What If?
This category features the work of club members under the What If theme.
What if is the implementation of a real or almost real model (just the plans exist) in an achronic context.
Republic F-103A Thunderwarrior
This aircraft was designed during the 1950s to intercept any Soviet bomber threat, if possible far from the North American continent. To this end, a propulsion system combining a jet engine and a ramjet was proposed to reach a speed of Mach 3, and the aircraft could also count on nuclear-tipped missile bunkers and highly advanced aerodynamics. The pilot, who could only see the front of the plane through a periscope, was seated in an ejection capsule that closed over him to protect him from the speed, heat and lack of air in the event of a problem at high altitude. The project was technically very advanced, too much so for its time, and only a full-scale model was built before the XF-103 was abandoned.
This model is a slight conversion (as the shape of the XF-103 evolved greatly during its gestation) of the 1:144 Anigrand kit and is shown here as it might have been if the aircraft had reached the production stage, in the colours of the California Air National Guard around 1969, shortly before being replaced by even more phenomenal aircraft.