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Even so, the last F104s were only withdrawn from service in 2004 by the Italian air force...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

[thewheelman]

Justayellowbadge said:

LotusOmega375D said:

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?

He rented it for a few months. Was done for the publicity. Uncharacteristically.

No, he did buy it, he had it for a good few years, then the locals of Chipping Norton decided to cause problems over it, then planners got involved, & he was told to move it.

[thewheelman]

Justayellowbadge said:

thewheelman said:

No, he did buy it, he had it for a good few years, then the locals of Chipping Norton decided to cause problems over it, then planners got involved, & he was told to move it.

No he didn't, and it was only at his house for a number of weeks.

I live in the area, i can tell you it was there for a good few years.

[thewheelman]

aeropilot said:

thewheelman said:

Justayellowbadge said:

thewheelman said:

No, he did buy it, he had it for a good few years, then the locals of Chipping Norton decided to cause problems over it, then planners got involved, & he was told to move it.

No he didn't, and it was only at his house for a number of weeks.

I live in the area, i can tell you it was there for a good few years.

No it wasn't.

XM172 was temporary hired for this publicity stunt and then returned to it's owners at Booker within a couple of weeks.

Erm....oh it was.

Possibly not the one used for a TV show, but i can tell you as a fact he had one there for a good few years. The do gooders of Chipping Norton protested about it. You could see it from the road.

I drove past it most days on the way to my dad's house, who lives very near him in the same village. Here's a pic of the one he personally owned. So, you have been corrected.

Edited by thewheelman on Friday 14th October 22:23

[thewheelman]

aeropilot said:

thewheelman said:

aeropilot said:

thewheelman said:

Justayellowbadge said:

thewheelman said:

No, he did buy it, he had it for a good few years, then the locals of Chipping Norton decided to cause problems over it, then planners got involved, & he was told to move it.

No he didn't, and it was only at his house for a number of weeks.

I live in the area, i can tell you it was there for a good few years.

No it wasn't.

XM172 was temporary hired for this publicity stunt and then returned to it's owners at Booker within a couple of weeks.

Possibly the one used for a TV show, but i can tell you as a fact he had one there for a good few years. The do gooders of Chipping Norton protested about it. You could see it from the road.

I can also tell you for a fact that the histories, locations, and owner timelines for EVERY surviving Lightning, since they ended flying are very well documented, and the ONLY one that spent any time in Clarksons garden was F.1A XM172 hired for a few weeks as a publicity stunt for that TV show.

As posted, the pic of it, i drove past it many times over a period of years. I couldn't care less what make of plane it is. I know where he lives as it's less than a 5 minute walk from my dad's house. So clearly your facts are incorrect. Just deal with it.