The aircraft designed with a ceiling so low it lost its own name
In short: In the 1950s, North American Aviation built an aircraft so radical that it was nicknamed the "Super Super Sabre." It featured a bizarre dorsal air intake and an ejection seat designed to blast through its own canopy. Yet, despite its innovation, it lost the contract to a rival.
The F-107A was born from a 1953 study of the F-100 Super Sabre. To meet Air Force requirements for carrying semi-conformal nuclear weapons under the belly, engineers moved the air intake to an unconventional position directly above and behind the cockpit. This dorsal-mounted variable-area inlet duct (VAID) was a revolutionary early form of variable geometry, allowing the aircraft to automatically regulate airflow to the engine while maintaining a clean underside for heavy ordnance.
The design pushed several boundaries of 1950s aviation. Supersonic rolls via spoilers were made possible by a flight control system featuring yaw and pitch dampers alongside an all-moving vertical fin. Safety measures were equally distinct: in emergencies, the ejection seat was engineered to blast the pilot directly through a non-jettisoning canopy to clear the air intakes quickly. In normal flight, the canopy slid vertically upward rather than swinging out.
Despite its technical sophistication—including single-point refueling and a retractable tailskid—the F-107A lost the tactical fighter-bomber competition to the Republic F-105 Thunderchief in 1956. Only three prototypes were ever built. While the F-107 was sidelined, its VAID technology lived on, influencing later designs like the A-5 Vigilante and XB-70 Valkyrie. Just two out of three original planes remain today; one stays within Pima Air and Space Museum whereas a different model sits inside the National Museum of the United States Air Force.
The aircraft never received an official name beyond its designation, though it was often called the "Ultra Sabre." Its performance was formidable; it reached Mach 1.03 on its first flight in September 1956 and hit Mach 2 by November of that same year.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: North American F-107
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