Lockheed F-104 Starfighter flies again

[dominicm]

I've filmed a few RC F-104s but this one has the best scheme of the lot. Looks amazing.

phpBB [video]

[Herr Dr. Professor]

About the only way to tell that it's not a real F-104 is the hint of skittishness it shows in mid-air. Nonetheless, the sound, the detail, the take-off, and the landing (complete with pat on the pilot's back) are just remarkable.

[jarndice]

I served briefly with an Army Air Corp Flight in Germany in the early 60s and one of the pilots was a seconded Canadian Armed Forces officer,
He would regale us with many tales of his service life flying high speed Jets one of them being Lockheed's CF 104 which by the way never served as a first line aircraft in the inventory of the USAF although the National Guard did fly them,
The F104 was designed by the man who designed the WW2 Lockheed twin engine fighter the Lightning and the SR 71 Blackbird, Clarence "Kelly" Johnson and it was designed and built to produce a "NATO" Fighter,
He told us that because the main planes were so close cropped they were extremely sensitive and more than once when flying at speed through a thermal layer the aircraft would without warning "Barrel Roll" because the temperature change would alter the trim so much thereby changing the aircraft's flight characteristics.
He came out with a joke once saying that anyone who wanted to own a Starfighter had only to buy an acre of land in West Germany set up a deckchair and wait.

[43rdRecceReg]

Beautiful looking model According to Wikipedia (lazy source), the 'Widowmaker' killed 119 German pilots, and 292 of 916 German examples were lost from 1961 to 1989. It's just as well it never had to fly there, in an actual combat role.

[jarndice]

The accident investigators suggested that one of the reasons for the Luftwaffe losses was because the German pilots were trained in California and of course the conditions in Northern Europe for flying hi-tec high speed military aircraft was totally different

[43rdRecceReg]

The accident investigators suggested that one of the reasons for the Luftwaffe losses was because the German pilots were trained in California and of course the conditions in Northern Europe for flying hi-tec high speed military aircraft was totally different

The greatest aeronautical crime of the age wasn't putting the fatally flawed F104 into production, but of the (US driven) purchase of the F4 Phantom by the RAF, instead of the revolutionary (and still beautiful) British TSR2... A superior aircraft.

[jarndice]

A much deeper crime was enacted by the US government and it is that the Canadian Avro Arrow which was recognised by everyone who knew the aircraft to be the best in the world was cancelled overnight and all the machine tools and parts were destroyed almost overnight,
How very strange that the event was echoed by the cancellation of the TSR2 with the destruction of all the machine tools and parts almost overnight,
Coincidence ?
Hardly' as each time an American Aircraft Manufacturer received orders from the Canadian and British Governments to replace the home grown cancelled programmes with a similar but inferior type and best of all on each occasion the Canadian and British economy's were in distress,
Oh what big teeth you have Granny,
All the better to foreclose on all the outstanding loans you have with us and our American financial corporations unless-----
Interestingly the Canadian and British Governments would not comment but when the US FoI was invoked almost the whole sorry story was revealed
Anyone want to hear the true story about the Cuban Missile Crisis ?

[HERMAN BIX]

Missile Crisis ??................not here we dont.

[EAO]

Long ago I read a book on the Canadian Avro Arrow. Truly a beautiful and ground breaking machine. A total waste and shame what happened. I had not heard about the British TSR2 before, looks like a another beauty that had the same unfortunate ending.

Regards,
Eric.