5 more F-104s to Starfighters Inc

[wls3]

Five more F-104s from the Italian Air Force to arrive in Florida next month.
This to the 4 they already have.

http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20110509/BUSINESS/105090307/More-jets-way?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Home|p

[Warbird Kid]

Wow! That will quite an impressive squadron when completed.

[TAdan]

That is great. I am thrilled that Starfighters are still flying the F-104. A few years ago I assumed the type would remain extinct in the airshow world. I am glad I was wrong.

I saw Starfighters flying at the Atlantic City airshow a few years back and it was a real blast. Now that their number has increased I hope they will be able to send a few out to some shows again.

[WallyB]

Wow! That will quite an impressive squadron when completed.

Yes, perhaps this is in our future: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIvv1PAmesM complete with color schemes ?

[The Inspector]

It took about 1/5th of a second for the long forgotten '104 howl' to make every hair on my neck stand straight up! thnx!

[expat]

The first air show i ever went to was Mildenhall , id be about 12 , The Vikings were there , that was me hooked on 104's for life

[Fouga23]

Great aircraft and nice to see more of them restored to flying condition! I helped restore one for a museum. I have fond memories of it, except for the wings. That metal turns to dust just by looking at it!

[tex-fan]

Great news about the 104s, more i only wish they would bring one {or more} to a Texas air show. Keep em flying!

Wow! That will quite an impressive squadron when completed.

Yes, perhaps this is in our future: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIvv1PAmesM complete with color schemes ?

Love that RED paint scheme Starfighter! The 9-ship formation is beautiful and I would LOVE to see that! Unfortunately I don't think it is very likely that the expansion from 10 to 20 employees includes additional pilots to fly NINE F-104's at the same time. I suspect that many of these five additional aircraft will be backups and spares for their contract work, but it at least raises the possibility that sometime in the future a 4 or 5 ship F-104 demo team could be mounted for air shows. The 3-ship I saw at Andrews AFB in May 2008 was beautiful, but can you imagine a 4-ship Starfighter diamond!

[Pat Carry]

Now that is kool!!!!!!!!!

[P51Mstg]

When fuel was relatively cheap, it was about impossible for most airshows to afford the Starfighters. Military (Andrews).... Yes, but even then with military cutbacks, that is going to be out. I'd venture to guess you are not going to see more than one at TICO which is 30 starfighter seconds away from their home base. Fuel had dipped to a low price when they were out as a group.

At least they are there and flying.......

Fill out those ATF forms before you bring them back......

Mark H

Last edited by P51Mstg on Tue May 10, 2011 11:04 am, edited 1 time in total.

[EDMJ]

It took about 1/5th of a second for the long forgotten '104 howl' to make every hair on my neck stand straight up! thnx!

The late-build, Italian F-104S don't (in my opinion) have the characteristic howl of the earlier F-104G, unfortunately. I think they had different engines..?

[WallyB]

It took about 1/5th of a second for the long forgotten '104 howl' to make every hair on my neck stand straight up! thnx!

The late-build, Italian F-104S don't (in my opinion) have the characteristic howl of the earlier F-104G, unfortunately. I think they had different engines..?

True, the F104S had the dash-19 version of the J79 which didn't whistle/howl quite as much as the rest but it was still a unique sound.

Off to youtube now to find a Hunter/Meteor "blue note" .

When fuel was relatively cheap, it was about impossible for most airshows to afford the Starfighters. Military (Andrews).... Yes, but even then with military cutbacks, that is going to be out. I'd venture to guess you are not going to see more than one at TICO which is 30 starfighter seconds away from their home base. Fuel dipped to a low when they were out as a group.

At least they are there and flying.......

Fill out those ATF forms before you bring them back......

Mark H

Mark, you make a good point. The Starfighters had a very limited show schedule for the most part and the 3-ship was a very limited short-lived experience. And as you say, the close proximity at TICO is a primary reason they have flown there the last few years. Fuel is a huge factor, but hopfully at some point we will see a little downward fluctuation again. Even if they could put a larger formation up on a very limited basis just a couple of times, I would try to be there to see it. I know...I'm a dreamer....