The F-101A set world speed records for jet-powered aircraft, including airspeed, attaining 1,207.6 miles (1,943.4 km) per hour on 12 December 1957.

This role required extensive modifications to add a large radar to the nose of the aircraft, a second crew member to operate it, and a new weapons bay using a rotating door that held its four AIM-4 Falcon missiles or two AIR-2 Genie rockets hidden within the airframe until it was time to be fired.

Along with the USAF's Lockheed U-2 and US Navy's Vought RF-8 Crusaders, the RF-101 reconnaissance variant of the Voodoo was instrumental during the Cuban Missile Crisis and saw extensive service during the Vietnam War.

[2][3] Interceptor versions served with the Air National Guard until 1982, and in Canadian service, they were a front line part of NORAD until their replacement with the CF-18 Hornet in the 1980s.

Initial design on what would eventually become the Voodoo began in June 1946 in response to a USAAF Penetration Fighter Competition launched just after World War II.

McDonnell was among several companies to respond to the competition; their design benefitted from recently captured German research into high-speed jet aircraft.

[9][10] Preliminary testing revealed that while handling and range were adequate, the top speed was a disappointing 641 mph (1,032 km/h) at sea level.

But the detonation of the first nuclear weapon by the Soviet Union led the United States Air Force (USAF) to raise the priority of interceptors and reduce that of bomber escorts, and it terminated the Penetration Fighter program in 1950.

[10][8] Analysis of Korean War missions, however, revealed that contemporary USAF strategic bombers were vulnerable to fighter interception.

In order to increase aerodynamic efficiency, reduce structural weight and alleviate pitch-up phenomena recently identified in-flight testing of the Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket, an aircraft with a control surface configuration similar to the XF-88, the horizontal tail was relocated to the top of the vertical stabilizer, giving the F-101 its signature "T-tail".

The new Voodoo mock-up with the reconfigured inlets, tail surfaces, landing gear, and dummy nuclear weapon was inspected by Air Force officials in March 1953.

The end of the Korean War and the development of the jet-powered Boeing B-52 Stratofortress negated the need for fighter escort and Strategic Air Command (SAC) opted to withdraw from the program.

Despite SAC's loss of interest, the F-101A had attracted the attention of Tactical Air Command (TAC), leading to the F-101 being reconfigured as a fighter bomber.

TAC requested numerous alterations to the F-101 to suit the new role, including additional apparatus to permit air-to-ground communication, provisions to carry external pods, and structural strengthening.

Issues were found with the autopilot, hydraulics, viewfinder, and control system; McDonnell typically replaced unsatisfactory parts with redesigned counterparts.

[31] One particular issue was the aircraft's dangerous tendency towards severe pitch-up when flown at a high angle of attack; this would never be entirely rectified.

The F-101A was powered by two Pratt & Whitney J57-P-13 turbojets,[20] allowing good acceleration, a high rate of climb, ease in penetrating the sound barrier in level flight, and a maximum performance of Mach 1.52.

The original intended payload for the F-101A was the McDonnell Model 96 store, a large fuel/weapons pod similar in concept to that of the Convair B-58 Hustler, but was cancelled in March 1956 before the F-101 entered service.

While theoretically capable of carrying conventional bombs, rockets, or Falcon air-to-air missiles,[38][39] the Voodoo never used such weapons operationally.

[43] Twenty-nine survivors were converted to RF-101G specifications with a modified nose, housing reconnaissance cameras in place of cannons and radar.

On 6 May 1957, the RF-101A entered service, the first unit to operate the type being 363d Tactical Reconnaissance Wing, stationed at Shaw AFB, South Carolina.

[67] The Voodoo featured a modified cockpit to carry a crew of two, with a larger and more rounded forward fuselage to hold the Hughes MG-13 fire control radar of the F-102.

[38] The F-101B was stripped of the four M39 cannons and carried four AIM-4 Falcon air-to-air missiles instead, arranged two apiece on a rotating pallet in the fuselage weapons bay.

[72] The F-101B was withdrawn from ADC service between 1968 and 1971, with many surviving USAF aircraft transferred to the Air National Guard (replacing F-102s), serving until 1982.

It had a 500 lb (227 kg) heavier structure to allow 7.33-g maneuvers as well as a revised fuel system to increase the maximum flight time in afterburner.

[75][45] Originally serving with the 27th Tactical Fighter Wing at Bergstrom AFB, Texas, the aircraft was transferred in 1958 from TAC to the 81st Tactical Fighter Wing, part of United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) which operated three squadrons from the twin RAF air stations Bentwaters & Woodbridge.

The 81st TFW served as a strategic nuclear deterrent force, the Voodoo's long-range putting almost all of the Warsaw Pact countries, and targets up to 500 miles (800 km) deep into the Soviet Union within reach.

Pilots were trained for high speed, low-level missions into Soviet or Eastern Bloc territory, with primary targets being airfields.

[79] It lacked a true all-weather capability due to the USAF choosing to eliminate the AN/APN-82 electronic navigation system planned for it.

Although the Voodoo could again operate at medium altitudes, the added drag and weight decreased the RF-101's speed enough to be vulnerable to the maneuverable (and cannon-equipped) MiGs and thus require fighter escort.