McDonnell F-101B Voodoo (58-0265) in a Texas ANG livery of the United States Air Force (USAF) at the Technik Museum Speyer (Germany)
The McDonnell F-101 Voodoo is a supersonic jet fighter which served the United States Air Force (USAF) and the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). Initially designed by McDonnell Aircraft Corporation as a long-range bomber escort (known as a penetration fighter) for the USAF's Strategic Air Command (SAC), the Voodoo was instead developed as a nuclear-armed fighter-bomber for the USAF's Tactical Air Command (TAC), and as a photo reconnaissance aircraft based on the same airframe. Delays in the 1954 interceptor project led to demands for an interim interceptor aircraft design, a role that was eventually won by the B model of the Voodoo. This required extensive modifications to add a large radar to the nose of the aircraft, a second crew member to operate it, and a new weapons bay using a rotating door that kept its four AIM-4 Falcon missiles or two AIR-2 Genie rockets hidden within the airframe until it was time to be fired. The F-101B entered service with USAF Air Defense Command in 1959 and the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1961. US examples were handed off to the USAF Air National Guard where they served until 1982. Canadian examples remained in service until 1984. The McDonnell F-101B was made in greater numbers than the F-101A and C, with a total of 479 being delivered by the end of production in 1961.
The Technik Museum Speyer (Speyer Museum of Technology) is a technology museum in Speyer (south-west of Heidelberg), Germany. The collection includes: aircraft, classic vintage cars, racing- and classic motorcycles, historic fire engines, ships, massive steam locomotives, mechanical instruments, rarities and fashions. A special part of the collection is the Russian Space Shuttle Buran. The collection is displayed both indoors and outdoors, and finally there is an IMAX theater. The museum was established in 1991. It is closely associated with the Technik Museum Sinsheim (Sinsheim Museum of Technology). The latter suffered from a lack of space and a second location was opened in Speyer.