5 Worst Fighter Jets To Fly For The US Air Force

The U.S. Air Force has been a crucial part of the U.S. military in numerous key moments in the history, such as the Vietnam War and the Afghanistan War. Engineering marvels such as the F-22 Raptor and the F-35 Lightning have cemented the U.S. Air Force's dominance in modern aerial warfare. However, the now-dominant Air Force hasn't always had this unfailing fortune with their fighter jets. Several fighter jets that aspired to be a cut above the rest with their speed and design often ended up duds, especially during the inception of jet-propelled fighters.

Jet engines brought a massive thrust boost to fighter planes when compared to the piston-based alternatives. The increase in thrust and greater height tolerance also meant a complete redesigning of various elements such as the wings and airframe to withstand the high-speed maneuvers. Moreover, the unreliability of the new engine always remained a problem with initial generations of fighters, for which some initial fighters also used a hybrid of piston and jet engines. As a result, several over ambitious jet fighters performed poorly due to failing one or many aspects of integrating the jet engine. Let's gloss through history and look at some of the worst fighter jets to be a part of U.S. Air Force's fleet.

The F7U Cutlass was Vought's ambitious post World War II fighter jet, designed to cruise above 600 MPH and reach 40,000 feet of elevation. However, these weren't the only feats that this fighter jet was fighting to achieve during the early jet age. The Cutlass also sported an iconic design with swept wings and no tail at all. Moreover, it incorporated a fairly new hydraulic system, which could deliver 3000 pounds of pressure per square inch. Perfecting each of these complicated technologies in a 1950s plane was as hard as it sounded.

The problems began to show right from the start, as all three of the initial prototypes and two of the first fourteen ordered by the U.S. Navy were lost in accidents. The F7U Cutlass was nicknamed 'Gutless Cutlass' for its dangerous nose wheel design and underwhelming performance.

Even after a series of modifications, the operational F7U-3s could not avoid accidents and a quarter of all produced F7Us were lost due to accidents, resulting in at least 25 pilot and test staff casualties. As a result, the U.S. Air Force decided to move on and replaced the F7U with the F9F Cougar.

As the Cold War intensified, the Soviet long-range bombers started becoming a major concern for the U.S. The U.S. Air Force badly needed supersonic jet interceptors to detect the Soviet bombers and destroy them midair. Enter the F-102 Delta Dagger, the world's first interceptor designed to achieve supersonic speeds. Unfortunately, the Delta Dagger was riddled with some serious design flaws since its inception.

Convair had to completely redesign the wings from scratch after discovering they couldn't support supersonic speeds. Next in line was the faulty fuselage that produced abnormally high drag, restricting the Delta Dagger from reaching Mach 1. After repeated modifications, the F-102 could eventually reach supersonic speeds, but under very specific conditions. Apart from these performance issues, the Delta Dagger faced 468 minor and major accidents, resulting in 49 casualties during its lifetime. 

The Delta Daggers were later deployed in the Vietnam War in air patrols and as bomber escort planes. Additionally, the Air National Guard used the F-102 during the late 60s and early 70s.

During the World War II, jet propulsion was the next big thing in aviation and both Axis Powers and the Allies wanted to capitalize on the technology. Britain had already developed its first fighter jet in the form of the Gloster E.28/39. In order to help U.S. develop its first fighter jet, Britain shared their jet engine technology with General Electric and Bell aviation was tasked to use the GE engines to develop the U.S.'s first fighter jet under a top secret program.

However, Bell P-59 had some major problems, especially with its speed. For starters, the elementary jet engine yielded zero advantage over other planes from the U.S. Air Force's fleet. The P-59 couldn't beat the conventionally slower piston-engined fighters like the Lockheed P-38 Lightning and the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt during its trial. As a result, the Bell P-59 was never taken to combat and only served as test aircraft and jet trainers during its lifetime.

Similar to other mentions on this list, the F-104 Starfighter was yet another trailblazer. The Starfighter was the first to sustain the Mach 2 milestone during flight. However, groundbreaking innovations often come with their own challenges, and the F-104 Starfighter was no exception. Despite its blazing fast speeds, the Starfighter suffered from high landing speeds, short range, and an unreliable engine for almost all of its lifetime under the U.S. Air Force, earning it the nickname of "the rocket with a man in it."

The F-104 wasn't a complete failure, as it served close to 5000 sorties during the Vietnam War where it primarily escorted the EC-130 motherships. Even after its retirement from the U.S. Air Force in 1969, it continued serving in foreign militaries such as Canada, Germany, Pakistan, and Italy. Despite widespread adoption, the F-104 was prone to accidents, with its abysmally high rate of 30 mishaps per 100,000 flight hours. Canada and Germany lost 50% and 30% of their entire F-104 fleets respectively in crashes, earning it another infamous title of 'Widowmaker'.

The B-58 Hustler was a beautiful early 60s bomber that could reach Mach 2 speeds with full payload. Its primary mission was to deliver free-fall nuclear bombs at speed as a response to a possible Soviet attack during the Cold War. While the B-58 was a capable jet fighter, it was plagued by accidents and operational difficulties. It sustained 6 major accidents in just the first 10,000 hours of its flight and costed the lives of 6 crew members during the early 60s.

The Hustler had a number of issues, with the fragile undercarriage being one of the most pressing ones. The Hustler's fragile right undercarriage collapsed after touchdown and resulted in accidents on the tarmac in multiple cases during the mid-1960s. Adding to the misery, the Hustler was exceptionally expensive to manage and operate. Apart from this, flying the B-58 Hustler was a tedious task that needed the pilots to continuously monitor the aircraft for stall or spin. A total of 26 Hustlers were lost to accidents during its short ten-year lifespan. The number is already high, but it seems even more daunting when you consider only 116 were ever produced, resulting in a 22.4 percent accident rate.

The Hustler and other fighter jets on this list might seem like chapters best forgotten from U.S. Air Force history. However, these flawed, accident-prone, and finicky planes were all trying to innovate and break boundaries that eventually resulted in valuable experience for building future tech. Innovation in aviation often requires trial and error, and these fighter jets were the essential stepping stones that helped the U.S. Air Force design the most advanced fighter jets, like the F-35 Lightning and F-22 Raptors.