North American XF-108 (F-108) Rapier

archipeppe said:
As far as I know the F-108 would behave like a sort of scaled down version of the B-70, so the tips should bend down like the Valkyrie's ones....
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Nope. Wings were fixed. It did, however, have large fixed ventral fins near the wingtip that served much the same function as the dropped wingtips of the B-70, without the added complexity of the hinges. Might have even weighed less.
 
Orionblamblam said:
Nope. Wings were fixed. It did, however, have large fixed ventral fins near the wingtip that served much the same function as the dropped wingtips of the B-70, without the added complexity of the hinges. Might have even weighed less.
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Have you seen anything that would indicate if the wingtips angle down slightly? Not a twist but a bend.
 
Did you clip those letters off on the right on purpose? :p It almost looks like a 4° dihedral wing with wing tips twisted so they're 0°.
 
The outer large ventral fins could probably have been done away with in a production version. They are only there for stability like the big center-hinged ventral on the YF-12A, which, as it was discovered later, was unnecessary. Stability augmentation systems could handle the relaxed stability which would also reduce weight, drag, and improve maneuverability.
I have the Anigrand 1/72 XF-108 and if its correct (which I believe it is) the outer wingtip does not have any dihedral, it is indeed a different twist for that portion of the wing in combination with the reduced sweep which makes it look like it has a dihedral.

Another observation. 3 AIM-47's is paltry for such a large aircraft. However, the electronics bay takes up a lot of space and weight. With modern electronics the F-108 could easily carry 6 AIM-47 size missiles plus at least 2 ASRAAM's for close-in defense.
 

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