bearfoil
As an aside, it is rumored that at Bell, a decision was made to design the X-1 in the shape of a .45 caliber bullet, as this projectile was supersonic.
IIRC it was a .50 calibur bullet they based the shape on. You're correct though in that they selected that shape because they knew it could fly supersonic.
Do you think that the success Bell had with their rocket created temporary obstacles to the aha of area rule?
That's something I'm interested in hearing too...
galaxy flyer
The Deuce didn't go supersonic as originally designed, but was about 1.3 when the fuselage was area ruled to account for the cross section of the delta wing.
It was stated to be more than twice as fast when area ruled. The top speed was 0.98 when level and non-area ruled so it's top speed would have to be over 1.96
The F-106 was designed area ruled on the design board.
That's correct, it also had a number of improved design features. The inlets were variable-geometry which improved efficiency at both subsonic and supersonic speeds (larger area when subsonic, smaller area when supersonic) and allowed a shorter inlet duct, which in turn allowed the forward fuselage to be cleaned-up (the aft fuselage was cleaned up too -- it didn't have those blister fairings); it had an idle-thrust reducer which helped reduce the tendency for the exhaust to blow around unsecured objects when taxiing (I don't think it had any significant effect on thrust at high power or on burner); it also had a multi-stage afterburner and more fuel capacity. I don't know if it had conically cambered wings from the get-go, but early models did have the wing-fences, and later models had a fixed-slot in lieu of them (I'm amazed they didn't have compressibility problems with an open slot at supersonic speeds, but evidently it didn't).