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CONVAIR F-106A "DELTA DART"
Serving "on display" at K I Sawyer is tail number 57-0231
History of our F-106A “Delta Dart”
On March 16th, 2005, F-106A Delta Dart tail number 56-0461, was transferred from the Government Services Administration (GSA) to the Forsyth Township in Gwinn, MI. The township then directed the K.I. Sawyer Heritage Air Museum and the Sawyer-Six-Project to bring her home.
After a short stay at a local aircraft contractor’s restoration yard just off the air force base in Tucson, Arizona, 56-0461 began its journey to KI Sawyer.
The fuselage arrived on Sawyer on June 15th, 2005 followed by the wings of the jet on the 18th of July.
Brief history of 56-0461: This fighter interceptor was the ninth produced by Convair in San Diego, California and the sixth delivered to the air force. It last flew as an interceptor at Minot AFB, North Dakota with the 5th FIS. It was placed in the bone yard in April of 1985 and was rescued by the Sawyer-Six-Project in March of 2005.
Uniquely this aircraft was flown by pilots who had served with the 87th FIS and after a tour in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War they were then assigned to the 5th FIS at Minot. One of those pilots, retired F-106 driver and current American Airlines pilot Chuck Backman, is just one of those pilots and is attending the dedication today.
Restoration work on 461 started as soon as the fuselage arrived at Sawyer. With the help of a lot of volunteer’s, the work continued up until the end of October 2005 at which time we ceased working on the jet until early spring.
Phase II Restoration started again on May 1st, 2006.
Working two days a week and after over two thousand man-hours of volunteer labor and hundreds of material donations, the aircraft restoration was finally completed on August 29th, 2006.
As this aircraft is being transferred from Forsyth Township to the K.I. Sawyer Heritage Air Museum, 56-0461 has been honored, restored, painted and marked to represent aircraft Serial No. 57-0231 which was assigned to the 87th FIS stationed here at K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base from 1971 to 1985.
The dedication of all the restoration volunteers was unbelievable. Their heart and soul is in their work. We had volunteers from all over the community plus a few that traveled many miles to work on this project.
The “F-106A Restoration Project Team” is very proud to present this aircraft to all the air force veteran’s who supported, maintained and flew it plus we are very proud to have been part of returning this piece of forgotten “Cold War” history, that protected the northern tier of the United States for over 30 years, to citizens and communities of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
After two 87th Alumni came together with the same dream, many people came forward and joined this effort and they should all be commended on this wonderful work you see in front of you today.
Our goal was to raise $35,000 for this project; we raised over $25,000 but we got’r done!
January 2005 after twenty year’s in the August 29, 2006 now fully restored for
Bone yard at Tucson, Arizona permanent display on K.I. Sawyer
Aircraft Lineage
Specifications
Span: 38 ft. 4 in.
Length: 70 ft. 9 in.
Height: 20 ft. 4 in.
Weight: empty 24,861: max. 41,831 lbs.
Engines: One Pratt & Whitney J75-P-17 turbojet with 24,500 lbs. of thrust w/afterburner
Cost: $3,305,435
Performance
Max. Speed: 1,525 mph; cruise 650 mph
Service Ceiling: 57,000 ft.
Rate of Climb: 29,000 ft./min.
Armament: One AIR-2A “Genie” nuclear rocket with four AIM-4 “Falcon” air-air guided missiles, 2 ea.
AIM-4F & 2ea. AIM-4G. Some F-106A’s were also configured to accept the M61Vulcan Cannon in place of the AIR-2A “Genie” rocket
This aircraft is the property of the K.I. Sawyer Heritage Air Museum.
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