The F-104 Starfighter - Great Planes documentary YouTube video

An outstanding Great Planes documentary on the beautiful F-104 filled with all kinds of great development footage including that of the M61 Vulcan 20mm cannon. Kelly Johnson's groundbreaking design was in production for an amazing 30 years:


[video=youtube;fChqJY9VzTU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fChqJY9VzTU[/video]

[video=youtube;gOwIdAXlgPg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOwIdAXlgPg[/video]

German ground crew training film:

[video=youtube;aKv9lsdln7E]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKv9lsdln7E[/video]

Do you think with their new canopy for the BT 70 nose cone that Apogee (DynaStar) will be coming out with and F-104 Kit?

One of my favorite jet aircraft!

My favorite fighter in my formative years......:blush:

After looking at your videos, I came across this video which is a bit eye opening on the maneuverability of fighters and is relevant today on the F-16 versus F-35 argument.

[video=youtube;8FQxKkJOvHY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FQxKkJOvHY[/video]

Bob

Thanks for posting that video Bob, that was interesting!

bobkrech said:

My favorite fighter in my formative years......:blush:

After looking at your videos, I came across this video which is a bit eye opening on the maneuverability of fighters and is relevant today on the F-16 versus F-35 argument.

[video=youtube;8FQxKkJOvHY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FQxKkJOvHY[/video]

Bob

Click to expand...

Yep, it was groundbreaking only with respect to the technologies involved in its development during the early 1950s, including the revolutionary M61 Vulcan whose misfires during development downed one F-104 and nearly downed another. The small wing area makes it visibly obvious that hard, low radius turn maneuvers in air to air combat would not be possible. Also, it was an unsolicited design. The USAF didn't ask for it. It was designed to be a very simple fighter and had minimal internal space for upgrades, exactly like another of my very favorite aircraft, one even more (vastly more) groundbreaking technology-wise, the beautiful B-58 Hustler. There was an outstanding Great Planes on it, too, but I can't find it on-line right now. If anyone does, please post it here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_F-104_Starfighter

And just as the F-35 depends upon stealth rather than maneuverability in air to air combat, the F-104 relied on speed rather than maneuverability. In your video, we see how that turned out for the F-104...

EDIT: Nice article:

The not quite right stuff - F-104 Starfighter

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/2/2/1360449/-The-not-quite-right-stuff-F-104-Starfighter

F-104 documents:

https://www.916-starfighter.de/documents.htm

F-104 Parts Manual (Italian & English) - 1100 Pages

https://ww2aircraft.net/forum/threads/f-104-parts-manual-1100-pagess.24887/

Canadair CF-104 Starfighter -- Backbone of Canada's 1960s-era nuclear deterrence strategy in Europe (excellent video - lots of great stills and F-104 video)



F-104 Starfighter | Behind the Wings