Friday 14th October 2011

You Know You Want To... Lockheed F104 'Starfighter

Fancy a Mach 2 strike fighter in your garden? Course you do

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Charity shall cover the multitude of sins, says the King James Bible, and it must be said that speed can do much the same thing. And speed is what the Lockheed F104 'Starfighter' was mighty good at.

Entering service in 1958, the Starfighter was the first operational combat aircraft capable of sustained MACH 2 Flight and the first aircraft to hold simultaneous world records for both speed and altitude.

But despite the glamour of its speed the aircraft was often considered to have evil handling characteristics, not least by World War Two Fighter Ace Erich Hartmann (who scored 352 air combat victories over Allied aircraft in WW2), who publically and controversially resigned from his high ranking position in the post-war West German Air Force due to his strong opposition to the F-104 being adopted by the Luftwaffe.

Looking at the safety record of the plane, it seems that Herr Hartmann might have had a point - more than 30 per cent of all the Starfighters in Luftwaffe service were lost in accidents, while the Canadian Air Force lost 50 per cent of its F104s and the USAF safety record was 26.4 accidents per 100,000 flight hours (that's apparently quite a lot).

Even so, the last F104s were only withdrawn from service in 2004 by the Italian air force...

This particular Messerschmitt-built F104 was retired by the German air force in 1987, since when it and has been displayed at various museums in the UK. Now privately owned by Jet Art Aviation ,the aircraft has undergone some cosmetic work prior to being offered for sale as a Museum/Display aircraft.

But unfortunately the aircraft is not airworthy and has no engine or weapon systems (boo). The cockpit is complete, however, and comes with its very own Martin Baker ejection seat, stick, throttle box and instruments, so you can at least play at being a Cold War fighter ace...

And the price? If you have to ask...

 

 

 

 

[thewheelman]

I know Clarkson used to have a fighter plane in his garden, for that reason alone, no thanks!

[Rockatansky]

Pay for one??

You used to just have to hang around in Lincolnshire and wait for one to drop out of the sky.....

[Numeric]

Anything nicnamed the "Widowmaker" and not for its prowess in combat has to be a bit of a scary beast - but I guess you would have to be looking at the context of the time. Have a friend who was a navigator on the Sea Vixen and I think he said half the airframes were lost and in those accidents half the crews were killed!! He ejected on his second flight!!! Makes climbing on my bike look very safe. But my god - what an amazing beast the F104 is!!

[V88Dicky]

One of the first model aircrafts I can remember building!

Amazes me that these 'jet engines with fins' could actually fly!

[Mark-C]

My first airfix model was one of these - still think they are absolutely stunning to look at.

And then I came across this --> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Lockheed_and_...

Been obsessed with the things ever since - would love to own one :-)

[spoodler]

"So you want a Starfighter? Buy an acre of land in Germany and just wait" - Captain Lockheed (Rob Calvert)

[Hellbound]

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

Ahem...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxdZIMy8zJc


Part of me would like to turn this into a brute of a speed boat.

[Tango13]

Part of the reason so many european airfoces bought the F-104 was that they were bribed to do so! The Lockheed sales force considered a small suitcase full of cash to be a perfectly acceptable tool during a sales pitch.

Also the founder of Lockheed aircraft was the brother of the chap who started Lockheed brakes and the original spelling was something like Loughead before they changed it phoneticaly.

[HeMightBeBanned]

Tango13 said:

Part of the reason so many european airfoces bought the F-104 was that they were bribed to do so! The Lockheed sales force considered a small suitcase full of cash to be a perfectly acceptable tool during a sales pitch.

Yep. Was going to post this but you beat me to it. F104 was totally unsuitable but bribery gets you a long way.

[Oddball RS]

Great looking plane, not so good at the flying part though.....

[uncle tez]

The wings dont look big enough to me

[rockymount]

Think World War Two Fighter Ace Erich Hartmann might have had a point ..... especially when you consider they were nicknamed 'The Flying Coffin' by the pilots who actually flew them !!! obviously didn't have 'fly-by-wire' back then.
Remember seeing a pair of F104 Starfighters at a Military Air Tattoo in South West England in the summer of 1970 - loudest things I've ever heard ........ and that was standing about 1/2 mile away !!! This is the closest I could get to a vid with the sound of an F104 on a high speed fly by, but even this doesn't do it justice !!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqmYWfKB_8Y&fea...

[Jasandjules]

I'd rather have a Hurricane or Tornado...

[rockymount]

Found another vid that's a bit louder - two taking off this time

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktpkHrr0BFQ&fea...

[LukeSi]

Sod it, I'd still have a go flying one. As long as it has an ejection seat I don't care

And any big versions of the pictures? Say 1920x1080?

Edited by LukeSi on Friday 14th October 14:13

[300bhp/ton]

thewheelman said:

I know Clarkson used to have a fighter plane in his garden, for that reason alone, no thanks!

Used too? Does he not any longer?

[OdramaSwimLaden]

Rockatansky said:

Pay for one??

You used to just have to hang around in Lincolnshire and wait for one to drop out of the sky.....

The original widowmaker; concieved many years before the the 996 GT2 arrived on the scene.

[Gixer_fan]

uncle tez said:

The wings dont look big enough to me

and a tad far back in the fuselage for any sort of stability. It must change direction like a fly!

[The Danimal]

LukeSi said:

Sod it, I'd still have a go flying one. As long as it has an ejection seat I don't care

Yeah baby. kick the tyres and light the fires!!!!!!......

[LotusOmega375D]

300bhp/ton said:

thewheelman said:

I know Clarkson used to have a fighter plane in his garden, for that reason alone, no thanks!

Used too? Does he not any longer?

Didn't he have an EE Lightning, but got into trouble with the local Cotswold planning authorities over it?