This is a Fight Test F-101A #12 (S/N 532429). Note the faired gun ports and number 12 on it’s nose.
I looked at this photo maybe a half dozen times before I realized what I was seeing! The nose has an instrument photo panel in it, in order to record the in-flight data. This was the way it was done before data link came around!
Either a camera is placed in front of the panel to record the instruments or the camera shoots thru a hole in the panel into a mirror and records the data. It is hard to tell from this photo; but, it may have the center hole.
My first job in Flight Test was to calculate the required distance between the camera lens and the front of the instrument panel on F4H-1 # 8. So, this rare photo has special meaning to me.
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