As a boy, I was so struck by the odd, coke bottle shape, pinched fuselage of the F-106 that I researched the reason for it. From then on, area rule design stuck in my mind. Only years later did I realize the full significance of transonic and supersonic wave drag.
The "poor man's area rule" deals with interference drag, which is a different form of drag that includes subsonic performance. It too has an effect on aircraft shape and accounts for some odd and inventive if ugly aircraft designs.
Notably, Richard Whitcomb's insight into the area rule principle was anticipated by German work in the closing years of WW II. Mercifully, the war ended before it could be incorporated into Nazi Germany's jet aircraft.
"the odd, coke bottle shape, pinched fuselage of the F-106 that I researched the reason for it."
Actually, it was the F-102, also by Convair, that first featured the Coke bottle-shaped fuselage. That design change enabled the Delta Dagger to reach Mach 1 and beyond. The F-106 Delta Dart followed the same general shape but was bigger in every way, except perhaps for the tail fin's surface area. Bigger yet was the B-58 Hustler.
