SLICK CHICK: The Wild Story Of The USAF's First Top Secret Supersonic Spy Plane
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- Опубликовано: 17 авг 2023
- Sometime in the early summer of 1956 an F-100A Super Sabre landed at a half-finished airfield near Trabzon, Turkey. This might seem like a totally normal occurrence, albeit in a slightly unusual location. And it would have been were it not for the fact that the rear end of this F-100 looked like it been attacked with a blow torch. The titanium fuselage was full of scorched holes.
How this Super Sabre’s pilot came to melt through the aft section of his plane’s fuselage is an interesting story. It involves an illegal intrusion into Soviet airspace and a three hour game of cat and mouse with a dozen interceptors from the Soviet Air Defence Forces. It is also a subject so secret at the time that very little has emerged about it to this day.
The Slick Chick was the first super secret supersonic spy plane built for the USAF to penetrate into the Soviet Union. It only flew for around a year and undertook a handful of missions but those missions remain so classified that the aircraft remains a mystery.
This one is a great story and one that I really enjoyed researching.
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What a pity that one wasn't preserved for posterity.
There are many in museums and one flying
@@kenclark9888I was referring specifically to the RF-100A "Slick Chick" reconnaissance variant discussed in the video. The narration indicates that after use by Taiwan the remaining five airframes were returned to the USA and broken up one having been lost in a training accident. As an aside Wikipedia says four were used by the Republic of China AF.
AFAIK, all RF-100A's went to the ROC and none remain.
Ironically, if one would have been shot down by the PRC, it would likely be on display at the Beijing Military Museum alongside the “Black Cat” U-2, or in Datangshan with the D21 drone.
Top secret was more important, I guess. But, I do agree. We have had numerous aircraft, and naval ships, like the USS Tennessee that survived the attack on Pearl Harbor, and made it all the way to Okinawa, yet she was scrapped.
You are to be congratulated on producing such an informative and polished episode on a small but significant episode in the cold war. Your research and editing efforts shine out from the screen.
This channel is on par with Rex’s hangar and Ed Nash’s Military for quality of content and presentation….and hit it out if the park with this fascinating story.
Ed Nash is okay but never as in depth or knowledgeable as Gregs Planes and Automobiles or this channel.
For WWII and post war piston fighters, Gregs Planes and Automobiles is the best channel on RUclips. For 1st to 3rd generation Cold War Jet fighters, Not a Pound for Air to Ground is the best.
The channel " WWII US Bombers" also is superb as just like Greg he uses period documents.
Wow, literally my two favorites before "Not a Pound" along with "Celebrating Aviation" with Mike Machat (great vids every Monday usually). I do like Gregs Planes as noted here as well, but some of the graph work is a bit too in depth for me, but that's not a knock on his work at all. Greg also has a few really good muscle car vids.
A little known gem for post WWII stuff in this area is 10 Percent True. Interviews with participants. Especially good on Wild Weasels.
If you want a peek behind the Iron Curtain and into Warsaw Pact aviation during the Cold War, Paper Skies is an excellent channel.
As alluded to towards the end of this video, a total of six RF-100As were built. Three were sent to Europe, and three were sent to the Far East for similar USAF use and the last five were eventually transferred to the Nationalist Chinese Air Force.. What is not widely known, is that the Nationalist Chinese happily flew reconnaissance missions into communist China for the Americans, using Martin RB-57s and even Lockheed U-2s. There is a famous story involving a Nationalist Chinese Air Force U-2 pilot who was on a night training flight in the U.S. when the engine of his U-2 flamed out at altitude. Unable to get a restart, he glided to earth and made a truly miraculous night landing at a small airstrip without damaging the U-2. In another miracle, he was able to extricate himself from the U-2 and wandered his way towards the lights of a small airport shack. There, he started a small UFO scare when, wearing a full space suit and not speaking much english through his helmet, the occupants of the shack mistook him for a Martian.
I know of the "Slick Chicks" and this was the most comprehensive storytelling yet! One thing, the C-130 was shot down in 1958 and not 1968, other than that; great job!
This channel has rapidly joined the top tier of RUclips aviation history sources. Well done.
I fully agree!
International law has failed Gaza
ruclips.net/video/6V1XWf5-s7M/видео.html
This was superb. Top notch investigative reporting. I love how you drew your own, logical conclusions and didn't pretend you knew more than that. I can tell you put a lot of work into this.
Agree👍
My Dad, Lt. Col O.L. Bond Jr received his DFCs. Operation Slick Chick at Yakoda, AFB, Japan (6021st recon. sq.). In 1954, flying an RF-100C. Later, flew RB-57D over Siberian nuke test sites. Other two pilots Moomaw and Woolley. All three were Captains from Shaw AFB. Note: All three families were transported to Japan together on the S.S. Anderson (MSTS) troop carrier.
Thanks for the comment! Really interesting details - I appreciate it!
Rb 1:24 57 reconnaissance version of the British Canberra airplane I believe here in the United States the Martin company extended the wings on the Canberra
I was a crewchief on the F-100 from early 1962 to late 1966. I crewed mostly the 2 seater F-100F during that time, but never heard of the RF version. Amazing.
Thanks for uncovering an unknown chapter in USAF history. It is likely most of the people involved have passed by now. So, all that knowledge and experience went with them to the grave. It would be nice if those records were declassified for historians and the public.
This is like an early Atomic Age alt-fiction novel come to life. Superlative research, storytelling, and delivery, as always. Massive thanks once again, the quality of each and every video is simply top tier.
During Ike's 2 terms the Air Force penetrated Soviet Airspace hundreds of times in many types of aircraft, including RB-47s, RB-36s, U-2s, RB-45s, and as you have shown, RF-100s.
When you consider we didn't even have accurate maps of Russian territory, and therefore we didn't even know where all of our targets were, (even though the Soviets had incredibly available public information about the location of pretty much every city in America), we were in a real pickle.
We had no satellites of any kind, so what is a POTUS to do? Ike decided the information was important enough for a credible deterrent that the risk was worth the benefit. Better to provoke the Soviets while they were still weak than wait until they had thousands of bombs, aircraft and missiles.
At the same time this was going on, he had crash programs for ICBMs, spy satellites, and high flying spy planes. What an "interesting" time to be living. People today have simply no idea. The Cold War "hysteria" seems crazy, but that is simply because most people didn't know the real situation or bother to think about it. People who knew what was going on, knew we needed to be concerned and take action to protect our country. (After the Cold War paused for a while, Soviet archives showed that much of the shit people thought was paranoid actually corresponded to real Soviet offensive programs and disinformation.)
I applaud my father's generation. They did what needed to be done, and I slept better at night, knowing that they were competently running the world. Today, our government is undermined by a bunch of selfish idiots trying to prevent government from working.
Considering the few but REAL times that the nuclear conflict nearly happened, and the reasons it was happening, I scratch my head at the lack of understanding on the last century.
The question if RB-36s penetrated Soviet airspace remains unresolved to this date.. I believe the RB-36H Featherweight version could've overflown the USSR at altitude (55M) with impunity in the 50s before the U-2. It seems plausible as there were no SAMs then, AAA couldn't reach that high, and it was above the service ceiling of MiG-17s, the latest operational Soviet fighter then. Skeptics claim the US did want to alarm the Soviets by flying a known strategic bomber over their country, although Gen Curtis LeMay, CINCSAC, likely wouldn't be hesitant to do so.
I liked the model kits of the F 100 that had multiple weapons options like Bullpups, Sidewinders, 2.75 rocket pods and bombs of all types.
One of my first models as a kid sometime in the later 50's.
My USAF dad was stationed at Burtonwood at this time. He was base crew chief (or whatever they called the head of all the other crew chiefs). He had been recruited by the alphabet guys and was doing some stuff with planes and cameras that I won't mention. But I will say that he had been making attaché runs back and forth to Turkey at this time and I know that it had to do with camera film retrievals.
At least 1 of them needs to be in a museum. Cause this shows great ingenuity in a time of need. Which America has always been pretty great at that. 🇺🇸
Twenty years later, in Vietnam, I read that Air force pilots referred to the F-100 (used as a fast forward air controller) as the "slightly supersonic Saber". Dick Rutan told about his last mission, which was his back seater's final mission before going home. Tradition held that the back seater flew in the front seat on their last flight. On one pass, they got hammered by AAA, and were losing fuel at a tremendous rate. They probably would not have made it to the coast, but the back seater turned the plane straight for the coast, pulled the nose up to optimum angle of attack, and lit the afterburner. It was a race to see if the battle damage or the afterburner would empty the tanks first. The afterburner won. They just broke mach 1 as they reached the coast. They glided out over the gulf, ejected, and were rescued. Dick Rutan said that it was a never to be forgotten lesson in fuel management.
"to see if the afterburner or the battle damage drained the tanks first"? And how to you determine which one "won" that contest? Either way the end is when the tank runs dry. The only possible metric to measure that is to calculate the total fuel that went into the engine as thrust vs the total that leaked out, and who cares about that? You want to use as much of the fuel up creating speed as possible or else you will just lose most of it. You will lose it much faster with both draining at once but at least to will get to use it, and hopefully get there faster with that speed. And it doesn't matter if you destroy your engine in the meantime, since there is no way to be landing the plane anyway. Also not sure what lessons it teaches you about fuel management, other than in the very specific case that you are loosing all your fuel out of the tank, in some very specific circumstances it may be better just to use it before you lose it. It doesn't apply in any other scenario, and in the end they just got lucky and it worked out. If the hole was slightly bigger or the range longer or they started with less fuel, they would have gone down in enemy territory anyway. Maybe a bit closer to potential rescue at least. But you have to weigh that against the risk of your afterburner igniting the leaking fuel and setting your jet on fire.
An excellent video!!
I've heard/read of many of the cold war era recon efforts, but I had absolutely no idea about Slick Chick.
Thank you so much for presenting this story!
Glad you decided to make a video on this one. It seems like it was a really cool project, wonder when/if the rest of the Slick Chicks history will be declassified.
Thanks for this never knew about this part of USAF history!
Yes ! More stories like this. Recce, spy insertion and rhubarb flights just fascinate me to no end, yet no one talks about them. Thank you for this one.
Well done! The work you put into this video and the research that went into it really shows in the final product.
You hit the QualityLevel with this video. A great thanks.
Much awaited, much appreciated excellent insights as always.
One of these should be in a museum they have insane provenance most planes don’t
I truly enjoyed this episode and want to say _Thank You_ for all the effort it had to have taken!
A great investigation into a subject it seems nobody wants to talk about!
You do great work!
Very interesting, including the notion that ET felt it a fair deal 2 gift both superpowers (& who else?) w/ a 'crashed' saucer
Thought I knew about the F-100A photo recon. Thanks for the deep dive. I love to learn new things and you are doing a great job.
A fascinating story! I had never heard a good detailed version of it just vague mentions.
And the mention of Incirlik, Turkey caught my attention. My old Navy ship, the Knox class frigate USS Ainsworth FF-1090, was transferred to Turkey with several others in 1994, three for service and two or three for parts. She served as the TCH Ege until 2005 when she became a museum ship at the Maritime Museum in Incirlik, Turkey. I'm glad she wasn't scrapped or sunk as a target, like many Knoxes.
Beautifully and thoroughly researched!
Fascinating and Worthwhile!!!
RF's are the really fast hot rods. And their pilots had balls of steel. They had to go up all alone and every enemy thought they were the piñata.
Thank you very much for this well-researched and quite interesting video!
Never knew such missions took place. This was awesome!
Tremendously interesting piece of aviation history. Thank you so much!
Amazing history! Enjoyed every minute of it! Cheers from Uruguay 🇺🇾
What an amazing story, thanks so much for sharing it.
These must have been wild rides for the pilots. You are a great writer.
Thank you for the work you put into this video. I hadn't heard this story until today.
Great video. Thank you very much for posting.
Never fails to impress me that the often unarmed "recon" aircraft, since 1914, have by need undertaken some of the most demanding mission possible. Another illuminating piece by shining light into the dark corners of aviation history.
Recon flights were actually some of the most dangerous and difficult missions, and they generally got some of the best pilots to fly them. Everyone assumes they were just boring cushy jobs because you weren't actually shooting anyone down or dropping bombs, but that is absolutely not the case (although there is a wide variety in the specifics of the mission, obviously). Combat flights tended to be less experienced pilots who had a leader to follow, and plenty of other aircraft to distract the enemy, escorts and defensive armament, and were flown at pretty short ranges to make sure they all had enough fuel to get home safely. Recon flights were done alone, and often at long range, you had to navigate yourself there and back, and not use up all your fuel. You were all alone in the sky (with the one advantage that they wouldn't send major resources after a single plane, at least) and generally totally unarmed. And that also covers post strike assessment. After the bombers come though and attack, some of them getting shot down doing so, you have to fly over the target all by your lonesome, with all the defenses on alert, and take photos of the damage so they know if the strike was effective. Bomber Command flew at night because it was too dangerous in the daylight, but the post strike sorties had to be flown in the morning, alone. If it was a relatively small target you also had to fly quite low and straight to get a good shot with the cameras. The recon planes had a much higher loss rate and they relied on the skill of the pilot, they were considered an elite group. And their work was absolutely essential. But history doesn't talk about them much because they didn't directly kill many enemies, they didn't have grand air battles and dogfights. The same is true for patrol pilots and to an extent the transport crew. It actually takes an above average crew to take a plane 10 hours out over the ocean, and then fly a carefully planned search pattern. They didn't get shot at very much, but the challenge, and the danger, was still considerable and required better than average ability. Just a few years before WW2 you were still headline news for flying across the Atlantic, by 1943 they were doing this routinely. And this didn't end with the war, they were still doing post-strike assessment in Vietnam, and that involved taking your RF-4 or whatever down low over the target at high cruise speed, all alone, while they shot at you, the only target in the sky. You didn't get the AA suppression planes and escorts, unless the target absolutely made it necessary. That's why I have found subjects like that actually more interesting than the actual bombers and fighters. They all had exciting and interesting experiences, and did important things that needed to be done. It just seems less glamorous at a glance.
@@justforever96 If you think about it, air warfare started from "looking over the horizon", everything else developed from that.
Been soaking up your videos: far and away my new fav channel. ;-)
Great episode! Fascinating part of Cold War history
Not sure how people make a living making content today when the rules and algorithms constantly change. Love your channel and your quirky ways. Love the content. Hope you continue to grow and make a living.
A very interesting, informative and well produced video which I enjoyed, thank you! :)
Reconnaissance flight are interesting, somewhat neglected.
Thanks for the video.
A great vid on a totally new subject for me. Glad I’m subscribing ❤
A lot of information about a super rate bird! Excellent work Sir!👍
Did it have a drag chute? I didn't see the tabs around the burner where cable for the drag chute were stored. Tough aircraft for maintenance folks, especially changing a tire since the wheel had to be removed to get to the brake stack. Very gutsy guys strapping in to that MIG magnet and spending so much time over hostile territory. Very interesting video.
Fantastic work! I did not know this special variant existed till now.
Excellent video! I'm sure there are numerous stories like this one that we have no information on due to it being classified as top secret.
Quite interesting and informative. A couple of observations, if I may. The F-100 at 0:20 looks like a SAM explosion, not an internal heat issue. Also, the rocket shown at 13:55 looks a lot like the US Navy Viking rocket, the upgraded version which started with Viking 9.
That particular F-100, tail number 56-3141, is a QF-100D unmanned full scale target that was damaged by an AIM-120 AMRAAM missile fired from an F-15 on February 22nd, 1988 and is now on display at the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino, CA.
As always, the comments are nearly as informative as the videos. Thanks everybody.
Looks more like the Redstone man. The fins at the bottom and the taper at the top kinda push me to this conclusion. However, you could be right!
Wow, I'd read about the early Soviet and eastern bloc overflights with various aircraft, but never heard of this. Recently read a book about the U-2 program that mentions Edwin Land's (founder of Polaroid) influence in getting it set up, bringing together the aircraft, camera, and film technologies needed to make it happen- but no mention of the Slick Chicks.
What most people do not realize is the civilian consumer old polaroid cameras were very primitive strip down versions of the technology used by the USAF (even last 2007 models). Edwin Lands primary inventions were of very high tech Military aerial reconnaissance cameras that could shoot high resolution stereoscopic 3d photos with specialized ultra large format film that most importantly could self develop in the camera system. So as soon as the pilot landed his plane the film magazines could be taken directly to reconnaissance photo interpreters without days or weeks of developing the film in the magazines that could be 10000 ft. or more of film per camera carried. Land and his team of engineers, chemist, optical designers and material specialists created a brilliant system of aerial reconnaissance cameras that was very closely guarded secret. The Land Reconnaissance Cameras were the most valuable and secret tech on the U2 piloted by Gary Powers and the fact the Land Cameras falling into Soviet hands was Eisenhower's second greatest worry with the U2 shoot down . And Lands cameras and film technology went in to the the Corona series of spy satellites launched from 1959 to 1972. The Film "buckets" kick out of the Corona Satellites were also on Land pre developed film immediately ready for photo interpretation. If you every have a chance to make to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum make sure you check out the hall on aerial reconnaissance were they have a U2 , mannequins with a U2 Dave Clark pressure suits and a very impressive pair of late 50s/60s Land U2 reconnaissance cameras. once you understand how complex and sophisticated piece of technology the Land U2 camera are, it complete amazing they were created in the pre computer design era with only slide rules and paper.
Like always very informative content.
Great vid mate.
Just subscribed.
Just found your channel today…about 15-20 minutes ago!
😆
(Off to explore the rest of the channel….😆)
Good stuff cat.
Well done & keep it flowing!
😎👍
Great video, thanks! I really enjoyed that.
I truly enjoyed this bit of history, great job. Intelligence is always critical.
Great story! Thank you for the work put in to share it!
Thank you so much, never heard of these before!
A really fascinating story. Just subbed as a result.
Great stuff. I always smile when I hear how the government describes the accuracy of their cameras. That would have to be one heck of a big golf ball.
Very interesting!. Well done! Thank you!
Nice find on the story, and great production on the documentary. You'll be having a lot of subscribers in the future.
I've heard this mentioned in passing a few places, but this is the first time anyone provided more than mininal detail.
Fantastic research and content! I love very video you produce. Well done!
Always humbled by a commitment.. the fortitude of our western militaries
Amazing video... Keep up the good work 👍
Brilliantly done
Nice video! I just discovered your Channel. I have subscribed hoping to see more things like this pretty cool video.
Given the discussion of the Soviet radar response, I want to know more about the ELINT package. I suspect that was more impressive than the cameras - although where that was crammed in the fuselage I don’t know.
brilliant. Extremely well presented.
Thank you for a most fascinating video- learned something new ! :)
Always loved the hun and enjoyed seeing them . I live in Denmark and the RDAF had around 70 Super Sabres. I think it is one of the most cool bad ass looking planes of the cold war. Never knew about the "slick chick" Sabres and this video was a real eye opener. Very interesting stuff. Good research and very well presented 👍👍Looking forward to your next video. Keep up the good work🤙
another great video. The old Wings theme is playing in my head. :)
Nice informative channel. Glad I stumbled on it..... Interesting narrative too.
Thanks for the great video!
Hope your channel takes off. This was very informative 🎉
As an aside, at :48 shows a flightworthy F-100. It's a private owner, based out of Ft. Wayne. I have seen it many times, beautiful aircraft!. One cannot mistake when the afterburner cuts in...
The story of the Slick Chicks would make a great movie. Thanks
Well done. Appreciate your effort.
Excellent video, thanks.
An excellent presentation. Thanks !
It’s surprising that this program is still classified. Same goes for Project Bullseye, the conversion of the Convair B-58 to a low-level conventional bomber and formation leader for such attacks. Hopefully FOIA requests will return more positive results in the future.
Great piece
The U-2 gets a lot of attention, leaving other reconnaissance aircraft of this era and their missions ignored. It’s good to see one in the limelight.
Going completely unnoticed *is* kind of the ideal for a recon aircraft. The U-2 is the James Bond of spy planes. Flashy and has enough plot armor (in the form of altitude and speed) to be effective, but that doesn't mean the faceless agents doing all the missions that hardly anyone ever learns about aren't doing the bulk of the real intel work. :)
@@richmcgee434Great description. Always thought 007 could be more effective if he were less of a showman.
@@PhantomP63 To be fair, the movies really exaggerate that aspect of the character. The books are still miles away from realism, but they're quite a bit less gonzo - at least the earlier ones. Never did plough through the whole series.
I suspect if it wasn't for the films Bond would be shelved in "Men's Adventure" alongside such literary prizes as Remo Williams and Mack Bolan. Fun reads if you can keep your suspension of disbelief up and ignore the more unpleasant 'isms that litter the books, but something best taken in small doses if at all.
These F-100 super sabres were used on our Alert Pad at Avaino AFB Italy 1964/65..,
Nicely done. A rare bird.
Awesome work, cheers
I found this fascinating. I have just finished reading ‘Operation Overflight’ by Mr. Francis Gary Power. A very interesting read.
Excellent!
I know this as the "F100-D" from S.O.G. Prairie Fire on ARMA 3!!! Pretty cool getting this recommended!! :)
Great work...👍
Hooked on your channel, amazing work.
Interesting piece of history and time in aviation develepment.
Thanks for such an informative episode. Chinese Nationalist Air Force (CNAF) or Taiwan Air Force took delivery of a total of four RF-100A 'Slick Chick' from 1st January - 18th March 1959. Contrary to belief, these aircraft had never overflown China due to the low availability rate (after every flying hour in the sky, more than 200 hours were needed for maintenance on the ground). These aircraft were only used to take photos over Taiwan and withdrawn from service on 1st December 1960. For overflying China, Taiwan used RB-57A and D and U-2C and R.
Lovely aircraft! Saw a visiting Danish F-100 do a sonic boom over Wildenrathe village in around 79/80 ( I was an airman in Air Movements at RAF Wildenrath in West Germany at the time). The Danes used to throw the damn things all over the sky, very impressive!!!
Huh! Did not know the RF-100 had a viewfinder. Sounds as if it was very similar to the one we had in the U-2, up until the Block 20 (updated cockpit) version of the jet. It was very useful and we used it to do Photo Flight Line (PFL) navigation, which was a lot of fun. In the pattern, during Simulated Flame Out (SFO) practice, we’d aim it straight down and it would give us a perfect indicator of how far we flew down the runway before turning to the downwind portion of the pattern. But, it was taken out with the cockpit mod around 2005 timeframe.
Good work!
Another great presentation..
Excellent rundown on this little know but fascinating Cold War recce program. Understand the missions were called Fish Hook or Button Hook missions due to their flight path in, rapid turnaround, and exit. Have never seen a photo of the underside of the aircraft showing the camera ports and camera housing bulges.. .
A fascinating story, great video. Please update if new info becomes available