Originally Posted by
Salamandrine
I'm enough of a geek to know. It's an F86D, a later variant with a radome in the nose.
And it fired a barrage of small(ish) unguided rockets in one salvo from a ring of tubes mounted around the nose, intended target being a Soviet bomber in a head-on attack, i.e., a different mission from the regular F-86. The radar + computer was meant to tell the pilot the exact moment to let fly in the hopes of scoring a hit and then peeling away just in time not to collide. This idea led to a series of large, purpose-built all-weather interceptors (F-89, CF-100, F-94) distinguished visually by large rocket pods usually at the wingtips and a two-man crew (one guy to work the radar.) I think some of the American ones carried 100 rockets. For a bit of a laugh (because no one was hurt, just scared sh1tless), read the Wikipedia account of the Battle of Palmdale [California]. Things that only geeks like us discover on our own.
