Already got my shop filled up with aircraft in different stages of completion 
but the latest experimental LN-reg that had it’s first fight this Thursday would be my first choice 
Faster than an F-16, and full IFR also (GTN-750).
LeSving wrote:
…but the latest experimental LN-reg that had it’s first fight this Thursday would be my first choice…
Oh, a “Lawn Dart”. Or, as they used to joke around here: How do you get your hands on a Starfighter? Buy a piece of land – and wait.
Particulary in the Luftwaffe, the Starfighter had an abymal safety record. About a third of German Starfighters crashed.
Sign me up for an Lancair Evo !
Airborne_Again wrote:
Particulary in the Luftwaffe, the Starfighter had an abymal safety record. About a third of German Starfighters crashed.
Odd thing actually. There are only 5 surviving and airworthy F-104s today. They are all Canadian built CF-104s. They have all been “on duty” at the 334 squadron in Bodø from 1972 to 1983.
LeSving wrote:
Odd thing actually.
The main reason for the high F-104 losses in Germany (around 300 crashed) was corruption. Lockeed bribed politicians into buying daylight-VFR-short range interceptors when the airforce actually needed all-weather multi-role fighters. When they loaded all the necessary equipment into the airplanes, their handling and flying characteristics became “interesting”. Add to that the fact that this was the first real supersonic jet of the post-war Luftwaffe with neither pilots nor maintenance personnel trained to operate such delicate machines and it is almost a miracle that there were not more accidents..
LeSving wrote:
There are only 5 surviving and airworthy F-104s today
Wikipedia lists some more and among the airworty ones there seem to be non-Canadian ones too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_surviving_Lockheed_F-104_Starfighters
what_next wrote:
Wikipedia lists some more and among the airworty ones there seem to be non-Canadian ones too:
There are a couple of Italian ones (104S) on private hands apparently, but not airworthy as of yet it seems.
what_next wrote:
The main reason for the high F-104 losses in Germany (around 300 crashed) was corruption
Life is always better when you can blame someone I guess In Norway we got the F-104G (US built) in the early 60s at the 331 sqd at Bodø. They flew for 7 years without a single serious accident. They were first used as fighter bombers for a couple of years, but later exclusively used as interceptors when the USSR started to bust Norwegian airspace on a daily basis, more or less. The F-104G was equipped as all weather fighter bomber or all weather interceptor. In the early 70s we bought the used CF-104 from Canada, when the Canadian forces withdrew from Europe. Essentially F-104Gs, but specially equipped for anti ship warfare according to those who know. They replaced the F-5s at the 334 sqd, also at Bodø. The F-5s where transferred to other squadrons, being a light weight multi role fighter, and not particularly good at intercepting Russian bombers. Also, the Italians have been very pleased with the F-104, and even made their own S version that operated well into the 2000.
Anyway, the F-104 is just cool. It looks like no other aircraft with the short diamond shapes wings. It was designed to do one thing: To intercept USSR nuclear bombers, and in that role it worked excellent for us in the 60s and 70s. It is a quintessential icon of the cold war for us. I am just thrilled that the old and retired enthusiasts (my old colleagues at Bodø) actually managed to restore one to airworthy condition. It is quite an achievement. And of course, as an experimental registered aircraft (non certified), there are very few other aircraft even remotely close to this (I can’t think of anyone, except Draken maybe).
LeSving wrote:
Life is always better when you can blame someone I guess.
I guess the “Lockheed bribery scandal” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_bribery_scandals) because of which Germany ordered aircraft that were completely wrong for their intended role can be considered to be historic fact. Later they bought F4 Phantoms which caused almost no trouble. They should have done that in the first place, but unfortunately McDonnell Douglas did not invest as much money in our ministers as Lockheed…
Here is an interesting article about the F-104 in the German air force: http://joebaugher.com/usaf_fighters/f104_17.html What I find really astonishing (= never heard of it before!) is some of the informtion in this paragraph:
So actually the Canadian built version seems to have the worst accident rate…
I’d like an RV-7A and a Pitts biplane. Both simple to maintain, with good performance.
One remnant from the German Starfighter experience is that my wife calls every military jet a Starfighter, from L-39 to F/A-18, and whenever she sees any of those she says “look, a Starfighter” She figured out I think that’s cute, so hasn’t stopped. She used to watch them and dream as a little girl.
A previous owner of my little plane actually owned a civilian Starfighter at the same time, one of a couple flying in the US. Actually my plane was his (eventually ex) wife’s plane. I found dealing with him very unpleasant, so apparently the flying experience does not make one happy. Maybe I got the better plane out of their divorce!
