No, that's exactly the opposite. The F-104 was a pure interceptor design (not even a fighter/interceptor). The only ground-attack variants were the CF-104 (pure highspeed nuclear strike initially) and F-104G (German multi-role version).
Strike aircraft need far more manoeverability than interceptors do. Fighters need something closer to a strike aircraft's manoeverability. The F-105 was the ground attack design from that era, not the F-104 (which initially carried nothing beyond a gun, air-to-air missiles and a centreline fuel tank). The F-104 was only procured in small numbers by the USAF due to the 'manned interceptors are obsolete' thinking of the brass. -Adam graywolf wrote: > The design role of the 104 was never air to air combat. It was designed as a > ground attack aircraft, not as an fighter/interceptor. It had no need for air > to > air combat capability as it could out run any fighter/interceptor in the > world > when it was introduced. Also It did not have the maneuverability a > fighter/interceptor needed. Yes, I know some small countries used it as an > fighter/interceptor, but that was because they were given the aircraft by, > guess > who, probably with the knowledge that if we ever needed to attack their > country > they would not be able to fight off our planes with it. The Air Force did not > see much need for air to air fighters in that period; on the other hand the > Navy > was heavily into air to air fighters as their perceived role was to fight off > air attacks on the fleets. > > > mike wilson wrote: >>> From: Adam Maas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >>> Date: 2007/10/18 Thu PM 08:14:36 GMT >>> To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List <pdml@pdml.net> >>> Subject: Re: Completely and totally OT: Politics >>> >>> Well, Canada did buy a bunch of F-104's. Too bad ours were low-level nuke >>> ground attack birds (Absolutely no air-to-air capability due to lacking a >>> gun prior to 1972 and a dedicated ground-attack radar instead of the normal >>> air-to-air set). We shoulda bought F-105 thuds instead. >>> >>> The CF-104 killed a lot of Canadians. >> Not to mention the Germans and Americans. Should have gone for the EE >> Lightning. >> >> >> >> ----------------------------------------- >> Email sent from www.virginmedia.com/email >> Virus-checked using McAfee(R) Software and scanned for spam >> >> > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
