On 3/14/06, Scott Loveless <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Wonderful photos, Walter. The F-16, since it's introduction, has > always been my favorite modern fighter. And who doesn't like a > Mustang? > > As for the Starfighter, this is my favorite fighter of all time. It's > simply an elegant bird - meat and potatoes, no frills. I find it hard > to believe, though, that this is the last flying 104. If my memory > hasn't completely deserted me, wasn't the CF-104 a Canadian variation? > If that's the case, it seems reasonable that this is the last flying > Canadian Starfighter. But the Italian air force saw fit to upgrade > and maintain their 104 fleet until the Eurofighter was available. I > think they were flying them until 2000 or 2001. There has to be at > least a few of those still in working order being used for training, > in private collections, etc.
You are certainly right about the CF104 being Canadian made. In fact it was made at Canadair (now Bombardier Aerospace) in Montreal. When I was a kid, we lived about a mile from the factory at the time they were making these bad boys, and they literally flew right over our house. The one in the pic (which was at the Canadian International Airshow here in Toronto on Labour Day Weekend) is a two seat trainer version. I know that some Canadair-made CF 104s were sold to Germany, where they became known as the widow-maker, due to their propensity to plummet to the ground just before landing. An uncle who used to be in the RCAF told me that was because the German pilots kept trying to flare out on approach, rather than "fly" them right in - that's why they needed chutes, because they were designed for very fast landing speeds. Whether that's true or not, I don't know; my uncle wasn't a pilot, so this is at least second-hand info. I agree with you, the Starfighter is the coolest looking jet fighter ever. It was limited in it's uses (although it did those things it was designed for very well), but it sure was cool looking! cheers, frank -- "Sharpness is a bourgeois concept." -Henri Cartier-Bresson
