Dart for the Spittin’ Kittens

One of the last F-106 Delta Darts converted as a target drone left the bone yard for a new home on display at a museum in Minot, N.D., announced officials at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz. The aircraft, serial number 59-0043, flew with the New Jersey Air National Guard’s 119th Fighter Interceptor Squadron—the last unit to fly the F-106—until its transition to the F-16A in 1988. After its retirement, the jet was converted to a QF-106 Full Scale Aerial Target in 1992 and flew until the type was phased out in 1998, becoming one of the last two flyable Delta Darts, according to the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group. Technicians at D-M demilitarized and disassembled the jet for shipment to the Dakota Territory Air Museum earlier this month. Volunteers plan to repaint the aircraft in the colors of Minot’s 5th FIS, “Spittin’ Kittens,” which flew Delta Darts from 1960 to the mid-1980s.