Starfighter for sale

[Mantog]

Don't know if you folks have seen this? F104G for sale!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2027297/Cold-War-F-104-Starfighter-jet-sale-25k--garden-ornament.html

Bob

[tom d. friedman]

it looks sweet & well tended!!!

[the330thbg]

Wow.., I never realized how high the losses were. Was it this bad in the US as well?

[markcia]

From what I know the Messerschmidt units were augmented with Canadair units as well. Apparently the punch seat was of a different configuration on the Me units where it punched DOWN instead of up.

As well the role in Germany and Canada was different than in the US. The US role was high altitude interceptor while the role Canada and the Germans used it for was multi-role. This included ground attack. I can just imagine the rush at Mach1 and beyond at 500 ft... Especially in Germany with the hills and whatnot.

Mark

[Fouga23]

Apparently the punch seat was of a different configuration on the Me units where it punched DOWN instead of up.

Only the very early F-104's had a downward seat. the G''s all had normal ones. One thing they did in Germany is change the C-2 seat for an M-B example.

[ZRX61]

Note that the article says a (full) "four week restoration"... All they did was put some shiny paint on it. I'd hardly call that a resto...

As for the loss rate.. several years ago the Italians lost one in the mountains near Rome, they spent weeks looking for it but never found it..... however, they did find 2 others that had been missing for years..

[RandolphB]

There used to be a joke in Germany: "You want a Starfighter? Buy an acre of land and wait...."

[Speedy]

Sure looks sexy, though....

[tex-fan]

Wow.., I never realized how high the losses were. Was it this bad in the US as well?

from wikipedia;;;;
The Class A mishap rate (write off) of the F-104 in USAF service was 26.7 accidents per 100,000 flight hours as of June 1977,[34] (30.63 through the end of 2007[35]), the highest accident rate of any USAF Century Series fighter. By comparison, the rate of the Convair F-102 Delta Dagger was 14.2/100,000[34] (13.69 through 2007[35]), and the mishap rate for the North American F-100 Super Sabre was 16.25 accidents per 100,000 flight hours.

[Chappie]

25,000 quid. That's about $40,000? Go get my advanced ratings. My F-104 type rating. Get the jet airworthy. Hmm....I'd need what.......$5 million?


Chappie

[tom d. friedman]

the downward ejection system must have been brutal to the human body!!! a number of types utilized this & later it was changed.

[BHawthorne]

Looks like a fun static display. Would be entertaining to cart that around to airshows on a flatbed.

[bluehawk15]

Sandy Sansing, who taught this Germanic lineage young man to fly, taught German pilots to fly the F-104 at Luke. He was telling me that they did practice flame-outs with plenty of altitude. During engine restart you would do a 360 degree turn, and lose 10,000 feet!

He also said there was a guy in his squadron who said he would never punch out of a plane. He flamed out in the 104 and, true to his word, stayed with the plane. Put her down on her belly in a canyon, and would have been fine if there hadn't been that big ol' boulder...