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The F-89 was a twin-engine,
all-weather fighter-interceptor designed to locate, intercept,
and destroy enemy aircraft by day or night under all types of
weather conditions. It carried a pilot in the forward cockpit
and a radar operator in the rear who guided the pilot into the
proper attack position. The first F-89 made its initial flight
in August 1948 and deliveries to the Air Force began in July
1950. Northrop produced 1,050 F-89s. On July 19, 1957, a Genie
test rocket was fired from an F-89J, the first time in
history that an air-to-air rocket with a nuclear warhead was
launched and detonated. Three hundred and fifty F-89Ds were
converted to "J" models which became the Air Defense
Command's first fighter-interceptor to carry nuclear armament.
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