Flightdeck Friday: TFX – A Time for Turkeys (Pt II)
“Senator, there isn’t enough power in all of Christendom to make that airplane what we want” VADM Tom Connolly testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee (1968)       In Part I we explored some of the politics (and politicking) behind the TFX – the program to provide the Air Force and Navy with a common next generation fighter. For the Air Force it was to be a long-range fighter-bomber with tree-top level supersonic dash capabilities. For Navy, it was the Fleet Air Defense mission, armed with long-range missiles. After several proposals were forwarded by Boeing and General Dynamics that fell short of Service requirements, a final selection was made in November 1962 in favor of GD despite the two Services preference for the Boeing proposal. For the next six years, the design, especially the Navy design, would be dogged by political bickering and infighting between Navy and OSD. But what was the aircraft itself like? Was it really that bad? It was.       GD and Boeing came to the table early in the process with impressive pedigrees as aircraft manufacturers on the cutting edge of technology. Boeing for having brought not one, but two all jet bombers into service for the Air Force, fielded with a new jet tanker (which formed the basis for the highly successful 707 commercial jet) and was in the process of building the next generation of ICBM, the Minuteman. GD, through its Convair division, had developed and produced the F-102 and F-106 delta-winged fighters, the latter of which was equipped to participate in the computerized Semi-Automatic Ground Environment ... Continue Reading