Specialty Press

Convair Deltas From SeaDart to Hustler

by  Bill Yenne

Reviewed By  Clare Wentzel, IPMS# 1096

MSRP: $32.95 ISBN: 978-1-58007-118-5 Website: www.specialtypress.com With the advent of the jet age, aeronautical engineers were scrambling to develop designs that could best lead them into the supersonic era. A lot of the research was based on captured German records and it seemed like different companies reached different conclusions from the various data. Lockheed seemed to go with the straight wing concept, similar to what Bell used for the X-1. North American on the other hand latched onto the concept of swept wings while Convair chose the delta wing. This book covers all of the various Convair aircraft that utilized the delta style wing. A brief history of early attempts at tail-less wing and delta designs is provided as well as a general coverage of the Consolidated Aircraft Company and it’s progress to become Convair. The book starts with the XF-92A. This was Convair’s first delta design in response to a government request for proposals for a point interceptor. The book covers the different test programs where this early aircraft, while never reaching production, produced a great deal of aeronautical data that was of use on future programs. Next the book covers the F-102. It follows the initial YF-102 design that did not meet program expectations until it was redesigned to utilize the Whitcomb area rule principle. With these modifications, the program was a success. The book covers all uses of the F-102 including several good color photos of camouflaged units in Vietnam and photos of Greek and Turkish F-102s. A couple of experimental programs that utilized the delta wing were then covered. They were the XFY-1 Pogo vertical take-off airplane and the unique F2Y Sea Dart, effectively an F-102 on Water Skis. Although these two programs did not reach production, good coverage of their development programs is included. Next in line is the F-106, the "Ultimate Interceptor". Development and deployment of the F-106 is covered with lots of photos including some good illustrations of cockpit layouts. The book covers the career of the F-106 including its final applications as the QF-106 drone and an interesting program named Project Eclipse which investigated the towing of an aircraft up to 33,000 feet to simulate the launch of a space vehicle without the need of a heavy stage one booster rocket. Shades of the White Knight and SpaceShip One!! The final major Convair delta wing program covered is the B-58 Hustler. The spectacular but somewhat short history of this Mach 2 supersonic bomber is covered. Again, lots of photos and illustrations are included. In addition to the coverage of the aircraft, the book does a good job of covering the development and deployment of various missiles and other weapons systems associated with these advanced aircraft programs. This 216 page hardcover book contains 200 black and white and 130 color photos plus 44 illustrations. The author, Bill Yenne has published more than 75 non-fiction books on a wide variety of subjects and is noted for his detailed research. This book accurately reflects his detailed approach. This book can be obtained directly from Specialty Press at the link noted above or by calling them at 1-800-895-4585. A $6.95 shipping and handling fee is added to each order. The book can also be obtained from other booksellers and some vendors at contests. The book is very well recommended to modelers and aviation enthusiasts. It provides great information on all of these Convair deltas. My thanks to Specialty Press and IPMS/USA for the review sample.