STARFIRE: America's First Afterburning Fighter was a Strategic Success but a Tactical Failure

In the late 1940s SAC and the Air Defence Command conducted a series of tests of US continental air defence. The results were shocking. SAC's obsolete B-29 bombers easily penetrated the USA's fighter shield and were able to drop simulated nuclear weapons on multiple US cities.

The USAF desperately needed a jet interceptor that could operate in all weathers and carried enough firepower to down a heavy bomber. They got the F-94 Starfire, a hot mess of late-1940s technological reality and 1950s technological ambition. It is often overlooked and forgotten because it was unreliable, underperforming and generally because it found multiple ways to kill its pilots.

And yet the Starfire also took the fight to the Communist forces in Korea, protecting B-29 crews and scoring four kills of its own. One even managed beat a MiG-15 in a dogfight. When the US mainland was vulnerable to nuclear-armed Soviet bombers the Starfire was the only counter available for nearly five years.

In short, although not a good aeroplane in the tactical sense, the F-94 was both an essential strategic asset and a pioneer for technologies that would arm and direct the ADC interceptor fleet for the remainder of the Cold War. The F-94 was the first US fighter with an afterburner. It was the first to make a jet-on-jet kill at night. It deserves to be remembered in a more balanced way and I hope this video starts to set the record straight...

...and I hope you enjoy it! I'm aware that these technical reviews are a bit less popular than the stories, however I enjoy the voyage of discovery!

Final comment is that I'm suffering from bad hay fever at the moment so the voiceover isn't perfect. Hopefully you can enjoy regardless.