Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Dean Canada also used the F-104 in the ground attack role. As it was so damn fast, it was veryt difficult to target, never mind shoot down. When a plane screams overhead at Mach 2, you and your radar do not have time to do anything... not even to tell yourself to duck.
To many Canadians, the plane was known as the Widowmaker, but this name was very much undeserved. If you look at the statistics of other fighters, including the F-18, the F-104 compares very favourably.
Dean. |
Ahh, but how often do planes conduct bombing runs at speeds greater than Mach 1? Much less Mach 2? (Remember my sig for this part) During Vietnam the US attempted zero bombing runs on Hanoi at Mach 2, zero at Mach 1.8, two..... F-4's? attempted a bombing run against Hanoi traveling at Mach 1.4, they missed thier target literally by a mile and had to ditch over North Vietnam and were promptly captured. During the lifetime of the F-104 the technology just did not yet exist to accurately drop bombs on a target at such high speeds, the primary target identification instrument was the Mark-1 eyeball, in many instances it still is today.
Hmm, after having done 30 seconds of research I recognized this plane. I always thought its wings were way too small for the aircraft, perhaps I was right? Good god I hope not, all these physicists and engineers couldn't figure out the problem but an 18 year old kid with one year of Physics figured it out 40 years too late to do any good.
Quote:
|
The so-called "Deal of the Century" produced considerable income for Lockheed, but considerable political controversy in Europe, particularly in Germany, where the minister of defence was almost forced to resign over the issue. Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands later confessed to having received more than 1 million USD in bribes. Many considered the Starfighter program a politically motivated enterprise, with governments browbeaten into accepting a USAF cast-off out of U.S. political pressure. This debate was exacerbated by the F-104's alarming accident rate. In German service alone 292 of the 916 Starfighters crashed, claiming the lives of 115 pilots, leading to cries that the Starfighter was fundamentally unsafe and earning it the Widowmaker nickname among others (see below). In the 1970s it was revealed that Lockheed had engaged in an extensive campaign of bribery of foreign officials to obtain sales, a scandal that nearly led to the ailing corporation's downfall.
|