Century Series

Imagine airplanes that could fly faster than the speed of sound! That's what the Century Series jets were all about. These were special fighter planes for the United States Air Force.

They had cool numbers like F-100, F-102, F-104, F-105, F-106. They were like the superheroes of the sky back in the day, helping keep the country safe. They were so fast, they could break the sound barrier, making a loud boom!

These amazing planes started flying a long, long time ago, around the 1950s. Think of it like when your grandparents were kids! They were the newest and fastest planes the Air Force had.

For many years, they were the top-notch flyers, staying in the sky and helping out until the 1970s and 1980s. Some even kept flying as special target drones, like moving targets for other planes to practice on, until the very end of the 1990s!

The Century Series jets were super important because they were the first really fast, supersonic planes for the US Air Force. Supersonic means they could fly faster than sound! This made them incredibly powerful and useful.

They were so advanced for their time that they stayed in service for a very long time, much longer than many other planes. Some of these jets even helped NASA test new things in the sky!

Even after they stopped being used by the main Air Force, some Century Series jets found new jobs. They were used as target drones, which are like flying robots that other planes can shoot at to practice. This helped train pilots.

One type, the F-104, even flew with the Italian military until 2004, which is even more recently than you might think! NASA also keeps some flying today for important science missions.