Thanks for the links, Meg.
I haven't heard the name Convair in a long while. They were based in Fort Worth if I remember and made the 880 jet airliner, but were better known for their fighter aircraft, the F-102 Delta Dagger and F-106 Delta Dart. They also produced the exotic F2Y Sea Dart, the worlds only (as far as I know) supersonic sea-plane.
Interesting footage at
YouTube >> with Satch soundtrack.
Later they changed their name to General Dynamics and produced the hugely successful F-16 Fighting Falcon which is still a front-line fighter-bomber in service with air forces around the globe. They were pioneers in the devlopment of "swing-wing" technology and produced the FB-111, which saw service in Vietnam as well as with the Royal Australian Air Force. (They were noisy blighters; British Aerospace used to have a contract with the USAF to service them and they'd often fly south over Somerset. Deafening.)
F-16A of the Koninklijke Luchtmacht (Dutch air force) at Greenham Common, 1983
Prototype YF-16 (colour pencil illustration by my brother)
tombro wrote:...it was still a magnificent aircraft for its time.
Heartily agreed. We used to get them 'round our way skirting the hill tops and I can still see the brightly coloured example disappearing behind the trees. I think they used to come down our way before heading to practice ranges in Wales. There should be a navy example in the Fleet Air Arm museum at Yeovilton, in fact there used to be one parked right outside, but I can't remember if it's still there.