The Fastest Military Jets in History
F-101 Voodoo
Someone has to protect the strategic air bombers as they move deep into enemy territory. That was the main thought when the United States Air Force and the Royal Canadian Air Force commissioned McDonnell-Douglas to build a supersonic long-range bomber escort jet. Thus the F-101 Voodoo was born. While the F-100 became the premier supersonic air-to-air fighter, the F-101 would undergo many transformations. The Air Force saw its potential grow from a long-range fighter escort to a strategic fighter-bomber. Pushed into the sky in 1957, the Voodoo immediately went on to set a world record for supersonic flight at a blistering 1,208 mph. The Voodoo would be called upon to serve everything from reconnaissance runs during the Cuban Missile Crisis to the war in Vietnam.
Because it was equipped with two Pratt Whitney J57-variant turbojets, the F-101 Voodoo could quickly accelerate past the speed of sound. This made it a hard target for MiGs patrolling the air across Northern Vietnam. Only one RF-101C was lost to air-to-air encounters, and its design influenced and accelerated the production of the F-4 Phantom. With a top speed of 1,134 mph, it didn’t take long for it to get to hot spots in Vietnam. But without additional external tanks or inflight refueling, it pretty much had to arrive at destination, drop its payload, and go home.
- Top Speed: 1,134 mph
- Max Flight Distance: 1,520 miles with internal fuel