Introduction

Colors & Markings of the F-106 Delta Dart is a book by Detail & Scale, packed with information for modelers and enthusiasts of USAF’s “Ultimate Interceptor”.  It is volume 8 of their Colors & Markings Series.

Colors & Markings of the F-106 Delta Dart covers every unit that ever flew the Delta Dart – a.k.a. the “Six” - in 127 pages, with 330 photos, and dozens of color profiles and additional illustrations. This review looks at the PDF version, catalogued with ISBN 79-8-3440145-7-9. The paperback issue features 126 pages, 314+ color photos, and 22 color illustrations.

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About the Book

The Convair F-106 Delta Dart was an iconic United States Air Force (USAF) fighter-interceptor, being one of two pure delta-wing fighters, and  the last of the “Century Series” fighters. The book explains how the Six came from extensive development of the Convair F-102 Delta Dagger.  Created to be a pure interceptor, the F-106 was incredibly advanced for its time and practically a manned robot-jet.  It is still the world’s fastest single-engine jet.

Detail & Scale first chronicled the history of the Six in detail as their very first Colors & Markings release in1984.  Vastly expanded since then, Colors & Markings of the F-106 Delta Dart is ready for your enjoyment.

Detail & Scale books are excellent sources for modeling and history.   They impressed me then and yet only recently have I comprehended just how comprehensive they are. Founders and authors Bert Kinzey and Rock Roszak bring over 60 years of first-hand military aviation expertise into their Detail & Scale products.  Roszak, a USAF navigator who retired as a colonel, created illustrations for the books.  Both of the Detail & Scale creators are modelers, too.

Twenty-seven squadrons and test groups, and NASA and target drone units flew The “Ultimate Interceptor” through four decades so one can imagine there will be plenty to cover.   Read along and sample what this book offers.

Content

All formats have over 120 pages and offer more than 300 color photos, plus artwork.  The books are organized thusly:

After the introduction that presents the bona fides of the sources is five pages of Delta Dart Paint Schemes & General Markings, a treatise about the development and colors and general markings.  Following immediately is an in-depth look at unit markings from squadron level through Air Divisions to Air Force echelons.  Air Force Technical Order T.O. 1-1-4, Exterior Finishes, Insignia,and Markings, Applicable to USAF Aircraft is referenced to provide an overview of the finish of the F-106 (and the other Century Series fighters if you care to find a copy).  The text is precise about colors, i.e., FS10544 Insignia Blue, and the size of insignia and lettering.  We even learn of the ratios of the design of the national insignia.  (I have never seen that before.)   We learn about assignment of serial numbers and the origins of the “buzz number”.   Reading the text of the various chapters reveals some informational and historic gems, e.g., a “flash” on the bottom of the rudder, varying placement of a unit’s call numbers, the date Air Defense Command was decommissioned and what became their new parent organization.  The author identifies another hidden in plain sight variations of squadron markings, and the “speed flash”.  

If you have never seen a “Six” in the four-color Southeast Asia (SEA) camouflage, this book will surprise you.  Do you know what a “big badge” refers to?  That is explained in the next chapter, per Regulation 66-23, Authorized Emblems and Markings on ADC Aircraft and Missiles, as well as mention of the “low color” era for ADC.  (One must wonder from whom the brass in the "Puzzle Palace on the Potomac" thought their interceptors needed to hide?)

 The meat of the book is the 103 pages of colors, markings, and brief histories in three chapters:

1.     Air Defense Command / Air Defense Tactical Air Command Squadrons

2.     Air National Guard Squadrons

3.     Miscellaneous Users

 Between those three sections, 33 units are portrayed.  A brief unit history for each squadron is included.  All of the photographs are original color.  Every squadron’s badge is illustrated but it is not counted as an illustration in the following image tallies. 

1.     539th Fighter Interceptor Squadron: seven photos; two illustrations.

2.     498th Fighter Interceptor Squadron “Geiger Tigers”: seven photos; one illustration.

3.     84th Fighter Interceptor Squadron “Black Panthers”: 17 photos; two illustrations.

4.     95th Fighter Interceptor Squadron “Mr. Bones”:12 photos.

5.     456th Fighter Interceptor Squadron: four photos.

6.     437th Fighter Interceptor Squadron: three photos.

7.     460th Fighter Interceptor Squadron: six photos;one illustration.

8.     27th Fighter Interceptor Squadron “Falcons”: four photos; one illustration.

9.     83rd Fighter Interceptor Squadron: two snapshots.

10.  319th Fighter Interceptor Squadron “Tom Cats”: three photos; two illustrations.

11.  5th Fighter Interceptor Squadron “Spittin’ Kittens”: 17 photos; one illustration.

12.  318th Fighter Interceptor Squadron “Green Dragons”: 19 photos; one illustration.

13.  94th Fighter Interceptor Squadron “Hat in the Ring”: 11 photos.

14.  2nd Fighter Interceptor Squadron “Horney Horses”: seven photos.

15.  438th Fighter Interceptor Squadron: seven photos.

16.  49th Fighter Interceptor Squadron “Green Knights”: 16 photos.

17.  11th Fighter Interceptor Squadron: four photos.

18.  87th Fighter Interceptor Squadron: 20 photos including close-ups; six photos of special William Tell nose art.

19.  329th Fighter Interceptor Squadron: four photos; one profile.

20.  48th Fighter Interceptor Squadron: 12 photos; two illustrations.

21.  71st Fighter Interceptor Squadron: seven photos; one illustration.

22.  186th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, Montana ANG: 10 photos.

23.  101st Fighter Interceptor Squadron, Massachusetts ANG: 14 photos plus and illustration.

24.  119th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, New Jersey ANG: 12 photos.

25.  171st Fighter Interceptor Squadron, Michigan ANG: 13 photos; one illustration.

26.  194th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, California ANG: eight photos.

27.  159th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, Florida ANG: 15 photos.

28.  Tyndall AFB Units: 11 photos.

29.  F-106 Test Aircraft: seven unique and vivid jets.

30.  Air Logistics Centers: three photos.

31.  NASA: three photos.

32.  B-1 Chase Aircraft: three photos.

33.  QF-106 Drone Program: three heartbreaking photos.

 When I build my F-106 this book will be essential for the painting and decal phase.  My only complaint is the number of unit and marking options make my head spin!  I think I have the contenders narrowed down to a couple dozen.

Photographs, Artwork, and Graphics

Photos

All photos are color with one exception – the photo of the pilot to whom the book is dedicated.  Modelers, artists and historians will find a feast for their eyes as Detail & Scale have obviously harvested the cream of the crop from who knows how many photographs to which they have access. I can’t think of a single one that is not sharply focused and skillfully developed in full color.  Scores of images get the heart pumping while showcasing the beauty of the Six.   I thought about trying to count the iterations of unit insignias but there were too many.  A few photos worth mention are:

·        Small but raunchy nose art.

·        A glistening ADC Gray Six next to a camouflaged“Deuce” (F-102).

·        An engine change with plenty of ground equipment.

·        William Tell competition markings.

·        An airborne portrait of a tight quartet of Delta Darts close above a B-52.

·        Specially decorated “Dart Out” F-106 commemorative markings for the aircraft’s retirement.

·        Nose art and kill markings.

·        A Genie rocket pulling a billow of smoke and flame just underneath a speeding F-106 a moment after being fired.

·        Spectacular Bicentennial scheme.

·        Vmc meets Vne in formation - a KC-97 refueling F-106s and displaying the dichotomy of pitch between the world’s fastest single-engine fighter and…well…a KC-97.

·        CINCNORAD (Commander-in-chief NORAD), the personal “Six” of General "Chappie" James.

 Artwork

1.      Additional Informational and Safety Markings:

·        National Star Details

·        Typical Ejection Seat Warning

·        Typical F-106 Data Block

·        Warning Notice Speed Brake Outer Surface

·        Warning Notice On/Above Missile Bay Doors

·        Rescue Marking Aft of Left Engine Intake.

2.     Southeast Asia (SEA) camouflage scheme for the F-106: both profiles and planform.

 Tables

 1.      F-106 Aircraft Markings Specification presents the four subjects Marking, Location, Size and Color by:

·        U. S. AIR FORCE

·        Model Designation, Aircraft Serial Number andFuel Requirement

·        National Star

·        USAF

·        Call Numbers

·        Arctic Markings

·        Anti-Glare

·        Identification Letters and Numbers

·        Jet Warning Stripe.

Those are illustrated as a planform and profile view of a F-106.

 2.      Higher Echelon Headquarters Adopted Markings presents nine tail markings for:

·        28th Air Division

·        30th Air Division

·        Tenth Air Force

 While there is plenty to absorb the layout of the pages and graphics facilitate study and learning of the topics.

Conclusion

 Colors & Markings of the F-106 Delta Dart is a visual feast for modelers and historians of the F-106, and the perfect companion for Detail & Scale’s F-102 book in the same series.   Both are excellent in their own right and yet both are better as a companion to the other.  With an extensive gallery of photographs and artwork, and informative text, modelers and historians should have no trouble understanding the finish and markings the colorful “Ultimate Interceptor”.

I enthusiastically and happily recommended it.

Thanks to Detail & Scale for providing this book for review.  Please remember to mention to Detail & Scale and retailers that you saw this book here - on Aeroscale.