Mike's favorite jet

[QuietOne]

F-104A Starfighter. The missile with the man in it. You can't tell it's his favorite, right?
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She isn't in flying condition, unfortunately. She was last in the Jordanian Air Force, before being put on display.
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[QuietOne]

F-104. This is looking up the tail pipe at the back of the engine. The circular bars are the spray bars for the afterburner.
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These are of the exhaust nozzle. It's a variable outlet size. It varies based on the power demands of the engine.
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Basic specs: Top speed is Mach 2. Rate of climb 45,000 feet a minute. Service ceiling is 55,000 feet. Zoom ceiling is 90,000 feet (The sky is black at that point). Absolute record with an F-104 is 120,000 feet. These specs are still impressive 50 years later.

[QuietOne]

Radius of the leading edge of the wing is 1/16". The red and white strip is a cover to prevent injury while working around the aircraft.
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Right side air intake. The inner shock cone positions the shock wave correctly for supersonic flight.
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View from in back of the wing.
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[QuietOne]

Bet you would never guess what this is. The F-104 has unusual flight characteristics. This gives feedback to the joystick when the plane is about to stall. It basically just sticks out in the slipstream. Doesn't do anything except give feedback to the joystick.
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And just because the reflections were neat. Cooling air vent for the electronics.
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[Foots]

Hey QuietOne,

Still catching up on the posts. Your photos are great. And, you must have an interest in planes. Do you fly?

[QuietOne]

Hi, Foots. No, I don't fly, Mike's the pilot in the family. He's getting back into it after a 20 year absence. He drags me to airshows to take pictures for him because I'm better at it than he is. Frequent conversation during the after show editing:
Me: What about this one?
Mike: It's an airplane!
Me: It's a dot in the sky, just like the last 20 dots.

Actually, I do enjoy taking pictures of mechanical things. They can lend themselves to some interesting views.

I'll be going back through more pictures and posting more at some point. Some not so great technically, but the composition and history are interesting.

And someday, Mike may succeed in his evil plans to actually get me into a plane and take pictures from it (I'm afraid I'm mildly phobic about falling, though I've taken commercial flights when I've had to).

[JAS_Photo]

Cool set QuietOne! Some great captures of really cool planes!

[kat]

Another neat set! Love that last photo.

[Michaelaw]

Thanks for the 104 tour :thumbup: I believe when I was twelve or so these were pretty much cutting edge but then again that was a while back, maybe the Phantom held that title. Wonderful shots of aviation nostalgia. Mike looks totally at home :D

[Greg_Nuspel]

I remember these as a kid I lived close to the Cold Lake Air Force base so I was able to see them many times. One ploughed our neighbours field luckily the pilot had ejected. Used to go to the bombing range with my dad but never got to see them doing any shooting.

[Mad Aussie]

Great set of shots Q1!! Very cool.

So why is the F104a Starfighter Mike's fav?

The 'a' ... that denotes single seater?

I'm not sure what my fav jet would be to be honest. Gotta love the Harrier Jump Jets but I also love the F86 Sabre ... and because I'm a Top Gun fan ... the F14 Tomcats :)

[Mad Aussie]

I couldn't remember the name of a Navy jet I like too ... the A7 Corsair ... the Man Eater!

[Marko]

digging this set big time!

[QuietOne]

Great set of shots Q1!! Very cool.

So why is the F104a Starfighter Mike's fav?

The 'a' ... that denotes single seater?

This is Mike. The F-104 is a "pilot's airplane" designed for high performance fighting ability above all else, much like the Spitfire. There is little more to an F-104 than a seat, some fins, and an enormous engine. Almost all of America's astronauts trained in this jet. Some of the early F-104As were later on re-engined with a more powerful engine. They could cruise at 73,000 ft at Mach 2. They did practice interceptions of U-2 spy planes. Despite all the bad press and popular nicknames like "The Widowmaker" the aircraft was well liked by its pilots. The Germans called it the Porsche, the Italians painted theirs up like Ferraris and Ducatis.

The F-104 had a rather random set of letters. F-104A was the first version, a single seat air superiority fighter, F-104B was a two seat trainer with fighting ability, F-104C was a tactical fighter with air to air refueling ability and could carry bombs, F-104D was another two seater with a better engine. The F-104G was "G" for Germany, the version used throughout Europe for almost 40 years.

[Mad Aussie]

Hmm fascinating. Thanks Mike.

[QuietOne]

Seems like my airplane threads are bringing out all the motorheads. Glad they (and others) are enjoying them. I'm looking through another show's pictures - I know for sure I've got shots of an Avenger, 2 B-25s, and the P-40's first appearance in the parrot head paint scheme. She was in plain green camouflage before that.