In January 1951, North American Aviation approached the U.S. Air Force with a proposal for a supersonic day fighter they had dubbed the "Sabre 45" because of the aircraft's wings 45-degree sweep.  

The USAF modified the mocked-up design and ordered two prototypes on January 3, 1952. Designated the YF-100A, the first prototype flew on May 25, 1953 and achieved an air speed of Mach 1.05 with its Pratt & Whitney XJ57-P-7 engine.

F-100 Prototype.

Color footage of the first flight of North American YF-100 Super Sabre:

The F-100 Super Sabre was also the first of six U.S. Air Force aircraft to make up what is known as the “Century Series”— the North American F-100 through the Convair F-106.

Clockwise from bottom: F-104 Starfighter, F-100 Super Sabre, F-102 Delta Dagger, F-101 Voodoo, and F-105 Thunderchief.  Not shown in the Convair F-106.

The first production aircraft, the F-100A, flew in October 1953 but suffered from directional stability issues that could lead to a sudden and unrecoverable yaw and roll.

Publicity drawing of the F-100 from North American Aviation.

Another problem, nicknamed the "Sabre Dance," emerged as the swept wings had a tendency lose lift in certain circumstances and pitch up the aircraft's nose. 

By November 1954, the F-100As had suffered from six major accidents and the unfortunate death of North American’s chief test pilot, George Welsh, on October 12, 1954.

As North American tried to remedy the problems, difficulties with the development of the Republic F-84F Thunderstreak compelled the Air Force to move the F-100A Super Sabre into active service. Receiving the new aircraft, the Tactical Air Command requested that future variants be developed as fighter-bombers capable of delivering nuclear weapons.

Zero-Length Launch (ZLL) of the F-100.

The first Zero-Length Launch (ZLL) of an USAF/North American F-100D Super Sabre took place at Edwards Air Force Base, California, in 1958.  ZLL was meant to get nuclear-armed combat aircraft airborne in the event that airfield runways were rendered useless due to enemy attack. A Rocketdyne XM-34 solid rocket booster mounted under the F-100 could boost the aircraft to an altitude of 400 feet and speed of 275 miles an hour, in just five seconds!

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