Really? I read the article but waxing and putting the tank in the fuselage I find hard to believe that an F-100 had trouble keeping up with him in a B-57.
B-57 top speed is 598 with cruise at 476. Thrust to weight ratio is .36
F-100 top speed is 877 with cruise at 587. Thrust to weight ration is .55
Kind of hard to believe that wax and removing the drop tanks could affect the speed that much, but anything I guess is possible.
IDK, at 500mph+, that's a lot of drag hanging out there. I had a friend that flew F-15's, F-16's in the Air Force, then went to a National Guard unit and for a short time flew F-106's before they transitioned to F-16's. He said he loved the 106 because it carried its ordinance internally. Said he preferred the 106 clean to the 16 dirty. Since the B-57 doesn't have after burner and I would also assume has longer range, I could believe that Yeager pushed up the cruise speed at the expense of fuel to make his point. In any case, still a good story