F-104 in "The Right Stuff"

[Dagger 21]

Did yall notice the F-104 in that movie..."The one with the big engines"That thing climbed like a rocket..well right until Yeager stalled it and I notice the spin recovery looked like it left a little something to be desired! :shock:

[Seawolf 0]

That was a good scene for sure. I always felt ol Yeager got robbed on the Nasa deal. :x

[column5 63]

Did yall notice the F-104 in that movie..."The one with the big engines"That thing climbed like a rocket..well right until Yeager stalled it and I notice the spin recovery looked like it left a little something to be desired! :shock:

 

FYI, Dagger, in real life the F-104 that Yeager had his "accident" in was a rocket, literally. It was an NF-104A, which was an F-104A modified with a 6000lb thrust booster rocket at the base of the fin. They were used in support of the space program for zero-g training above 100,000 feet.

[Dark_Knight_667th 0]

Having read about the real flight that scene depicts..Yeager admitted he was in G LOC for a bit before he was able to punch out..by the time he was able to do so..he didn't think he had enough altitude left to recover..and since the engine was dead he wouldn't have been able to use it in the spin recovery..the turbine had gone into a compressor stall as well. So he popped the seat...He caught a lot of hot water for taking that plane up without permission or a scheduled test..I think he even lost rank over it

 

DK

[vercingetorix 0]

Just a quick note, the F-104 is one of the few U.S. Air Force aircraft that had NO CHANCE of recovery in flat spin or spin. This was due to the wing area in relation to the aircraft itself. The F-104 was truly a missile with a man in it, it could go like a bat outta hell in a straight (forward) flight, but required a state say the size of Nevada to turn (180 degree) in. ok the state thing is a bit of an exaggeration but the spin recovery is not, the only way out of this as taught by the Air Force was to punch-out. This made the aircraft have a very big weakness. Keep in mind that the F-104 was designed to be a fast climbing interceptor. She did not turn and burn real well but if you are interested according to a flight manual for the F-104A here are its stats…..

Power plant One 14,800 lb s.t. General Electric J79-GE-3B turbojet with reheat

Weight Empty 13,384 lb MTOW 25,840 lb

Max Speed 1,037 mph @ 50,000 ft

Operational Ceiling 64,795 ft (guess Yeager found that one out!)

Range: 730 miles with war load

 

 

 

-Thought that I would add my 2 cents in…….

 

I do like the F-104 but i am looking forword to the THUD myself, I thought that that was going to be in this sim???

[vercingetorix 0]

http://www.aero-web.org/specs/lockheed/f-104a.htm

 

 

This is a real nice site with good info on the 104 and other aircraft, i thought that everyone would like the link

 

 

-Vercingetorix!

[Dagger 21]

Thanks