LOCKHEED NF-104A AEROSPACE TRAINER 1962 PROGRESS REPORT F-104 STARFIGHTER 49454
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- Опубликовано: 2 окт 2024
- “Lockheed NF 104A Aerospace Trainer” is a 1962 color film serving as a “progress report” on the aircraft. The Lockheed NF-104A was an American mixed power, high-performance, supersonic aerospace trainer that served as a low-cost astronaut training vehicle for the North American X-15 and projected Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar programs. An NF 104A Starfighter is shown landing at mark 00:33 as the narrator explains how that aircraft was reconfigured and resigned into an aerospace trainer. We see images from wind tunnel tests starting at mark 01:33 with speeds up to Mach 2.4. At Edwards Air Force, test pilots are shown discussing the aircraft beginning at mark 02:10 in preparation for eventual flights of the aerospace trainer. The film continues with the narrator providing detailed, additional facts regarding external and internal modifications of the aircraft. The trainer is shown undergoing a multi-phase inspection of the cockpit starting at mark 06:37, as well as tests of the rocket engines (mark 07:42).
The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter was a single-engine, supersonic interceptor aircraft originally developed by Lockheed for the United States Air Force (USAF). One of the Century Series of fighter aircraft, it was operated by the air forces of more than a dozen nations from 1958 to 2004. Its design team was led by Kelly Johnson, who went on to lead or contribute to the development of the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird and other Lockheed aircraft.
Three aircraft were modified from existing Lockheed F-104A airframes, and served with the Aerospace Research Pilots School between 1963 and 1971, the modifications included a small supplementary rocket engine and a reaction control system for flight in the upper atmosphere. During the test program, the maximum altitude reached was more than 120,000 feet (36,600 m). One of the aircraft was destroyed in an accident while being flown by Chuck Yeager. The accident was depicted in the book The Right Stuff and the film of the same name.
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Never knew there was such a programme, involving the F-104 in such a conversion. And what an idea it was to train pilots for spacecraft flight at the time. At least it paid of with the X-15 at least.
The NF-104A actually arrived well AFTER the X-15 started flying.
The X-15 was monstrously expensive to operate and a very complicated beast of a system to maintain ON TOP OF of being extremely dangerous to its flightcrew. It's a miracle we ONLY lost one plane and one pilot! There were a lot of close calls during that program!
The NF-104A was a cheaper way to simulate much of what a pilot experienced in the X-15, that's basically what is -- the ULTIMATE simulator.
Of course, the F-104 had its aerodynamic vices and these were well-demonstrated in Chuck Yeager's accident with the second plane... That NF-104A in particular didn't last two months at the Air Force Test Pilot school before it crashed nearly killing him in the process. Watch the movie, The Right Stuff, and you'll get a much greater appreciation for what he went through. The accident nearly ended his flying career and ALMOST cost him sight in one eye!
There's controversies about what he did or DIDN'T do during that flight but what most people agree about is that the F-104 was a tricky, very sensitive plane to fly under certain conditions. It wouldn't otherwise be known as a widow-maker in several of the air forces that did operate those planes for many years! Both Canada AND Germany operated fleets of 150 or more planes. Canada lost around 1/3 of their F-104s in accidents... The accident for German F-104s was close to 50% with deaths of around at least 100 pilots!
Those air forces and their pilots weren't all incompetent. The F-104 definitely had its handling quirks and deficiencies. I sort of doubt it would be certified operational today... It went into operation and production in the 1950s and 1960s because at the time it was one of a very select few interceptors which was Mach 2-capable and relatively cheap to produce and operate. The closest to the F-104 in this respect would actually be the MiG-21 which is still considered a far-superior dogfighter... You basically couldn't really dogfight/turn with an F-104. It wasn't designed to be a dogfighter and unless you radically changed the wing it COULDN'T be made into a superior dogfighter as it was.
There was an updated version of the F-104 designated the CL-1200 Lancer which had a MUCH bigger, far better wing (for turning) than the original F-104. The problem is that the design was an also-ran and the mentality of the US military runs towards incorporating new technology as soon as possible. They didn't want a rerun of the F-104 despite the fact it would have been a far cheaper, "probably" just as capable performance-wise plane as the new designs the USAF DID buy starting in the 1970s -- the F-15 and F-16. The F-104 design as it was didn't lend itself towards being particularly adaptable for the avionics that were available for "all-weather, multi-mission" planes at the time. Until electronics became down-sized with smaller transistors and more portable power sources, a small airframe was not ideal for long-range radars and "bad weather" avionics. You really DID need a plane at least the size of an F-4 to utilize such avionics.. The F-104 was just too little at the time.
The USAF was NEVER a huge fan of the F-104 and that was reflected also in the bias against Lockheed fighters that wasn't broken until stealth became a key requirement for future US fighter planes from the early 1980s onward.
There was also a LOT of bribery involved in international sales of the F-104. Several air forces were forced to buy the plane against the wishes of high-ranking officers because government officials WERE bribed and convinced by Lockheed that the F-104 was the best choice. There are videos and articles produced about competing aircraft designs that people felt were superior to the F-104 for the needs of several air forces!
Regardless of how one feels about the F-104 and its virtues, the fact is that those bribery scandals DID happen...
That was cool, the F-104 did many great things for our country as a fighter and as a test platform.
Ah,
The plane that came closest to killing Chuck Yeager!
This WASN'T the F-104 they showed in The Right Stuf btw. The F-104 (real one, not a model) that taxied on the runway in that film and did most of the flying shots was an F-104G, probably a Luftwaffe plane remarked to represent an American aircraft.
The plane used in the movie did NOT have any of the modifications that the NF-104A had -- most notably the rocket on the plane's vertical tail.
Agreed! :-)
The NF-104A was fine for most other flights, he said in his book that he didnt get his pitch right
At 2:20:01 the man third from right looks somewhat like astronaut Walter Cunningham (hard to tell, on mobile phone here).
Coooool