The forgotten father of the Eurofighter Typhoon: the F-104 CCV

The Aviationist ^ | Mar 07 2014 | Dario Leone

[sukhoi-30mki]

Image credit: GAF via Key Publishing forum

[sukhoi-30mki]

[fso301]

I understand it’s a testbed but I’d hate to think of flying that thing in combat with the airfoil blocking the pilots view to the rear.

[MHalblaub]

“... I’d hate to think of flying that thing in combat with the airfoil blocking the pilots view to the rear.”

What do you think about the rear view of the bomb truck called F-35?

[Portcall24]

One of my greatest days included a backseat mission to the range in an F-104 out of Luke AFB. We dropped practice bombs and straffed the rags. What an experience. Often when we weren’t running intercepts with fighters from Luke and DM we would go to the F-104 simulator and take turns flying it. My cousin who had never been in service visited and I took him to simulator and he spent over an hour in it. The NCO taught us everything to do to reset the simulator and he would leave so that we had it to ourselves. Then the F-4 simulator arrived and we couldn’t get close to it. They were too busy and it was too fragile.

[Charles H. (The_r0nin)]

Holy crap, the Eurofighter has a mechanically scanned radar?!! That’s like opening the hood of your new Porsche and finding an aspirating carburetor. How last-generation can you get...

[fso301]

What do you think about the rear view of the bomb truck called F-35?

It definitely has a blind spot low and toward its 6 o'clock. The twin verticals don't help the rearview either.

[MHalblaub]

“Holy crap, the Eurofighter has a mechanically scanned radar?!! That’s like opening the hood of your new Porsche and finding an aspirating carburetor.”

Don’t be surprised but many modern Porsche are without “Turbo”. There are even diesel engines available. No, I am not talking about Porsche Cayenne.

What is the advantage of an EASA radar then your hook can’t catch the wire?

[PapaBear3625]

I understand it’s a testbed but I’d hate to think of flying that thing in combat with the airfoil blocking the pilots view to the rear.

You know those rear-view backing-up cameras that new cars increasingly have? How about a rear-facing camera on the tail feeding a pilot display?

[tanknetter]

You know those rear-view backing-up cameras that new cars increasingly have? How about a rear-facing camera on the tail feeding a pilot display?

Yeah, the MiG-31 Firefox (NOT the Foxhound) had one of those IIRC. Of course, it also had a thought-controlled weapons system (had to think in Russian tho).

The basic problem with the F-35 is that its been sold as a "fighter" when it's really a stealthy light attack bomber. More of a successor to the A-7 than the F-16 and legacy F/A-18. It'll perform pretty well in its intended role, and in a beyond-visual-range air-to-air environment where it has datalinking with F-22s and legacy F-15s/F-16s (a late-entry requirement due to the F-22s smaller numbers that's being worked on).

The helmet-mounted sighting system will help somewhat, once it gets worked out, but they are having some issues now with the enlarged headrest of the fancy new bang-seat impairing the pilots line of sight. Maybe they'll end up reverting to the ACES II seat ...

[Yo-Yo]

What do you think about the rear view of the bomb truck called F-35?

With or without the 360° Helmet Mounted Cueing System and multiple cameras around the airframe?

[Vaquero]

I am a huge fan. As a kid I built the revelle (I think?) model. I remember it being “ the missle with a man in it “ and watching the right stuff as Chuck Yeager takes it into near space with the modified nf104a starfighter with added rocket motor to get him up where there is no air around 120000ft. Of course he couldn’t get it out of a flatspin so he could not restart the jet nor dead stick it and he bailed out.

Great fast Kelly Johnson vehicle

[MHalblaub]

“With or without the 360° Helmet Mounted Cueing System and multiple cameras around the airframe?”

The view for the high resolution system of eyeball MK1 in assistance with high resolution system mirror MKx. System mirror has a far better MTBF compared to any camera or helmet mounted system. No need for much software code integrated somewhere.

KISS!

Standard sensor package on every current fighter should alert the pilot before eyeball MK1 makes contact.

Maybe the A/F-35 goose is cocked within visible range so view would not help anything at all.

[Woodman]

I believe the Darth Vader helmet makes it possible to see 360° in every direction.

[RayChuang88]

While the F-104 CCV tested a number of ideas to improve maneuverability of fighter aircraft, the true ancestors of the Eurofighter Typhoon are these two planes:

British Aerospace EAP

Rockwell-MBB X-31

What was learned from these two test planes--especially the delta wing with forward canard configuration and studying how to get maximum maneuverability from this configuration--shaped the final design of the Typhoon.

[Bulwyf]

it’s called a lawn dart for a reason.

[Yo-Yo]

I believe the AN/AAQ-37, while having a higher MTBF than the MK I eyeball, may edge out the performance of the MK 1 in the infrared spectrum, at night, and in adverse weather.

[diogenes ghost]

Germany using fly-by-wire to make the F-104 more stable was an attempt to salvage their Air Force, which had put all their eggs in the Lockheed basket, fueled by corruption.

Starfighters dug more trenches across Europe than the Wehrmacht.

[nascarnation]

Starfighters dug more trenches across Europe than the Wehrmacht.

Ouch...

[GreyFriar]

Thank you for this historical note on the F-104