Added: 5 years ago
From: RECottrell1999
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  • Awesome plane. As I recall, it was fast but not very maneuverable.

  • This aircraft makes sound seem like a fat guy at Mc Donalds...

  • Holy blank, that was a dangerous pass. The F-104 was not designed for that sort of crap. Kelly Johnson must have rolled over when that was done.

    This aircraft was originally designed as a pure interceptor (sorry to step on your toes Giacomoperti) but was later adapted into a fighter bomber.

    Still, that pass was dangerously low! Yikes!!!

  • You know ever since I saw the movie "The Right Stuff" I will always associate this plane with Chuck Yeager! lol

  • Where is the plane ? I only see a customised missile :p

  • it has a sound of its own.

  • Holy crap,that was low!!

  • I would think the only thing an F-104 pilot could do is run away or eject if it can across a Mig-21..

  • @canamwing the only thing a fucking russian mig could do is to kill pilots and take lives ! sleep in your vomit,...! AMERICA AND GERMANY TOGETHER ARE THE VERY BEST NOTHING RUSSIAN CAN STOP THEM TOGETHER,.... LONG LIVE FREEDOM !!! LONG LIVE RIGHT TO PROPERTY AND BEAR ARMS !

  • @canamwing you need to understand what an interceptor is.

  • @canamwing the US has planes that could beat the shit out of ANY Mig

  • thats one hell of a leaf blower... I bet the neighbors would mind the gas one after that

  • 440 Knots at 15 feet. Fun day that was....

  • Too slow.

  • @Polaris688 The problem with the F104 was always its lack of maneuverability. It would still work great at intercepting bombers- provided the bombers were unescorted or that the F104s were accompained by more manuverable fighters to engage the bomber's escorts. The Italian Air Force only retired the F104 in 2004! But in the wars between India and Pakistan Pakistani F104s were outclassed in a dogfight by Hawker Hunters and Mig-21s.

  • any lower they could have attached a mower deck on it and cut the grass. LOL. I think the the F-104, and the F-101 are the most beautiful planes ever built.

  • The F-104 was designed for one purpose: reach altitude quickly and intercept incoming bombers. At this, it was (and is) unexcelled.

  • This is still the nicest jet.

  • Thank You, Mr. Johnson.

  • The was at Toronto's Pierson Airport during the Airshow weekend.

    That actually was a restored CF104. The Canadian-built ones were the best!

  • HIS FLAPS ARE DOWN......WTF ???? THATS FREAKIN CHEATING !

  • @tasman763 Why? Its still a low pass, flaps or not.

  • the camera dudes got some balls. Cool fly by

  • @my85svo Anybody who is around aviation a lot would not have a issue with that

  •  still well respected after all these years!!!

  • There's room under there to fit a Buccaneer ..

  • its a beautiful plane, but it doesn't look very versatile in a dogfight.

  • @3ISAMAGICNUMBR Some high yo-yos and vertical maneuvers and it should be fine

  • Looks like a Missile with wings it didnt do well in many wars though the usaf wernt happy with it

  • a good 104 pilot could make life miserable for any other average pilot in a more manouverable plane (F16 , 18...) and besides who needs a wing at 600 knots ?!

    but the J79 smoker could be seen from a 100 miles.. a dead give away

  • It was REALLY low, what a brilliant machine.

  • Glides like a man-hole cover.

    Beautiful though.

  • @StopMotionNAnimation Thats the thing about fighter planes....there not ment to glide : )

  • Just a shame it couldn't carry anything and had a habit of crashing

  • My uncle flew the F104 way back when, you have to remember the times when it went into service, cold war.

  • "what can you say? It's still a missle!" -rofl!!

    It's true, this plane is still one of the fastest ever - too bad it can't turn :) And it glided like a brick. Actually bricks are better!

  • Strauss: Yes, it's very nice. But we need a plane for bombing, straffing, assault and battery, interception and reconnaissance. Not just a fairweather fighter!

    Salesman: Well, that's ok. We can make some modifications. It'll cost a little extra, but it's worth it. Just look at the shape of this beauty. Look, I tell you what we'll do. We'l redesign the plane, right? And instead of just calling it the F104, we'll call it the F104G.

    Strauss: G?

    Salesman: Yeah, eh, Herr Minister - G. G for Germany

  • that was actually pretty quiet.

  • cant outrun an EE lightning lol

  • nah i think it can. Its just nothing more than a missile carrying a person and maybe a missile or two

  • This is what airline pilot SCABS do in their off time. Check the list.

  • Scabs? Who is striking right now?

  • Rick Svetkoff crossed the pilot picket line at Continental in 1983. Once a SCAB, always a SCAB- it's for life. he's hoping everyone has forgotten. He's wrong.

  • So you are still on strike I take it?

  • No, I was never a Continental pilot, but have friends who are/were. SCABS are reviled among the industry for having sold out their profession, their honor and their fellow pilots. The disgraceful legacy of selfish betrayal represented by willfully acting as a strikebreaker (and crossing a picket line) lives on in infamy forever. These folks are hoping everyone has forgotten. They are wrong.

  • Huzza for Rick. Unions are conspiracies in restraint of trade, that prey on the innocent and threaten them with violence. Shame on you.

  • the stubby wings are razorsharp and one can cut a paper as proof.this a/c depended solely on the enginepower to stay aloft!else it had no "glider"

    options and dropped like a rock.

  • fast... but with a 15mile turn radius, useless today.

  • Ok now lets see a low pass at 400 knts clean!

  • most AWESOME jet ever. Period. Sabre is a close second.

  • Agreed: an awesome jet...the 'Missile with a man in it'. EEk! Though, for general aesthetics, the Sabre's the sexier jet (though that's MY opinion....the two couldn't be more far apart, operationally).

  • That thing was going sooo slow it had to have the flaps down!!!!

  • only a bloody moron flys close to the ground while going fast, unless in combat.

  • Not convinced by the low level award!

    Buccaneer would have flew underneath that!!

  • still not as fast as the f-106 my grandfather flew those durring nam

  • F-106 was fast. NOT as fast as the F-104.

  • nope the f-106 still holds the speed record for a single engine jet

  • Speed record notwithstanding... The F-104 was faster at acceleration, climb and top speed.

  • its not faster in acceleration or else it would beat the f-106 dont try to argue this with me my grandfather flew both the f-104 and the f 106 and he loved the f 106 and it is alot faster then the f 104 and can out turn and manuvore it anyday

  • I, of course, honor your grandfather's service and defer to his expertise. But neither the Starfighter nor Delta Dart were pure fighters. They were interceptors. Top speed is always hard to pin down. They were both fast. But in terms of acceleration and climbing speed, it was no contest; I'm sure your grandfather would agree. The F-104 had a climb rate that was almost double that of the F-106. Both are INCREDIBLE planes way ahead of their time and faster than modern fighters in many ways.

  • The F-104 could definately out accelerate an climb quicker than the F-106, although i do believe the F-106 Delta Dart did have a faster top air speed...i believe the F-104 was the fastest accelerating figther/interceptor until the F-16, correct me if i am wrong

  • I believe that's the case. I was told by an F-104 pilot, that "clean" the F-104 is still quicker than a "clean" F-16. So many variables though, and hardly scientific. They're both fast.

  • its like practically silent

  • unreal

  • sweet bird they should rstore some f-106,f-102 and the voodoo plane to mmake a old legend flight

  • Mythology. The accident rates for the F-104 in the USAF were no different than any other high performance aircraft. The Germans used them for low altitude attack and even there, the accident rates were greatly exaggerated. Make no mistake, only pros should drive the Starfighter...

  • fly ;)

  • @iowa61

    I guess Chuck Yeager was not a pro.

  • Comment removed

  • @iowa61 Exaggerated? One third of all German Starfighters fell down.

  • @iowa61 The NF-104 nearly killed Yeager on his Wild Ride due to a bad tail design. The elevator locked in the full up position at the top, causing the vehicle to stall out and flip into a flat spin, forcing him to eject. It was a kitbash project with an aircraft that was not designed for that kind of flying. The procedures manual had a lot of guesswork and if-thens in it, with gauges that didn't work right at the expected working altitudes and speeds. I agree it was made for pros, no bull..

  • @iowa61 Guess the Norwegians were pros then ;) Although we had our fare share of accidents with it.

  • Comment removed

  • love it

  • This aircraft is still unrivaled and unmatched - no computerized avionics saving the pilots ass when or if he goofs: It's an honest plane: Make a mistake, and it'll kill you as a veteran put it. And vice versa: In the hands of a skilled pilot it was and still is a deadly opponent

  • My dad was a zipper driver and absolutely loved that a/c! He flew F-4's in Vietnam and said the F-4 was a capable weapons platform with the gracefullness of a truck. He still rates the '104 as his all time favorite.

  • that would be fucking loud

  • Lame. Not low enough.

  • u suck cock for money GrandeFaggot

  • the plane is sexy XD

  • when the fuck will we be in space??? 2009

  • Comment removed

  • One of the beautifullest planes.

    I love this flying rocket.

    I mean the "Vikings" flying these plane today?

    Greeds Lion

  • unique plane!

  • I'm Italian and I saw Starfighters till 1997. It was a beautiful plane with a lovely voice. J79 didn't make noise, but sound ...

  • The sound -the look F-104 -still the best .

  • Pretty sure this is the guy who flys out of Clearwater international. he goes over my work all the time on Final. we run outside to see him.

  • lol. The "Holy Crap that was Low" award

  • Gotta be under 15 feet!

  • Mind the big rocks!

  • No one cares about 'Talon' advertise somewhere else.

  • "The Missile witha Man in it"or "The Widow Maker!"

  • the Startfighter was built ahead of it's time.

    A missile with wings. Beautifull as no other in shape, in look, in sound too. The German F-104S was heavily modified, altering the CG, making the plane unstable, unfortunately killing over 100 pilots (if I remember correct).

  • most beautiful airplane ever build,

    germany did not use the S verson ,the italians did.

  • The Germans had the F-104G version.

  • It was difficult to fly and had a very high landing speed. It killed a lot of pilots.

  • One Bad Ass Jet....

  • RAF Lightning had a better climb rate,flew faster too! One flown by Flt.Lietenant Mike Hale climbed to 88,000ft before intercepting a startled U 2 pilot - back in 1984, probably one of its only interceptions; though i doubt he could steer to shoot even if he tried.

  • that thing is quiet

  • Are these the 104's in Oceana? I was there this weekend for carrier quals, and the hangar we were using had 3 F-104s in this same paint scheme. I was wondering what the hell they're doing there..

  • Starfighters look cool but they couldnt really carry much with those tiny wings.

  • lol...

  • LOWER!!! thats not low enough

  • german airforce:

    916 Starfighter overall

    292, 1/3 crashed!!!

    116 pilots died

    a damn shitty crap plane!

  • maybe germans just cant fly?

  • stupid asshole

  • i ment

    randyp1234567

  • Maybe it is that the Germans uses the aircraft as a ground-attack plane and not as the high-altitude interceptor is was designed as.

    Stupid-Germans!

  • lol

  • Damn shitty pilots maybe?

  • Plane had a wierd instability problem at high angles of attack, don't think they ever solved it because it was way before fly by wire and computers.

  • @monkeyman1140 THEY ADDED SMALL FIN ON THE BELLY AFT WING TO HELP WITH INSTABILITY.

  • @w3rw0lf Spain operated a handful of f104s (under lease) and had no losses.

  • I saw this at Greenham Common airshorw in the early 80's, did a 30 foot fly by supersonic......the tower had no windows left afterwards!

  • Denmark had that aircraft as their fighterjet. But then they got a f16 insted. But they son will get a new aircraft

  • I once had an F16 pass over me at aprox 15 metre's that was awesome!

  • The F-104 was dubbed the "Widow Maker". It was engine from tip to tail and very hard to control due to very little wing area . One of the XB-70s was downed by an F-104 . It ran into the back of it . The XB-70 came to a quick end shortly there after . The F-104 is the perfect example of to much engine and not enough manueverability .

  • NO what happend with the XB-70 according to the Summary Report: XB-70 Accident Investigation, was because of the position of the aircraft the F-104 could not see the XB-70 and had no points of refence to remain in posistion and therefore the f104 drifted into the XB-70.

  • @seaniam81

    NO ! Joe Walker's F-104 was sucked into the XB-70 due to kind a vacuum effect.

    look up the pix on internet and clearly you see what happend in that photoshow.

  • "The USAF summary report of the accident investigation stated that, given the position of the F-104 relative to the XB-70, the F-104 pilot would not have been able to see the XB-70's wing, except by uncomfortably looking back over his left shoulder. The report concluded that Walker, piloting the F-104, likely maintained his position by looking at the fuselage of the XB-70, forward of his position."

  • "The report estimated that the F-104 was 70 ft to the side of, and 10 ft below, the fuselage of the XB-70. The report concluded that from that position without appropriate sight cues, Walker was unable to properly perceive his motion relative to the Valkyrie, leading to his aircraft drifting into contact with the XB-70's wing. The accident investigation also pointed to the wake vortex off the XB-70's wingtips as the reason for the F-104's sudden roll over and into the bomber."

    -Wikipedia

  • QUOTE.The accident investigation also pointed to the wake vortex off the XB-70's wingtips as the reason for the F-104's sudden roll over and into the bomber."

    UNQUOTE.

    that was the point i made in my posting !Joe Walker could do NOTHING to avoid the accident because he did'nt know the vortex effect .

  • the normal procedure to break up the photoflight was that all aircraft,except ofcourse the XB-70,simply would reduce their speed and return individually back to base.

  • A) Low as that was, there are other vids on YouTube that show lower (a Spitfire and an A-10 for starters)

    B) Has anyone seen the Discovery show where the guys are turning a 104 airframe into a high speed contender?

  • Spitfires and A-10s have larger wings, and go slower, and are not really meant for the high speeds the F-104 goes, so it's easier to control and alot safer to get closer to the ground. For the Star Fighter, that's REALLY damn low.

  • I hadn't thought about it that way. You're very correct!

    ps but didja have to minus me? ;)

  • Thanks. And I also didn't minus you, because it's a really common thing for people to say when they first see things like this.

  • It's a good strike aircraft.

  • Ex-RCAF bird. Very pretty.

  • Man in a missle!

    Rocket Time baby...

    Thanks to the Starfighters Display team for keeping 3 of these gorgeous birds up

  • Göt

  • haha i like how there is an holy crap that was low award!

  • Holy guacamoly that was low!!

  • Holy crap that was low!!!

  • the cameraman needs to move a bit faster :-)

  • This is what happens when a Starfighter pilot is afraid of heights ! I used to see them regularly over Germany in the 1970's and 80's - they really are unforgettable !

  • im buying one of those tomorrow!

  • thats a f-104

  • agksoalch?

  • It almost had a Butterfly strike at:59 the turbalance upset a butterfly.....

  • mannnnnnn. I would love to fly in those aircrafts.Its in our blood I think bcause we hauman beings have always wanted to fly and then finally in the past cntury we have made this our long dream a reality. by the way did u notice all that heat comming out of the back of the aircraft?

    that was awesome.

  • Gotta love the F-104! seen this aircraft demo'd in Florida... very nice

  • I think it will be here in titusville this weekend! TICO Warbirds Airshow.

  • Im kicking myself.... my Fiance lives in Melbourne at the moment im in the UK, planning on emigrating, i made TICO last year unfortunately i cant this time :( sooo unfair oh well i guess ill be going to RIAT this year to fix my urge for large aircraft, however i wish the StarFighter was there.... are they only showing 1 starfighter or will the other 2 they have be there?

  • Not sure... I plan on taking vids and pics so We'll see!

  • will vids be put up on here?

  • I'll give it a try... First time for everything!

  • meh, seen lower

  • Not in a F-104 you wouldnt have....

  • Sure he has! They need to land sometime!

  • HAHA!, ok you wouldnt have seen the F-104 lower whilst flying unless your absolutely bonkers!

  • BANSHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

  • komo chuta eso lukaaa

  • that must be cool but scary.

  • man one good bird strike and he is done

  • true,thankfully it didn't happen

  • if you want to see low, check out "Spitfire Low Pass."

  • or "RAF triple pass"

  • nah matey peeps if you want to see low check out demo pilot in low flying bo 105 especialy at 55 56 secs in as he chops the top of a tree sapling off with his rotors in a turn now thats low flyin genius !!!!!!!

  • I did and it wasn't this low...this guy probably wants to die with the plane...they have a bond.

  • ive seen lower

  • He didn't take off, just raised the under carriage when he got to th eend of the runway

  • Some days I can still smell the jet fuel from being buzzed from the low passes

  • Comment removed

  • That sound comes from boundry air layer......wings..............­dg

  • holy crap that was low

  • is it just me or does the starfighter sound like sumthing out of star wars?

  • J-79 turbojets made that howling sound. F-4s, B-58s, and A-5s also made that sound when they flew.

  • Some Bf-109s also had devices attached so that when they dove, they would make screeches. Lucas took various inspirations from WWII, and that's just one. ;)

  • Not Bf-109s, Ju-87 Stukas has whistles attatched to their landing gear as a psychological weapon.

  • And SBD Dauntless divebombers had small holes in their flaps to do the same thing

  • that was for turbulence generation.

  • i remember the 104's at Smyrna in the late 50's, early 60's, before sonic booms were outlawed. a high speed pass at the old Berry Field in Nashville knocked the entire crowd flat on our asses!  IT WAS GREAT!!

  • Check out the low flying spitfire page, flying lower and apparantly faster

  • wasnt it nicknamed the widowmaker?

  • So many airplanes are nick-named widow makers.