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My favorite airplane As a young boy I became enamored to the F-104 Starfighter. This was Lockheed’s first Mach 2 production aircraft. I had a Revell model of it when I was six or seven. I really liked that plane. It looked like a missile with wings. Later on I read a book by Michael Collins who piloted the Command module on Apollo 11 while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin descended to the surface of the moon. When I took the cruise to the southern Caribbean in 1998 to witness the total solar eclipse off Aruba I had the pleasure to meet Buzz and have dinner with him. (I also met Fred Espenak, the NASA eclipse guru.) He told us an interesting story about how he got picked for the moon shot. He was the only astronaut in NASA at the time that could perform the calculations necessary for the rocket burn (length of burn, amount of thrust) for ascent from the lunar surface by hand. So if the computers failed, Neil and he could reach the Command module from the lunar surface without computer guidance. The story I am relating from Michael Collins involves the F-104. The plane was also used as an trainer by the astronauts back in the Mercury days either before or along with the T-38. (Does anyone know if “T” stand for Tupolov?) The astronauts used to do what were known as “zoom flights.” The F-104 is put into a near vertical climb, afterburner on. Promptly at 60,000 feet the afterburner would flame out. By the time the plane got to 80,000 feet the engine temperature would get critically hot, so the pilot would have to shut the engine down. The plane still had enough thrust to reach 100,000 feet before it ran out of momentum and stalled. The trick was to restart the engine on the way down. And sadly yes, America did lose a few astronauts this way. I tell this story with pride and in honor of my 24 year-old step- whom proudly serves this country in the USAF. JJ |
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9/30/2009 5:15 am |
Hi JJ. The F-104 was also one of my favorite aircraft - sleek, powerful, and deadly. An Air Force friend of mine was an F-104 pilot and had some interesting tales to tell of his combat service in SE Asia. The aircraft that I loved above all others, though, was the Grumman F-14 Tomcat. U.S. Navy and Marine Corps pilots oftentimes referred to the Tomcat as the "turkey", due to the way it appears on an aircraft carrier's landing deck cameras when it is making final approach for landing. And while not as swift and sleek, they were nonetheless a mighty and deadly fighting aircraft. Thanks for your post; I thoroughly enjoyed the read. Mike "Think Foto Friday -- it's good for what ails ya!" --- Unknown
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9/30/2009 5:20 am |
if you visit the war birds museum now relocated somewhere in north virginia after several years in Orlando fla they will tell you ~ real aeroplanes have propellers much as i am in awe at the power of modern commercial jets most military planes are quite boring visually , the new euro fighter is built just down the road at Warton lancashire and apart from the one that dropped its wing tanks as it took off nobody notices during june we had the Blackpool air tattoo the us airforce tanker looked interesting and the sole flying Vulcan was super dooper but it all pailed when the vetern's arrived the Lancaster Bombers 4 Rolls Royce merlins sounded truly wonderfull followed by the spitfire fighter and the real workhorse of WW2 the Hawker Hurricane then came the pista risistance - the Dakota DC3 , what a fantastic aeroplane this has allways been it always steals the show like an elderly aunt in her sunday best ah the R.A.F Red Arrows air display team were very good but - alas no propellers so no cigar
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9/30/2009 8:03 am |
My fav is the WWII British bomber called the Whirlwind.
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