Agreed beautiful and sexy. There is no other fighter jet like the F-104. I grew up fortunate to see Canadian CF-104's at airshows in the 70's to early 80's. The sound, shape, everything about it is just awesome.🥰
Best looking fighter ever.When I was a young teenager and going to Air Cadets in Ottawa, Canada they had a CF104 trainer at Uplands Air Force Base where we could go on Sundays to "fly" the Link trainer. It had a complete full size version of the front of the plane canopy and all. I remember distinctly that when you took off that rotation speed was critical. Using blown flaps and full afterburner the minimum rotation speed was 190 mph and maximum was 230 mph because the tires would disintegrate at higher speeds. Also just before you rotated the gear up you had to touch the toe brakes because for some reason the Canadian built version had slightly larger tires and at maximum rotating speed they would rub on the body as they retracted into the wheel wells if you didn't slow them down. It took me about ten tries to get the sequence right without crashing on take off. In the next room was the tracking room where there was a huge glass plate that had a large map of Eastern Canada. The instructors would ask us to fly a certain program and we would try but the glass had ink pens that would show the intended flight plan and another color would show where we actually flew and of course the plane was so fast and quick handling we would be all over the place Great memories for sure and that's 55 years ago.
Very cool Robert, I never new that trainer existed, what an opportunity for a fellow Air Cadet. I was at Cold Lake, home of the CF-104, and my father Capt. C.J. 'Hank" Henry was one of the first instructors in 1961 and later a senior MTU test pilot. On one occasion the thin winter (-40C) grease was put on the axles by my friend LAC Jim Wrigley. Of course it being summer this grease vapourized blowing the main wheels off the axles. When informed of this fact my father opted not to eject and write off a million dollar aircraft, but instead landed the 104 on its main struts and the remaining nose wheel. The fuselage never touched the ground. New struts and wheels were installed and the aircraft flew again. When asked later, Dad said "it was just all in a days work", a very cool pilot. (Larry J. Henry)
I wonder how many people on the ground, looking up, had any idea how rare a sight they were blessed to be seeing. Thank you for uploading this and keeping all the audio intact "as is" without layering music over it. Perfect!
Well done guys, I still can't believe you got a 104 flying again...! Being a licensed aircraft maintenance engineer involved with some historical aircraft flying here in England, I think it would be next to impossible to get a 104 flying in the U.K. I rebuilt the black Hawker Hunter WV318 that is resident in Norway and even they are still grounded! Well done chaps...!!
They could have just done like the guy in California did, take the engine out of an F-15 and stick it on. Heard that the USAF was very pissed as that engine made it faster than the F-15's... :)
I saw and heard this well designed fighter-jet in the 70's up in the skies in Fryslân. At Leeuwarden airfield they took the sky. The sound they produced while getting airborne was incredible. Windows in the houses were shaking when these aircrafts went supersonic. The silhouette of his plane is unsurpassed. Yes the F4 Phantom I also a beauty. The F104 is still my favorite. Great plane, small wings, high speed, sharp edge, thunderous presence, sharp design.
Thanks for making this video. I was lucky enough as an RCAF Photo Tech to sit in the back of a CF-104D based in Baden-Solingen, for 8 flights over southern Germany. Quite a thrill and seeing essentially what I saw is fantastic. I remember once using a Pentax SLR to photograph a flight of 16 104s rehearsing for a flyby for some big military event.....the day of the event the area was below minimums and the flight was scrubbed but my pilot decided to do a solo flyby anyway...then, near the Autabahn we almost collided with a Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane hauling something slung underneath at low altitude in the mist.
BEAUTIFUL. This. The SR71. The Beech Staggerwing. Prettiest 3 ever. And 2 are Kelley Johnson designs. I would love to hear one of these overfly me someday. Beautiful film.
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
Hi JonJon...My Dad was in the same squadron at the same time. In fact, the F-104 on static display at Luke AFB has my dad's name on the side of it. I live about a mile from Luke in Litchfield Park. If your dad is (hopefully) still with us, ask him if he know Gary Blake. Cheers!
DJ TVBS...correct! Our time on Exchange with the RCAF in Baden Solingen Germany in the mid-70s was one of our favorite assignments. My dad was with the 439 Tigers...great people...great times.
Wow, amazing video and the coolest plane ever IMHO. When I was a kid I used to spot the italian F104S almost everyday at an Airbase nearby and I still remember the howl of the J79-11A of the F104G, then replaced by the F104S, F104ASA and F104ASA-M. The italian wings kept the glorious F104 in service until 2003 ! Unbelievable.
INCREDIBLE !!!!! Thumbs Up! in 10Km Distance to my Home (Germany) there were based the Canadian Air Force F-104`s (I think till 1986) after this Time... F-18...Since 1995 the Airport is Civil called FKB - Now we have here the "Starfighter Museum"... so cool to see this Plane flying in 2016 !
Hallo John, this is correct - and now this is called FKB (Airport=Flugplatz-Karlsruhe-Baden) if you look to my RU-vid Channel here we have still interesting Traffic.
Damn, she looks good. over 70 years old, still cuts a figure. With new avionics, radar and improved engine, this can be a 4 1/2 Gen fighter. Wonder if Lockheed-Martin is watching.
0:38 The video says 75 seconds in afterburner. In Full Afterburner, the J79 Turbine Engine burns 1.5-2 gallons per second at $5 per gallon. 75 seconds x 2 gallons per second = 150 gallons x $5 per gallon = $750 worth of fuel burned in 75 seconds. Have you gas credit car ready at all times.
I know this is a very Canadian thing to say... I couldn't tell from the video whether this was a 104 purchased from lockheed or whether was one built by Canadair. For us there is a very real difference.
Hi, this was purchased from Canada, and built by Lockheed. Canada didn`t have a production line for two seaters. So CF doesn't always mean built in Canada....
They did, but when Johannes Steinhoff had them grounded the investigation found it wasn't so much the aircraft that was the problem, it was more training and procedures that were suspect due to the complexity of the F-104 over the previous generation of aircraft operated by the Bundeswehr. Once they ironed out those issues, the attrition rate fell markedly and by 1967 there were just 2.4 accidents per 10,000 flying hours which compares very favourably with other NATO air forces of the period. I definitely recommend the book "German Starfighters" by Klaus Kropf which discusses the operational problems the German military encountered in the early days of the F-104's service.
the norwegians were very pleased with the 20 years the F-104 was in the inventory. The 104 was in the inventory for 7 years before they lost their first 104 Then they lost 4 a/c, one guy accounted for 3 of them.
