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Reaching for Stars! ... few added ... I think there is interest?


RidgeRunner

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a few more ...

 

star45_zps29606a97.jpg

 

star44_zps22046821.jpg

 

star8_zpscad544dd.jpg

 

star3_zps74d631f9.jpg

 

star2_zpsea6608a3.jpg

 

1. Volkel, Netherlands - October 1983

2. Volkel, Netherlands - October 1978

3. Volkel, Netherlands - October 1978

4. Volkel, Netherlands - October 1978

5. Villafranca, Italy - April 1986 

Edited by RidgeRunner
correction to dates
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  • 3 weeks later...

Spurred on by another thread, here are some more lovely '104s! As if an excuse is needed!! ;)

 

None are fully edited - just cropped. Martin

 

F104Alconbury1_zpsrq49tdgw.jpg

 

f104usaf4book_zpsfcou6izc.jpg

 

f104usaf3book_zps2qtyonup.jpg 

 

19750920Biggin006Abook_1_zps4wm6n4x2.jpg

 

1. Alconbury, UK - date unrecorded

2. Luke AFB, Arizona - May 1979

3. Luke AFB, Arizona - May 1979

4. Biggin Hill, UK - September 1975

 

Edited by RidgeRunner
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And, of course, from the photos you don't get the best bit..... The sound! .... 

 

Crank up the volume, especially from 2 mins 50 secs!

 

:):):) Martin

Edited by RidgeRunner
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  • 3 weeks later...

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! Watching that (with volume turned up) really got my adrenalin going and almost brought tears to my eyes in affection for those kind of jets we will unlikely ever see again over here.  Love that Howl. I remember the very first time I heard and saw F-104s was down in Cornwall. I was staying in Gweek with mum and dad back in 1970 or  thereabouts when two came over on a Tuesday evening arriving for the show at Culdrose the following day. I wondered what in heaven was that sound ... and then I saw them.....The Slivers of the Belgian Air Force. Watched them in awe the next day.... wow!

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It makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck and brings tears to the eyes, doesn't it?

 

Ah, yes, the "Slivers" :). They were great albeit a pretty boring routine. Great seeing the crossing and pulling G in front of the crowd :).

Edited by RidgeRunner
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  • 2 weeks later...
2 hours ago, helios16v said:

Wow, those birds have a wicked whine to them.  I can only imagine what it was like to hear them in the flesh.  :o

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

It was fantastic ! During the '70s and into the '80s the scream of the Starfighter J79 was one of the most common sound around Europe and the effect of a pair of Starighters suddenly appearing at low lovel is something many will never forget.

When I was a kid I used to spend my summer holiday in a town by the Adriatic Sea where my parents had bought a small house. This town is 30 miles north of Rimini that in those days was home to 2 F-104S units (one for air defence and the other for strike). In certain days of summer it was normal to be overflown by aircrafts from Rimini or aircrafts that were "attacking" this base during exercises, the Starfighters used to pass very low as fast as possible and made the whole ground tremble. None of the tourists (many from Northern Europe) seemed particularly disturbed and really most were just looking into the sky searching for the aircrafts. I even remember many thumbs up from kids and adults alike.

And those were mostly F-104S, the earlier Gs with the original exhaust made an even greater noise !

Edited by Giorgio N
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Hi Giorgio!

 

yes, I remember Rimini-Miramare very well. When I was at the airline we flew W-patterns to RMI and so i'd catch a morning flight, spend the day wandering around the airfield, and then get a night flight home. I saw lots of S-model '104s as well as TF's, G91Ys, T-33s and more. There was a great little cafe at the north end of the runway amongst the farms and houses. I sat and watched the action :).  Great times.

 

all the best,

 

Martin

Edited by RidgeRunner
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Distinctly different from the teeth rattling roar of the J52s in the A-6 & EA-6Bs for sure.  You knew when a Prowler was at full military ready for the cat shot.  

 

The varying pitch of those J79s are intoxicating though.

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4 hours ago, RidgeRunner said:

Hi Giorgio!

 

yes, I remember Rimini-Miramare very well. When I was at the airline we flew W-patterns to RMI and so i'd catch a morning flight, spend the day wandering around the airfield, and then get a night flight home. I saw lots of S-model '104s as well as TF's, G91Ys, T-33s and more. There was a great little cafe at the north end of the runway amongst the farms and houses. I sat and watched the action :).  Great times.

 

all the best,

 

Martin

 

Hi Martin

I may remember that cafe... if it's the same I have in mind, it was a favourite for all enthusiasts as it was possible to watch a lot of activity while sipping something.

It was also the theatre of a very disappointing experience a few years ago: at some point a couple of F-104S landed and everybody in the cafè reached for their cameras. Then the Military Police arrived and dispersed everyone while inside the fence a group of Air Force guards formed a screen to prevent sight of the runway. We were all very annoyed by such a display of authority.

I was even more annoyed as I had been outside Leuchars only a couple weeks before and found there was a rest area with tables placed in an area from which it was possible to watch the F.3s taking off while not being able to look into the base, a very clever solution IMHO. The only RAF presence was from an officer who stopped to chat with a few enthusiasts explaining what the day had to offer in terms of missions. Really Italy and Britain were two very different worlds back then.

On the positive side, that same day at Rimini I witnessed a couple of Canberra T.17s, quite a rare bird for me. Even more interesting was that one had the tail in full squadron colours.

Edited by Giorgio N
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That brings back Happy memories, as an aircraft mad teenager with no access to airshow's etc I flew out of Rimini in August 1977

while waiting for the flight I watched these aircraft up close as there was some kind of show going on,While on holiday 

in Gabbice I had tried for two weeks trying to spot the source of the high pitched howling  overhead most days, now I had my answer!

Edited by stevej60
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Great times, as I've said.  I remember a number of similar trips around that time (1978-82). One time I took a round trip flight deck jolly to Pisa and was greeted by the sight of many ten's of retired C-119s parked along the runway and scattered around the grass areas adjacent to the aprons. In addition there were the "recent" Herks and G-222s. Amongst the line-up along the runway was a Beech C-45 and an ex-USAF C-119. I made a return trip  a while later :).

 

In January 1978 I took a three-sector flight deck trip on a Comet Gatwick-Rome Ciampino-Catania Fontanarossa-Gatwick. That one produced a great range - Air Force and Navy DC-6s, Convair 440s, a SA-16, many S-2s and four O-1s. Again, a great trip! ;)

 

Martin

Edited by RidgeRunner
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While looking again at these very nice pictures I noticed a number of interesting details for modellers

- Some Dutch aircrafts carry the practice rocket/bomb dispenser only used by this country.

- The Orpheus pod visible under other Dutch Starfighters and under the Italian 3-42 in the first post

- The Italian 3-24 is an RF-104G, notice the fairing at the rear of the nose gear well doors

- The picture of the Danish aircraft shows not only some good detail of the afterburner nozzle but also the stencils on the tail.. the F-104 carries a lot of stencils !

- The Marineflieger aircraft seems to have the longer nozzle of the F-104S, that was introduced on German aircrafts as part of the smoke reduction program at some point in the '70s

 

There's an F-104 single type group build starting in November on Britmodeller. These pictures will be very useful

Edited by Giorgio N
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Hi all,

 

I thought that given the interest in the detail, I'd post a few more....

 

villa1_zpslvrggngh.jpg

Villafranca - April 1986

 

villa1_zps8nokespk.jpg

Villafranca - April 1986

 

villa2_zpschdurazn.jpg

Villafranca - April 1986

 

villa3_zps2szrz9j4.jpg

Villafranca - April 1986

 

villa6_zpsucalx2u5.jpg

Villafranca - April 1986

 

villa7_zpsjbxr0qdl.jpg

Villafranca - April 1986

 

villa4_zps2nbtvivm.jpg

Villafranca - April 1986

 

star32_zps9xdtsciq.jpg

Villafranca - April 1986

 

star24_zpsxfo6wxfy.jpg

Alconbury - ??? 1982?

 

star43_zpshwafnpez.jpg

Volkel - October 1978

 

Martin

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The West Germans lost about 30% of their F-104s over the years, killing 110 pilots in the process. German nicknames for the aircraft include "Flying Coffin", "Widowmaker" and "Ground Nail (Tent Peg)". If you wanted an F-104, the joke went, just buy a piece of land and wait.

Not to be outdone, Canada lost 110 of their 235 CF-104s. The RCAF sometimes called it the "Lawn Dart" or the "Aluminum Death Tube".

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