A Weekend With The Starfighters...

[sgt hawk]

I read once, that "the 104 killed more Germans than Patton". If you want something that just looks like a "Jet Fighter" that thing is it!

[warbird1]

Nice pics.

I would like to see these guys but am curious why they do not do more gigs. There seem to be a lot of off weekends in their schedule, they mainly seem to perform in Florida/Georgia and in the midwest, and at most of their events they are the only act worth seeing. Are they just not that popular with airshow organizers, are they limited by the range of their planes, are they too pricey, or what?

August

They probably don't do more shows because of the cost of fuel. If the show isn't willing or unable to pay the required fee, then they can't just show up with 3 starfighters. I am sure that their show up fee would be cost prohibitive for most shows, especially small local shows. Too bad, I would love to see them at Wings over Houston.

That's kind of what I suspect as well - it's strictly the cost of fuel. That 104 has got to be prohibitively expensive! The J-79, in full AB, burns fuel at the rate of 10 gallons per second! That's a LOT of gas!

I would be willing to bet that the airshow appearance fee doesn't cover all of their operating expenses.

[dred]

They probably don't do more shows because of the cost of fuel. If the show isn't willing or unable to pay the required fee, then they can't just show up with 3 starfighters. I am sure that their show up fee would be cost prohibitive for most shows, especially small local shows. Too bad, I would love to see them at Wings over Houston.

On airshowbuzz they have mentioned cost of fuel as a primary reason for mostly staying close to their base in Florida. Also, they have a paying gig with NASA, if I'm not mistaken.

[dred]

I read once, that "the 104 killed more Germans than Patton". If you want something that just looks like a "Jet Fighter" that thing is it!

I've seen the German thing discussed elsewhere. Part of the problem was Luftwaffe tactics involving lots of aggressive ultra-low-level flying, plus green pilots going straight from training into F-104s. My impression is that most other nations operating F-104s had pretty normal accident rates compared with other aircraft of that era.

[Steve Nelson]

The Starfighters actually arrived in Battle Creek a week or two before show, hangared the planes, and flew back to Fla. commercial. According to the B.C. Airshow website, it was much cheaper to fly direct to Battle Creek from their last gig..if they'd flown back to Florida first, it would have cost an extra $65k in fuel alone.

I was just thrilled to get a chance to see them! Not to be depressing, but in today's economy with today's fuel prices, I worry about how long the act will be financially viable.


SN

[RNDMTRS4EVR]

Boy that tail pipe shot looking in the after burner brought back some memories good and bad of my days in the AB dock working on J-79's

Scott..........

[k5083]

It sounds as if keeping the planes in a regional base of operations and focusing on that region for most of the season is a good way for them to keep costs under control. I hope they pick my region some year.

August

[Tom Moungovan]

Those are some mighty fine photos of the F-104 type. Your color shot of the cockpit shows a small vertical cylinder sitting on the left side cockpit rail...unless nomenclature has changed, this is an M-11 thruster and should have another on the other side just like it. After the canopy has been unlocked by another thruster located under the right side canopy sill, these M-11s pop up just enough to bump the canopy into the slipstream where it was ripped right off of the aircraft.
The 104 seats were removed from the bottom of the aircraft after the crew chief took off the access hatch. Ejection was upward, although early models ejected downward, killing several pilots on low level ejections. This necessitated the change to conventional upward ejection.