And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
You wore spurs on your boots that connected to cables to jerk your feet off the rudder cables, back against the seat during ejection prior to going out the bottom of the plane. You went out the bottom so that you didn't hit the T tail. If you had some altitude you could roll plane inverted & eject. F-104 "Man in a Missile" carried missiles - NO GUN - Went Fast, Could not turn in Dogfight.
It still holds the all time fatality record for US fighters. The damn things actually killed more of there own pilots than any other production fighter--EVER. It was a boondoggle that was forced into production by congress. We also forced it onto several of our "allies". At lot of whom never forgave the US for killing so many in an aircraft that should never have gone into production. BTW it's the aircraft that almost killed Chuck Yeager. Think about that.--Ray
There is a lot of erroneous shit out there. The downward ejection seat lasted a very short time before being replaced. The ejection seat was 0-0, speed and altitude. It was designed to incorporate the M61 Vulcan cannon and was the first aircraft to do so using link-less ammo. The F-104 was no boondoggle, Kelly Johnson talked with the F-86 pilots during the Korean war and asked them what needed and he designed the F-104 to be the best interceptor which it was. It was not designed to dog fight so to say it was no good in a dogfight is like saying the B-52 is not much good at it either. The 104 was not forced on anyone and most pilots who flew it loved it, it was a Cadillac, a fantastic aircraft to fly, I still recall many fantastic hours and I have friends who have over 3000 hours in this magnificent beast RCAF CF-104s when sold had on average over 6000 hours on the airframe, beat that for longevity. As for the fatality rate, that's bogus too. The F-102 is higher so too the F-84, Gloster Meteor and how about the F-8 Crusader? there were 1266 built 1106 being involved in major accidents. I don't have time but I am going to a 104 pilot reunion in July and will be laughing it up and re-telling old war stories with hundreds of old 104 drivers none of whom have nothing but respect for the venerable 104. I find it interesting that all you naysayers are anonymous, figures.
It suffered from being forced into roles it was never designed for, like low-altitude strike fighter. Bad weather in northern Europe played a big role in low-altitude accidents. From what I've read, it was a smooth ride thanks to the tiny thin wings.
My favorite plane when I was a kid.I've heard it was hard to fly.
ReplyDeleteI knew a LTC who lived down the street when I was a kid. He died in a flame out on an F-104
DeletePS - Very low altitude. Couldn't eject.
DeleteI think the early models had a downward ejection seat
ReplyDeleteKevin
You wore spurs on your boots that connected to cables to jerk your feet off the rudder cables, back against the seat during ejection prior to going out the bottom of the plane. You went out the bottom so that you didn't hit the T tail. If you had some altitude you could roll plane inverted & eject. F-104 "Man in a Missile" carried missiles - NO GUN - Went Fast, Could not turn in Dogfight.
ReplyDeleteIt still holds the all time fatality record for US fighters. The damn things actually killed more of there own pilots than any other production fighter--EVER. It was a boondoggle that was forced into production by congress. We also forced it onto several of our "allies". At lot of whom never forgave the US for killing so many in an aircraft that should never have gone into production. BTW it's the aircraft that almost killed Chuck Yeager. Think about that.--Ray
ReplyDeleteThe Luftwaffe didn't fair well with this deadly craft either.
DeleteThe Puerto Rico Air Guard flew them into the mid 70's....the locals called them "Los Banditos"....
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot of erroneous shit out there. The downward ejection seat lasted a very short time before being replaced. The ejection seat was 0-0, speed and altitude. It was designed to incorporate the M61 Vulcan cannon and was the first aircraft to do so using link-less ammo. The F-104 was no boondoggle, Kelly Johnson talked with the F-86 pilots during the Korean war and asked them what needed and he designed the F-104 to be the best interceptor which it was. It was not designed to dog fight so to say it was no good in a dogfight is like saying the B-52 is not much good at it either. The 104 was not forced on anyone and most pilots who flew it loved it, it was a Cadillac, a fantastic aircraft to fly, I still recall many fantastic hours and I have friends who have over 3000 hours in this magnificent beast RCAF CF-104s when sold had on average over 6000 hours on the airframe, beat that for longevity. As for the fatality rate, that's bogus too. The F-102 is higher so too the F-84, Gloster Meteor and how about the F-8 Crusader? there were 1266 built 1106 being involved in major accidents. I don't have time but I am going to a 104 pilot reunion in July and will be laughing it up and re-telling old war stories with hundreds of old 104 drivers none of whom have nothing but respect for the venerable 104.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that all you naysayers are anonymous, figures.
It suffered from being forced into roles it was never designed for, like low-altitude strike fighter. Bad weather in northern Europe played a big role in low-altitude accidents. From what I've read, it was a smooth ride thanks to the tiny thin wings.
ReplyDelete