The ‘Century Series’ concludes with a look at the Convair F-106 Delta Dart. Retired U.S. Air Force Major Bruce Gordon joins us—not as cohost this time but as the star of the discussion on the big brother to the F-102 Delta Dagger that served well into the late 80’s. Single engine, mach 2-capable, ground-based data link, and nuclear air-to-air missiles, the “Six” is the quintessential ‘Century Series’ interceptor.

Listener questions answered on this episode include how far in advance training pipelines are shut down before an aircraft is retired, what goes through a naval aviator’s mind when lining up on the catapult, why general aviation aircraft focus on airspeeds whereas military use AOAAngle of Attack (aka alpha, ).The difference, measured in degrees, between the flight path of an aircraft and that aircraft’s longitudinal axis (i.e. where the nose is pointing)., and more. Check out Bruce’s book Spirit of Attack here.

Episode artwork by Janek Krause. Bumper music by Jaime Lopez / announcements by Clint Bell. This episode was produced by our friends at the MuscleCar Place Podcast Network.