F-104 Starfighter Tactics...

[F-4PhantomII]

I have recently begun concentrating on the Zipper. I have found that it is a very rewarding plane to fly once your use to its profile. I think all of us F-104 lovers are well aware of its Slash attack abilities... but what else do you use to down migs? I find its fast roll rate to be rather useful against opponents trying to line up a shot. It can throw some pretty convincing "feints" against an aggressor simply by rolling one direction…. then reversing and pulling away and gunning it. And I have not had any opponents able to run away from me once they go “Winchester” and make a run for it.

 

How about bombing; any good solutions to that? I have been pretty successful with low, level bombing, strikes.

 

So what tricks do you Starfighter drivers have up your “low drag” sleeves?

[+Dave]

If we could get Andy Bush, he has a story where he was flying an F-104G and DACM "shot down" and F-15A. He would only give us bits of the story because he wanted to do a big write up on it. I wish I could find the post where he said that when you bomb in a Zipper you will be going a lot faster than most aircraft and have to adjust accordingly.

[F-4PhantomII]

If we could get Andy Bush, he has a story where he was flying an F-104G and DACM "shot down" and F-15A. He would only give us bits of the story because he wanted to do a big write up on it. I wish I could find the post where he said that when you bomb in a Zipper you will be going a lot faster than most aircraft and have to adjust accordingly.

Yeah the Zipper has a cool history and is a neat idea... Comes from the era where the USAF was all about higher&faster I have flown in it against my buddy online when he was using an f-16 and was able to pull of the first two kills.... We wont discuss what happend after that.... But since technically he is "dead"... in real life I would not have to worry about the other losses right?

[triplethr3at]

I have recently begun concentrating on the Zipper. I have found that it is a very rewarding plane to fly once your use to its profile. I think all of us F-104 lovers are well aware of its Slash attack abilities... but what else do you use to down migs? I find its fast roll rate to be rather useful against opponents trying to line up a shot. It can throw some pretty convincing "feints" against an aggressor simply by rolling one direction…. then reversing and pulling away and gunning it. And I have not had any opponents able to run away from me once they go "Winchester" and make a run for it.

 

How about bombing; any good solutions to that? I have been pretty successful with low, level bombing, strikes.

 

So what tricks do you Starfighter drivers have up your "low drag" sleeves?

I would aproach bombing the same way you would dog fighting hack and slash. I would come at a 35-45 degree angle at high speed pull of some rocket shots or drop some bombs, then climb at the same angle jinking a little. Once im out 5-6 miles I turnback and repeat the same from a different angle. kinda like the slash attack you where talking about before. If your online you could coordinate it so that there is always somone coming in hot while the others are setting up for there own attack run. (constant pressure)

[MigBuster]

Yeah the Zipper has a cool history and is a neat idea... Comes from the era where the USAF was all about higher&faster I have flown in it against my buddy online when he was using an f-16 and was able to pull of the first two kills.... We wont discuss what happens after that.... But since technically he is "dead"... in real life I would not have to worry about the other losses right?

 

Well its down to pilot skill unless you both have AMRAAM's to shoot at each other - so he needs more practise :)

 

Slashing attacks against a turning Mig-17 require a lot of patience - and are very difficult to execute - the bottom line with the F-104 is keep your speed up and use your energy advantage. Its tempting to slow down to gun that slower Mig - but the amount of times ive had another Mig sneaking up on my 6!