilots widely regarded it as the finest pure interceptor of the Cold War era.

None are airworthy in 2026. The last F-106 flights were QF-106A target drone conversions, which ended in 1998, with most QF-106 airframes destroyed during AAM testing. Around 50 preserved F-106 airframes survive worldwide. Famous survivors include 'The Cornfield Bomber' at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force (Dayton, Ohio), the 'Last Combat Six' at the Edwards AFB Flight Test Museum, and several ANG and AFB historical displays.