Lineage History F-106A 590052

Manufacturer:

Convair

Model:

F-106A

USAF S/N:

590052

Photos:

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Production Year:

1959

Production C/N No.:

222

No. Built

340 (277 A, 63 B)

Production Date:

1960-03-01

Delivery Date:

1960-03-28

Ended Service:

1973-12-11

Airframe Hours:

unknown

Units Assigned:

318th,498th,84th

Units Assigned - ADC:

ADWC

History Lineage:

Mar 1960 - 222nd F-106 produced by Convair at San Diego CA
04 Apr 60 - To 318th FIS, 325th FW, McChord AFB WA
20 May 66 - To 498th FIS, 325th FW, McChord AFB WA
14 Jun 66 - To 498th FIS, 57th FW, Paine Field WA
31 Aug 68 - To 498th FIS Hamilton AFB CA
30 Sep 68 - To 84th FIS, 78th FW, Hamilton AFB CA
01 Jan 70 - To 84th FIS, 1st FW, Hamilton AFB CA
01 Oct 70 - To 84th FIS Hamilton AFB CA
12 Jul 71 - To ADWC Tyndall AFB FL (TDY)
13 Aug 71 - To 84th FIS Hamilton AFB CA
29 Aug 73 - To 84th FIS Castle AFB CA
11 Dec 73 - Crashed in Biscayne Bay about a mile off the Florida coast line near Homestead AFB Florida while supporting 84th FIS Det 2 assigned at Homestead. Pilot Capt Zachary Stidmon killed in crash. The aircraft tail dragged into the water.

From Michael E. (Mickey) Rountree, LtCol USAF (Ret) - The Crash of 59-0052

Here is the end of the story: F-106 tail number 59-0052 now lies at the bottom of Biscayne Bay, about a mile off the coast line, near Homestead Florida. Also, there is a brick in the Beavercreek Veterans Memorial with the name of “Capt. Zack Stidmon.” I sponsored that brick many years ago, when they were building the memorial.

Now, the rest of the story. Back in 1973, our squadron (84 FIS at Castle AFB in California) had a responsibility to keep two aircraft on five minute alert at Homestead AFB, Florida. As Christmas of 1973 was coming up, the rotation had me as one of the holiday alert pilots. At that time, our kids were two years, and seven months, respectively. Zack was in my flight, and volunteered to do the duty for me so I could be with family. One of the aircraft that went there was the one with my name on it, 59-0052 had “Capt Mickey Rountree” on the canopy rail.

In the middle of the night, around Dec 11, 1973 NORAD scrambled the Homestead jets to pursue a low flying contact coming from the area of Cuba. Turns out it was probably just a drug runner. It was low and slow by F-106 standards. Zack tried to get an ID, but he got low and very slow, eventually tail dragging into the water. His body was still in the cockpit when they cut him out.

Ironically, it was only 10 months later that I was assigned to Homestead for F-4 training. I will never forget my very first takeoff in the F-4, because as I rolled into the right turn out of traffic, I glanced down at the beautiful blue-green water and there it was – the F-106 that still had my name on the canopy rail! It was pretty tough to get my head back into flying. My friend Zack died while flying a mission that I should have, in a jet that has my name on it!

AMARC Storage PCN ID No.:

QF Drone Conversion:

QF Drone ID No.:

QF Drone Shotdown:

Shotdown By:

QF Drone Lost on Nullo No.:

Deployed to Osan AB Korea:

B-1B Chase Plane:

Crash

Crew Ejected:

Crew Survived:

Crew Killed:

Pilot Front / Pilot Rear:

Capt Zachary Stidmon

Pilot Rear:

Accident Report No:

731211001

Destroyed:

Written-Off:

Survivor:

Static Display Painted As:

Instruments - TAC Conventional:

TAC Conventional: Models produced with Tactical 'Round Eye' instruments.

Instruments - Conventional:

Conventional: Models were originally committed as TEST or BAILMENT aircraft..

Instruments - TEST-to-TACTICAL:

TEST-to-TACTICAL: Models returned to Convair and upgraded from TAC Conventional to Vertical
instruments in 1961. Fuselage cut in half at station 412 (Aft bulkhead missile bay) and a new fuselage, cockpit section,
and nose section was installed with the latest production avionics, the same as the last F-106A 590148 and F-106B 590165.
A total of 35 aircraft (28 "A" models and 7 "B" models) were converted and reassigned to various ADC units..

Instruments - Vertical, 1st Produced:

Vertical, 1st Produced: First 'A' and 'B' models produced with vertical instruments.
Tactical Vertical: Models factory produced w/Tactical Vertical instruments: late 1957 and all 1958, 1959..

F-106 Specifications

Role/Function	Fighter-Interceptor
Manufacturer	Convair Division of General Dynamics
Country	United States
Crew	'A' Model 1, 'B' Model 2
Power plant	Pratt & Whitney J-75-P-17 Turbojet
Thrust	24,500 lbs. in Afterburner
Max Speed	1,525 mph (Mach 2.31) @ 40,000 ft
Service Ceiling	53,000 ft
Wing Span	38 ft. 3½ in.
Length	70 ft 8.78in
Height	20 ft 3.3in
Weight	23,646 lb. empty, 41,831 lb max
Cost USD	$3,305,435 Initial, $4.7M after MODS
Range	2,700 mi. max fuel w/ext tanks
No. Built	340 (277 'A', 63 'B')
Armament	AIR-2A (1) AIM-4 (4) M61A1 (1)
Fire Control System	Hughes MA-1 / IBM Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) System
Ejection Seats
1st Seat	Weber Aircraft Corporation Interim seat, not Zero-Zero, inadequate for supersonic speed ejections.
2nd Seat	Convair/ICESC (Industry Crew Escape System Committee) Supersonic Rotational B-seat, called the supersonic 'Bobsled'.
3rd Seat Final	Weber Aircraft Corporation Zero-Zero ROCAT (Rocket Catapult), Zero-Zero, High-altitude supersonic ejections, retro-fitted to all aircraft.
Mfr. Model #	MK No. 8-24

Instruments - Tactical Vertical:

Last Update:

31-05-2021

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F-106 DELTA DART

Lineage History F-106A 590052