John -

Thanks for the picture. Yep - it's a "Slick and shiny Super Sabre C". No flaps,
one long leading edge slat, small fuel vent on the vertical fin and one ton
lighter than the D model and 2 tons lighter than the F model. What a fun
airplane to fly for a brown bar fresh out of flight training.

BTW: We practiced all four phases of spins in the T-37 and did so very early on
in primary flight training. It was a wild, wild airplane in the 3rd and 4th
phases! To my recollection, the Air Force quit teaching spins because of the
losses in the T-37. However, they spend lots of time on traffic pattern stalls
(nose high and nose low) in both basic flight training and in crew training.
That's where they've lost hundreds of pilots over the years - at least in the
fighter business.

In early days of the operational F-100C's they lost so many airplanes,
especially in the turn from base to final, that the Air Force hired Bob Hoover
to tour the F-100 bases and give demos on how to fly the F-100. With 2 wings at
Foster AFB, TX, I was told that they were losing 1 airplane a week in the
pattern. I never saw one of his demos but heard that they were spectacular. This
may be an urban legend, but with all the pilots on the base turned out on the
ramp, he would choose a bird at random, leave his suit coat on the ladder along
with the parachute and then strap in. The problem was that it was a rudder
machine and it took lots of rudder at low airspeeds. We used to do pretty slick
rudder rolls with the stick locked into neutral ailerons.

Thanks again for the picture.

John Schroeder