F100 o F101 o F102 o F104 o F105 o F106. This is the history of fighter aircraft that transitioned the United States Air Force into the supersonic era. By 1952, fighter designations that started with the Curtiss P-1 in 1923, reached the century mark with the North American F-100 - thus the term Century Series. This occurred at the very point where operational fighters could exceed the speed of sound. The useful lives of the six century series aircraft that saw operational service were long and varied - one performing its military role almost fifty years after its prototype first took to the air. Even today, current