From: "Steven J. Corvi" <scorvi@comcast.net>

**************CENTURY SERIES DISCUSSION LIST CHARTER************

An internet discussion list created to discuss the various aspects of
the American Century series aircraft that were operational.  This
includes the following:

---------------------CORE AIRCRAFT INTEREST-----------------------------

North American F-100 Super Sabre
McDonnell F-101 Voodoo
Convair F-102 Delta Dagger
Lockheed F-104 Starfighter
Republic F-105 Thunderchief
Convair F-106 Delta Dart

In the spirit of this strand of interest, other aircraft may become honorary members that served in the approximate time period that the century series aircraft served.  For argument's sake this period will be defined as 1953 to 1970.  This traces the most active period for the Century series aircraft.

As active historians we understand that certain technological paradigms such as aircraft design do not operate in a vacuum.  To further the understanding of the Century series aircraft and the historical context in which they were designed and implemented, we may broaden the spectrum of discussion to other aircraft and designs of the same period; including adversary aircraft.

----------------------HONORARY AIRCRAFT INTERESTS-----------------------

North American F-107
Chance Vought  F-8 Crusader
Avro CF-105 Arrow
General Dynamics F-111
----------------------ADVERSARY AIRCRAFT INTERESTS----------------------

Mikoyan Mig-17 Fresco
Mikoyan Mig-19 Farmer
Mikoyan Mig-21 Fishbed

The above aircraft represent some of the other airframe designs that may become areas of interest. The best and most democratic procedure will be to individually vote each aircraft into the above categories. However, the core category will not change.  This will serve to further the understanding  of the Century series aircraft and the era in which they operated.  The aircraft are also a reflection of the human interface that has developed this weapon system to be employed in bellicose environments such as air combat.

In the historical and technological understanding of the design of the Century series aircraft, we may stumble into the Durkeimian social understanding of the history of science and technology.  The analytical understanding of this aircraft series can delve into the clarification of the creative constituents that created the Century series aircraft.  Design philosophy and engineering principles are socially created paradigmatic processes that eventually produce an aeronautical epistemology that will serve an existing military.  In the end, we have a dynamic weapon system that operates in a multi-dimensional environment to achieve the goal of air superiority.

The Century series aircraft embody the spirit of this concept of air superiority and we will hopefully find use in our conjecture and ruminations on this remarkable era of aircraft design and development. 

Scale modeling is another interest that has drawn this group together and this will be paramount in our discussion contents.  I hope this has clarified the interests and goals of this discussion list.

YOUR Faithful humble servant, 

Prof. Steven J. Corvi
AMU/NU
scorvi@comcast.net

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