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RALPH ROBLEDO

Ralph Robledo serviced radar systems on F-102s during his Air Force career. Now he will be a part of the team which is restoring Castle Air Museum's newest display.

Ralph Robledo is a Founding Member of the MTIA

December 9, 2004

If the silver, supersonic fighter plane had ever been to Castle Air Force Base before, it didn't arrive like this. The wingless fuselage of the F-102 "Delta Dagger" jet was driven to Castle Airport Aviation and Development Center on Wednesday on a flatbed trailer, its silver paint peeling under the morning rain. Just ahead of it, another truck toted the airplane's triangular wings -- a state-of-the-art technology when the plane was built in San Diego in 1956.

Next summer, the reassembled, fixed-up fighter will take up residence at Castle Air Museum alongside an F-100 -- which is still undergoing restoration -- an F-101, F-104, F-105 and F-106. Together, the six planes make up the Century Series, the first batch of American supersonic fighters, all built during the 1950s. "This makes us only one of four museums in the world to have the whole century series," Castle Air Museum Executive Director Jean Astorino said.

Restoration crew member Ralph Robledo, a 27-year Air Force veteran, worked for seven years with F-102s as a radar technician in North Carolina and Japan. As far as he can tell, this Delta Dagger was never stationed at Castle Air Force Base. That doesn't mean it never landed here, he said, but the chances are slim. Still, F-102s were stationed at Castle during the Cold War era. "This is part of the history of Castle Airport," Robledo said. The airplane's history also shows the progression of modern avionics. Before the F-102 was removed from active duty in 1975, up to 651 of them were in commission. In the 1980s, the Air Force began converting F-102s into unmanned drones. Many of them crashed or were shot down.

Now, only about 30 Delta Daggers remain. However, the fighter's triangular wing design never disappeared. Look no further than an F-15 Eagle or at the swept-back wings of an F-14 Tomcat to see how the "delta" design endured, Robledo said.

"This is the last movable F-102 in the inventory," Robledo said. "The others are already in place in museums." This Delta Dagger was at the Chino Air Museum before officials there agreed to hand it over to Castle. The Air Force owns the plane, but Castle officials had to provide the transportation to bring it here. A Turlock trucking company hauled the F-102 free of charge, and Robledo said it will cost the museum about $3,000 to restore the plane. He never flew an F-102, but restoration team member B.A. Hansen flew the similar F-106 from Castle Airport from 1965 to 1968. Those planes offered a nice, smooth ride, he said, making the F-106 "the Cadillac of aircraft."

More important was the performance. "To make sure they worked, we would try to make 10,000 feet by the end of the runway," Hansen said.