Let's talk about the F-104 Starfighter

[mowowie]

The F-104 Starigher and all it's variants. Todays Sunday reading obsession.

I wanna hear from the FR pro's!

From what I have read so far, The plane had spectacular abilities coupled with very un-desired effects.

[mowowie]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6qMTrqGMNI

[NonValueAdded]

See http://www.vectorsite.net/avf104.html. I love Greg Goebel's Website.

[joe.fralick]

The Germans used them as operational fighters, but I don't know if we ever had an operational squadron of them. It burned a lot of fuel and couldn't carry much ordnance, is what I heard.

Amazing performance, though.

[Gaffer]

Did you know that the Germans bought some and lost many to crashes? They nose dived into the ground.....they got to calling them post hole diggers. Turns out the problem was a pressurized oxygen supply company that supplied the oxygen had their system set up near a noxious fume output of some kind.

On the brighter side, I believe that this plane that had a thrust-to-weight ratio significantly greater than 1 which allowed it to climb a straight vertical.

[mamelukesabre]

I’m no expert. But I know a smattering of aerodynamics. It seems to me that the wings on that plane are very short and cocked the wrong way...no dihedral. Sounds like a recipe for unstable flight.

Back in the days of primitive electronics, I would expect this to be trouble.

[Historix]

F-104 was used to make this of course....

[NonValueAdded]

“... on 17 December 1954 ... the XF-104 had shot itself down” during a test of the “Vulcan” Gatling cannon. :)

[omega4179]

[Future Snake Eater]

OK, let's talk about "The Starfighters"...

[50mm]

...but I don't know if we ever had an operational squadron of them.

Not only did the USAF have squadrons, the Starfighter flew in VietNam.

[poindexter]

World’s fastest tricycle?

[dainbramaged]

I built a Revell model of an F-104 way back in the day. Didn’t Chuck Yeager have to bail out of one over the California desert during a test flight?

[50mm]

83rd Fighter Squadron in Taiwan, 1958

[JRios1968]

There were quite a few operational squadrons of the Winged Rocket. As a child I remember watching the PR Air National Guard F-104s of the 198th Fighter Squadron (Bucaneros) flying around, and I even got to sit in the cockpits at Muniz Air National Guard Base in San Juan.

Google Earth needed to see the only F-104 left at Muniz ANGB, San Juan

[Pyro7480]

Of course, there's the famous ending scene in "The Right Stuff" where Chuck Yeager flies a variant of the F-104, based on a real-life incident.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlsWD1-fmIk

[19th LA Inf]

An odd feature of the early 104 was a downward-firing ejection seat. I think this was done because it was thought that available seats would not clear the vertical fin. In event of engine failure on takeoff, it was necessary to roll upside down to get out! Ivan Kinchloe, a Korean war jet ace, was killed that way.

One of my memorable experiences was landing our company Cessna 337 on the big runway at Edwards AFB. After landing,I had to taxi to the end of the runway and hold for a NASA F-104 on final. This was in 1970 and I think it was one of the last ones flying in this country (might be the one displayed in the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum). It was carrying a great deal of power all the way to touchdown, the sound was deafening and unforgettable. The only other one I ever saw was a flyby at an airshow in 1956, so they were operational then.

[omega4179]

German Starfighters were finally retired in the mid-1980s, being replaced by the Panavia Tornado and the F-4 Phantom, lingering on in specialized roles into the early 1990s. Many of the survivors were passed on to other air arms. Total losses were 270 aircraft, or about 30% of the force. Other air forces had higher loss rates, but the Luftwaffe was by far the biggest operator of the Starfighter and so had the highest absolute number of losses. After the F-104, the Germans would acquire a strong aversion to single-engine fighter aircraft.

[19th LA Inf]

I remember seeing in some aviation journal a picture of a Puerto Rico Air National Guard F-104 with large fuselage marking PR-*-ANG. In British aerospeak, “Prang” is the kind of landing you may not walk away from. The editors commented that the markings were most unfortunate for a 104.

[NonValueAdded]

read http://www.vectorsite.net/avf104_1.html#m6 for a description of the Yeager "story."