
The “missile with a man in it” was one of the most badass planes ever.
Overall, 2,580 Lockheed Martin F-104 Starfighter aircraft flew with the air forces of 15 countries in about 50 years.
As already explained several times on The Aviationist, the F-104 represented a huge leap forward for all those countries that passed from old subsonic to a bisonic jet which called for a much greater concentration on the part of pilots who were often faced with split second decisions.
The transition from the previous generation of aircraft to the high performances of the F-104 was often far from painless and that’s why some of the Starfighter‘s users were beset by numerous tragic accidents.
Although the majority of such incidents were caused by human factor or poor weather conditions or because the aircraft was pushed to its limits rather than by plane failures, the “Zipper”, as it was nicknamed in the fighter pilots community, was nonetheless undeservedly dubbed the “widow maker” by the public opinion.
An epithet that was firmly rejected by most pilots who loved the F-104 and its stunning performance.
Anyway, here is a video of a “Zipper” flying dangerously low. According to the comments on the Youtube page it was filmed in the early 1980s at Volkel airbase, in the Netherlands, and shows a Royal Netherlands Air Force F-104 buzzing spotters during an Open Day.
Not as LOW but it’s still flying. F-104 Starfighter 2013 Tico Warbird Airshow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HS0xENa_aEc
SWEET! Thanx for that one bud.
Yeh the good old days before too many display restrictions came in! I recall being a kid at the Air Tattoo around 1980 and being close enough to an F111 that it blew my ice cream away ;)
Man, i wouldn’t mind for a second if an F-111 blew my ice cream away.
Truely an amazing plane. There is a former F-104 pilot on F-16.net who related once flying, information with his wingman at Mach 2 and 73,000 feet. So when you see those videos of the U-2 up there where it’s black and people are in awe of the view, just imagine a pair of F-104s screaming by at Mach 2. :-) Go here for a fantastic read:
http://www.fighterpilotuniversity.com/alumni-house/alumni-news/zipper-at-fl-730/
I watched a Canadian demo team perform at Ramstein’s Flugtag back in 1979 or 80. They few CF-104s. On a solo pass, the pilot rolled inverted at low altitude. His nose dropped and he almost face-planted on the runway. He shoved the stick forward and climbed away, missing the runway by perhaps 20 feet. The F-104 was a beautiful plane but from all I’ve read, it was very unforgiving of mistakes.
Watch the Starfighters demo team from 2013
and a F-104 Supersonic Flight from 2012