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The Northrop F-89 Scorpion was a twin-engine, all-weather fighter-interceptor designed to locate, intercept, and destroy enemy aircraft by day or night under all types of weather conditions. The F-89 was the first aircraft designed to carry an all-rocket armament, the first operational aircraft to be armed with the Hughes Falcon air-to-air guided missile, and the first nuclear-armed interceptor.
The First F-89 made its initial flight in August 1948 and deliveries to the Air Force began in July 1950. Total production of all model was 1,050.
On July 19, 1957, a MB-1 Genie test rocket was fired from an F-89J, the first time in history that an air-to-air rocket with a nuclear warhead was launched and detonated. A total of 350 F-89Ds were converted to "J" models under project Ding-Dong, which became the Air Defence Command's first fighter-interceptor to carry nuclear armament.
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