The F-108 can trace its roots to 1952 when the commander of the Northeast Air Command, Major General Lyman P. Whitten, suggested the development of a very long-range interceptor. Whitten felt that the warning time available from the soon-to-be-deployed SAGE network should be used to attack incoming bombers well before they threatened the United States and Canada. To Whitten the logical platform was a modified Boeing B-47 Stratojet armed with dozens of air-to-air missiles. This proposal, however, did not go far toward defining the aircraft that would eventually enter development. A truly bizarre series of letters, studies, proposals, and counter-proposals followed. Among these were designs for a delta-wing variant of the Northrop F-89 called the Delta Scorpion, and a two-seat derivative of the McDonnell Voodoo that ultimately became the F-101B. Interestingly, although the Mach 3+ Republic XF-103 (see January 2004 WINGS, available in back issue) was a funded development effort, it appears that nobody considered it a viable contender to fill the role. Despite the apparent confusion, Air Force Headquarters formally approved the development of a new long-range interceptor on 20 July 1955.
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