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Even if the last F-104 fighter jets in active service were retired by the Italian Air Force on Oct. 31, 2004, the Starfighter legacy survived in a modern combat plane: the Eurofighter Typhoon. Whereas the various G, S, ASA and ASA-M variants never featured it, there was an F-104 example fitted with fly-by-wire controls which flew about thirty years before the Italian Zippers were grounded forever. During the 1970s, Germany understood that future fighters would need to achieve high agility as well as the ability to fly at high angles of attack. These capabilities required an unstable aircraft configuration. In...

Those of us in flight test at California’s Edwards Air Force Base in 1959 accused the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter production engineers of turning the designer’s drawings upside down. The wings of most aircraft employed dihedral—they were set at a slightly upward angle—but the F-104’s wings angled in the opposite direction; the horizontal stabilizer and elevator sat atop the vertical stabilizer instead of below it; and the ejection seat fired down instead of up.We could recover from the spin that resulted from the aircraft pitching up uncontrollably when it stalled,which was due to the T-tail configuration, but most pilots who used...

Pakistan would have attacked India in 1998: Gohar Ayub Khan Apr 18th, 2009 Islamabad, April 18 (IANS) Pakistan would have launched a full-fledged air attack had India attempted to prevent its 1998 nuclear tests, maverick politician and former foreign minister Gohar Ayub Khan says in a new book. In the book titled “Testing Times as Foreign Minister”, Khan claims that in the event of an attack by India on the nuclear test site at Chagai in Balochistan, the Pakistan Air Force would have launched attacks on pre-designated targets in India, The News reported Saturday. Pakistan had conducted its nuclear tests...

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.

PALMDALE - Air Force Lt. Col. Robert Riedenauer took the controls of some of the nation's most advanced aircraft during a military and civilian test pilot career that made him the only test pilot to have flown the U-2, SR-71 and F-117 aircraft. Now, the memory of his exploits is a permanent part of the Joe Davies Heritage Airpark at Palmdale Plant 42, with his name affixed beneath the cockpit of a Palmdale-built F-104 Starfighter -the Cold War-era "missile with a man in it" jet he once piloted. Riedenauer, who died April 23 at his Palmdale home after a long...

Test pilot Joe Walker was killed June 8, 1966, when his F-104 chase plane collided in midair with an XB-70 supersonic bomber during a formation flight for a publicity photo. The catastrophic accident took the life of the top NASA test pilot, who earned astronaut wings by piloting the X-15 into space three times, as well as that of Air Force Maj. Carl Cross, one of two pilots of the XB-70. Thursday, on the 40th anniversary of that fateful flight, Walker's son and other admirers visited the crash site in a remote portion of the Mojave Desert to pay their...

MOJAVE - Marking the continuation of a long-standing Mojave program, employees of BAE Systems Flight Systems celebrated the Thursday delivery of their 200th QF-4 drone aircraft to the Air Force. These unmanned aircraft are converted F-4 fighters taken from the boneyard to be used as realistic targets for weapons development. Based at the Mojave Airport, BAE Systems is the exclusive provider of these aircraft for the Air Force. "This family we call Flight Systems has been doing this for a long time. What you do for the warfighter and our country is so important," said Paul Nafziger, vice president and...

PALMDALE - An F-104 jet fighter that once served flight test duty at Edwards Air Force Base is coming home, but with a much different purpose. The North American Eagle, built from the F-104 fuselage, is a jet-engine-powered car intended to break the world's land speed record. The vehicle will be on display Saturday at the Plant 42 Heritage Airpark before the team sets out for test runs at El Mirage Dry Lake next week. The free viewing is from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the airpark on Avenue P just east of 20th Street East. Members of the...

The F-104 Starfighter that famed test pilot Chuck Yeager once flew is now a jet car. The new owners found the fuselage of the one-time record-breaking plane in a scrap yard. They've rebuilt the fighter as a car, in hopes of setting a new land speed record of 800 miles per hour. The current record is 763, held by a British pilot. The North American Eagle is on display in Palmdale, California, home of Edwards Air Force Base, where Yeager once flew. The car will be tested next month, with a target date of July 2007 for the record attempt.

Beginning this weekend, aircraft buffs will be able to stroll up to and touch about half dozen historic aircraft at the city's newest public facility, the Heritage Airpark. The airpark, at 25th Street East and Avenue P, is a memorial to the aircraft designed, built and tested at U.S. Air Force Plant 42 since the facility was established in 1951. The airpark is open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays beginning Jan. 17. A formal ceremony marking the opening of the facility will be held in March, noted Mayor Jim Ledford. Meanwhile, volunteers will continue to prepare...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel...

PALMDALE - Travelers hurrying down Sierra Highway may have noticed the return of a familiar and friendly presence - the mischievous skunk of Lockheed Martin's famed black project workshop, the Skunk Works. He bears a nodding resemblance to the Warner Bros. cartoon character, Pepe LePew, and for decades he couldn't even come out in public. It would be a national security breach to identify yourself as an employee of the Skunk Works. With the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. officially observing the 60th anniversary of the famed hot project shop inaugurated by Clarence "Kelly" Johnson, the skunk emblem is back up...

LANCASTER - The five latest additions to Lancaster's Aerospace Walk of Honor will bring to 70 the number of aviation pioneers honored since the walk's inception in 1990. The experience of this year's honorees - James D. Eastham, Robert C. Little, Bruce Peterson, the late Russell M. "Rusty" Roth and Rogers Smith - all flew in the skies above the Antelope Valley during their careers in a series of firsts. Eastham tested and developed the world's first three Mach 3-plus aircrafts, the A-12, YF-12A and SR-71 Blackbird and Little took the F-101A Voodoo supersonic on its very first flight at...