My father Capt. C.J. (Hank) HENRY was one of the first instructors in 1961 for the RCAF on the Cf-104. He logged thousands of hours both in Canada at CFB Cold Lake, and on Canadian bases in Germany and France. He originally instructed on fighters in WW2 and went on to instruct on Canadair Sabres during the '50s. He was a superb pilot and revelled in many aircraft, but particularly enjoyed the 104 for it's power and speed. He never called it anything other than the Starfighter or 'Zipper". This aircraft is still today like a F-1 race car, if you aren't experienced enough you may have a challenge on your hands. Hank landed one with no hydraulic flight controls and another with no main wheels. He never ejected from an aircraft and trusted the 104 implicitly. He also knew his aircraft throughly.
lucky no, I knew him, he was an accomplished pilot ! what made the a/c so dangerous was a lack of training , most often the case in then W. Germany as the Luftwaffe was starting all over and had few ready pilots, then.. In Canada the losses were somewhat less, percentage wise, than the F-86@@WvhKerkhof
I can still remember standing very close to a Starfighter on the ground, listening to that wonderful sound of the engine ticking over, with the pilot doing some pre flight checks. What I didn't realise was the effect this was having on my ears, I was nearly totally deaf when I walked away. BTW watching a Starfighter doing a rapid rate of climb from a few hundred feet was just amazing, it just shot up like a rocket!
My Dad Was part of the 58th Tactical Fighter Training Wing, Fighting 69th,back at Luke AFB,IN Pheonx,AZ in THE 70S,I grow up with this plane,man it brings back memories,THANK YOU
Awesome seeing it fly again , remember watching the German f 104 demo team "Vikings" of the Luftwaffe - best show i ever seen , Brings also back many memories of the 70s -cold war era , Greetings from Germany .
I remember watching the 104 as a kid, when my father was stationed in Lahr Germany. When they scrambled them, you would see them leaving the runway in groups. The noise was deafening. With those short wings, they glided like a rock, and the landing speed was ridiculous. Somewhere around 160-180 knots, I think.
as some may or may not know,the F=104 star fighter nicknamed"missle with a man it"was the brain child of clarence"kelly"johnson built at the secret skunk works u.s.a.
This is a restored Starfighter called "Vestfjordoksen". It had it's first flight in 33 years in late 2016. It literally took off 5 minutes ago, going south to fly on airshows all summer.
Beautiful video. I worked on this Aircraft at the 22° Fighter Wing in Istrana air base, as an armour (weapon team). This Aircraft have only tip tank on the ends of the wings. The seat is an Martin Baker GQ-7A or IQ-7A.
Valter Moras ...un po' tardi per me...mio padre era lì dal 74 al 79.....io ogni tanto andavo in hangar e mi facevano sedere nel cockpit.... Mi ricordo anche di quando un f104 mancò di spinta in decollo e fini nei campi di mais dopo avere strappato le barriere, la recinzione...saltato la strada...il pilota si chiamava Maugeri.....si andava a fondo pista a vedere i decolli e gli atterraggi...quel suono ti faceva tremare anche il subconscio......
Grazie per avermi risposto, venerdì scorso 11 maggio abbiamo festeggiato i 100 anni dei Gruppi 20 - 21 - 22 - 23 ad Istrana, bellissima cerimonia e tantissimi partecipanti.
My first impression about F-104 was a Japanese Monster Movie in which F-104s had a role to be destroyed so easily by monsters. Now I see F-104, it looks so small as if a pilot is riding directly on the jet engine like Mig-19 or 21, much smaller even comparing to F-16. Hard to roll, hard to turn, hard to land, however it must be beloved by everyone who loves fighter airplanes.
The F-104 is actually longer than an F-16 (16.7 vs 15.1 metres), but it's lighter (max take-off weight is 13.2 vs 19.2 tonnes) and has a lower thrust to weight ratio.
I was in Bodo Norway in 1983.. I think I still have that fighter wing patch in a drawer somewhere...why do they still fly 104s? I thought they had moved to the F16
You are right. They have been flying F-16 since the late 1970ies. This is a plane that has long since been retired but kept in airworthy condition. As an aside, there is an excellent aviation museum in Bodø.
HMM MAKES ME THINK OF THE SCREAMING BANSHEES I HEARD EVERY MORNING IN COLD LAKE BETWEEN 1962 AND 1967. USUALLY BEGINING AROUND 5:30 IF MEMORY SERVES ME CORRECTLY.
Actually, it is "Lille Svartoksen" (Little Black Oxe) as far as I can see from the map over the area. I am sure there has been a large number of submarines lurking in this area during the Cold War, as this was (-and is) a strategically important military air base. Not all of the submarine crew spoke "NATO-language"...
As much as I appreciate the 104's speed, appearance and climb, it was no dogfighter. In a high-speed, one pass attack it could more than hold its own---however, if the pilot slowed down to engage he was at a huge disadvantage with almost any fighter out there---including the Folland Gnat. With the speed advantage, however, the 104 could disengage at will.
No, It's a Starfighter that has been restored by some Norwegian volounteers to flying condition for airshows. It's currently the only flying Starfighter in Europe.
Great looking airplane that never became what it was promised to become, a starfighter. I don't know how many brave pilots died in the NATO ranks flying this coffin. Sure Lockheed-Martin made benefits, I just hope the same won't be repeated with the F35 also a Lockheed-Martin product.
The greatest interceptor designed to break all those records , when that mattered, killed more pilots than enemies did, downward ejection seat was the reason, pilots were bailing out at low altitudes, too low for their seats/parachutes to safely deploy, Fast and beautiful will the bigger engine
that pilot must have bolls of steal to fly in one of those "widowmakers". or they have improved the ejection seat so much the likelihood of getting killed is alot lower, or he is getting paid alot of money
The Widowmaker, one of the most overrated aircraft in history it was quick and could climb but that was it, the only reason its such a well known aircraft is because west germany the frontline of the cold war bought 900 of them because Lockheed bribed them, it was an extraordinarily difficult aircraft to fly and this is proven by its accident rate, the Canadian Air Force lost 46% of its starfighters because of accidents. The Mig 21 the contemporary to the F104 was a much better aircraft.
Yes that was part of the reason why the Germans had such a high fatality rate but that doesn't explain why it had the highest accident rate in the US Airforce of any 100 series fighter or the fact that the CAF lost 46% of it 104s due to accidents
"the fact that the CAF lost 46% of it 104s due to accidents" Because they, just like the Germans used it as a low level strike fighter, meant to deliver tactical nuclear weapons at first but later more for conventional weapons. The fact that it could carry A2A ordnance was almost as an afterthought for them.
If F 104 was a high altitude interceptor why was it sold to air forces that needed another type of plane? Lack of information of who sold? Corruption? There were 280 accidents in the Luftwaffe with 115 dead pilots. This is not just using the airplane for wrong function. F 104 was first provided as an interceptor and demonstrated to be inefficient in this function in the USAF being relocated to ground attack and multi functions, proving not to be suitable for any of them. This equipment was only sold to several countries because of the corruption.