Hun Pilot examines the first of the "Century Series" of new fighters of the mid-'50s from a young fighter pilot's perspective. The North American Aviation F-100 Super Sabre was the first U.S. fighter capable of exceeding the speed of sound in level flight. Designed as a day superiority fighter, it quickly morphed into the Air Force's mainstay fighter-bomber. The F-100 design and its Pratt and Whitney J-57 engine were a quantum leap in aeronautics and engine technology that expanded the day-to-day operational flight envelope into the aeronautical flight regime previously flown only by the X-series of specialized experimental test aircraft. Pioneering supersonic operations opened previously unknown aeronautical phenomenon that challenged new piloting skills. Over its quarter of a century operational career, the F-100 suffered one of the highest accident rates in the fighter inventory, with 38.75% of the fleet destroyed in aircraft accidents and killing 324 pilots. Yet, with properly trained pilots at its controls, the aircraft fulfilled the requirement for a worldwide deployable deterrent against the growing nuclear Communist threat. In its latter years of operation, the Hun remained an effective weapon system, flying 360,283 combat sorties in Southeast Asia, more than any other fighter.