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What is a Century Series Fighter?

The Century Series fighters are a group of 6 U.S. full production fighter jets that were numbered F-100, F-101, F-102, F-104, F-105 and F-106. Although these were considered "2nd Generation" fighters, sharing common technology, the basis for this club was actually the "10x" numbering of full production aircraft. Of note, 2nd generation aircraft were not limited only these 6 Century Series fighters. The 2nd Generation generally spans an era from the mid-1950's to the mid-1960's when military fighter jets made leaps in technical advancements including engine design, aerodynamics, metallurgy, electronics and weapons systems. 2nd generation aircraft generally could maintain speeds over Mach 1 in level flight. Swept wings became the norm and delta wings came into play with their Area Rule 'coke bottle' shaped fuselages reducing drag. Traditional guns became uncommon and were replaced by air-to-air missiles, some with nuclear tips. There were other "hundreds" numbered aircraft under development during this Century Series timeframe to include the F-103, F-107, F-108 and F-109, however none of them were ever produced, some never even built. And the F-110 and number higher were not part of the 10x series numbering sequence. Below is a graphic depicting the differences.