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The Century series aircraft were a series of early US supersonic jet fighters built for the United States Air Force during the 1950s and early 1960s. It was so named because the numbering of this series of aircraft started at F-100:
Unlike previous series aircraft these were all capable of sustained supersonic flight while level - no dive was necessary to exceed Mach 1Mach number Ma is defined as a ratio of speed to the speed of sound in the medium in case. The Mach number is commonly used both with objects travelling at high speed in a fluid, and with high-speed fluid flows inside channels such as nozzles, diffusers o. Similar advancements were made in this period by the United States Navy with the F4D SkyrayThe Douglas F4D Skyray was a carrier-based fighter built by the Douglas Aircraft Company. Although it was in service for a very short time and never fired a shot in anger, it was notable for being the first carrier-launched plane to hold the world's absol and the F8U Crusader carrier based aircraft.
Although numbered 100+, the F-111 Aardvark and F-117 NighthawkThe United States Air Force's F-117A Nighthawk is the world's first operational aircraft designed to exploit low-observable stealth technology. It is a direct descendant of the Have Blue stealth prototype program. Nicknames Before it was given an official do not properly belong to the Century Series, as neither is in the truest sense a fighter (and the latter was developed more than 20 years after the last Century Series aircraft).
See list of military aircraft of the United StatesThis list of military aircraft of the United States includes prototype, pre-production and operational types. Prototypes are normally prefixed with "X" and often unnamed (note that these are not the same as the experimental X-planes, which are not general.
