Is there an aviation ping list?
“Try our New, Spicy Enchilada!”
One way trip.
I saw a video years ago of some civilians using a stripped down F104 to try and set a low altitude speed record.
The camera couldn’t swing fast enough to keep up with the plane.
Then, there was a big cloud of dust.
I thought, “That’s the end of that pilot.”
There wasn’t much left of the plane when they got to it.
And there, in the seat, was the pilot.
Nothing else much bigger than a dinner plate.
I think his leg was broken.
Amazing.
Nice . Missile with a man in it. JATO/RATO takeoff.
We sold a lot of these to the Germans. Not very maneuverable but friggin fast.
Aviation Bump
Saw a F-104 on the flight line at NAS Alameda way back in 1978.
Tag for later.
Interesting film!
Wait until the ejected thruster hits a muslim in the head.
BTW...what kind of carbon footprint does that thing have?
There’s a LOT of cool stuff on that YT channel!
Just as impressive was the land CATOBAR.
Fascinating. They must have used rubber propellant in that large JATO rocket with all that black smoke.
I wonder why this didn’t catch on. Would have been a lot cheaper than spending all that money on the F-35 VTOL version. (jk)
Fantastic! Thank you for posting.
Only ONE YEAR from prototype contract to a flying prototype! Kelly was the most amazing designer and leader ever, truly one of a kind.Cold War: Lockheed F-104 Starfighter
The F-104 Starfighter traces its origins to the Korean War where US Air Force pilots were battling the MiG-15. Flying the North American F-86 Sabre, they stated that they desired a new aircraft with superior performance. Visiting American forces in December 1951, Lockheed's chief designer, Clarence "Kelly" Johnson, listened to these concerns and learned firsthand the pilots' needs. Returning to California, he quickly assembled design team to begin sketching out a new fighter. Assessing several design options ranging from small light fighters to heavy interceptors they ultimately settled on the former.Building around the new General Electric J79 engine, Johnson's team created a supersonic air superiority fighter that utilized the lightest airframe possible. Emphasizing performance, the Lockheed design was presented to the USAF in November 1952. Intrigued by Johnson's work, it elected to issue a new
proposalRequest For Proposals and began accepting competing designs. In this competition, Lockheed's design was joined by those from Republic, North American, and Northrop. Though the other aircraft possessed merits, Johnson's team won the competition and received a prototype contract in March 1953.With construction of the prototype complete, the XF-104 first took to the sky on March 4, 1954 at Edwards Air Force Base. Though the aircraft had moved quickly from the drawing board to the sky, an additional four years were required to refine and improve the XF-104 before it became operational. Entering service on February 20, 1958, as the F-104 Starfighter, the type was the USAF's first Mach 2 fighter.
It is hard for us to remember what a hot point W.Germany was in the 1950-70s. This film shows the effort to position the F104 outside the fixed base airfields that were a prime target. Anything to keep Ivan uncomfortable.
Still, doing this with the F104 is a real reach. A misfire or short-burn would leave Wolfgang little time to punch out as that plane did NOT glide!
How can we make the Flying Coffin even more dangerous? Halt mein Bier...
My father was a junior engineer on the XF-104 project; he reported to one of the Skunks Works men. He told me many years later, when I was an adult, that he worked on the wing-root and T-tail sections.
On a related scale model test, he was at the base, with another junior engineer, when the XF-104 first took flight.
They were running up the X for its first test hop, with the J65, since the J79 was not ready. My father said that, as he and his partner watched, two Air Force pilots walked up, stared for a while at the prototype as it taxied, then one of them turned to my father and said, “Where’s the rest of the wing?”
My father said, “I’m sorry, that’s all there is.” The X then took off.
This must have been the test hop on 28 February 1954, not the maiden flight of 04 March 1954.
My father did top secret work most of his life, with Lockheed and NASA. He was a quintessential engineer: white shirts, black ties, gray car. He never bragged about anything.
He virtually never talked about work at home. I did not know of his involvement in the Starfighter (one of my favorite aircraft) until, as a teenager, I was visiting my godfather’s house, and admiring his model of one on the mantle. He said, “Your father helped design that, you know.” I had not known. (He also had a model of the P2V Neptune; my father had worked on that project also.)
I did not have a full grasp of his career until I was 20, home from college. My mother assigned me to clean up around the house, since I did not yet have a summer job. I found a three-foot high stack of old newspapers, major ones from coast to coast, with my father the top-of-the-fold front-page story. I was stunned.
I went to my mother and demanded an explanation. She said, “Oh, yeah, that was a big deal. You were a little boy, and wouldn’t remember.” It turned out he had been on the Today Show with Dave Garaway, and had spoken at an international symposium on aeronautics, as a result of his own independent design project.
I could not imagine my taciturn father speaking on television or at an auditorium. I said so. My mother said, “He just viewed it as another part of the job.”
Learning about all that was a surreal experience.