F-104 Starfighter | Behind the Wings

F-104 Starfighter | Behind the Wings
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The F-104 Starfighter is a supersonic interceptor aircraft flown by the United States Air Force from the late 1950s to the late 1960s. Designed for pure speed, the F-104 boasts a powerful J79 engine that can launch it to speeds of over 1,400 MPH. Wings' starfighter served tours in Vietnam as well as with the Puerto Rico Air National Guard before being retired. Join curator Matthew Burchette as he gets up close and personal with the "missile with a man in it".
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Host:
Matthew Burchette
Creator, Producer:
Ben Theune
Camera, Editor:
Scott Hennelly

[@CheeseTruffles]

War thunder players: *Interesting*

[@Who_Jock]

Lol

[@Who_Jock]

I’m researching it

[@davidecarucci1073]

@@Who_Jock when i unlock tier 6 it will be my priority becayse its better than the last f86 and it takes only 10.000 rp more

[@matsnordvik1542]

@@davidecarucci1073 i dont know how long you playd but i would go for the f86f2 it is a amzing jet. And you can dog fight with it. And you get great brs know. I am pushed down to 8.7 and 8.0 and 9.0 is comon. But rearly 10.0

[@realjohn.sins6934]

Lol

[@jeffgravette192]

My dad flew a F104 in the 60’s and had to eject out of it due to mechanical problems, he still talks about how much fun it was to fly and how fast this plane was for the time

[@clippedwings225]

He's trapped in an F-104, of course he's screaming. If he's got any German in his blood, he's screwed.

[@alphacentauri34]

I don't get it

[@BlunderMunchkin]

@@alphacentauri34 The Germans had the highest mortality rate in the F-104 than any other operator.

[@alphacentauri34]

@@BlunderMunchkin I got that I just thought they had a worse version of it

[@Jupiter__001_]

@@alphacentauri34 They had a really weird version because they wanted a ground attack plane, but the 104 was an interceptor, so many redesigns had to take place. These redesigns, along with an even higher wingloading due to the heavier ordinance for ground-striking, caused it to have a bad tendency to sheer its wings in turns.

[@judgedredd8657]

Or Canadian

[@danfarrell8958]

The most amazing fact about the F104 is that a Lockeed engineer named Daryl Greenamier built one out of spare parts and set a low altitude speed record of 999.something miles per hour 100 feet off the ground and I believe that record still stands.

[@charly6333]

Who else got recommended this after the War Thunder update

[@bret9741]

Time to paint it in Vietnam garb with the pink pussycat

[@Herringomann]

Just 13 yo kids i guess

[@YukoStu]

I worked on all of the F-104's at George from '64 - '65. It was a wonderful AC and great to work on. It carried tip and pylon fuel tanks for longer range, Yes, the wings edges were sharp, my co0worker slashed his hear on one when he didn't duck low enough.

[@georgemuller6038]

The reason for the downward firing ejection seat was they believed the seat ejection was not powerful to get the pilot above the T tail at hi speeds. They then came up with a more powerful seat that ejected upward clearing the tail.

[@joesixpack]

The F 104 was the most beautiful bird that ever flown. I was in the German Air Force from 1980 to 1982 and we were one of the last squadrons to have the F 104. What a great time ...

[@davidmullin9045]

You're enactment brought again my dad Andy Mullin experienced being stuck in an F104 starfighter when the canopy jammed. This was at Edwards AFB, at the General Electric facility in the hangar, 1959. The plan to open the canopy was to bleed out air pressure. Then Andy Mullin, a civilian aircraft mechanic, could pull the ejection cable and without enough air pressure only the canopy would pop off. The F104 didn't use air pressure like other ejection systems. When he sat down and pulled the cable he and the seat were slammed into the roof and he dropped onto pipes. Three years including a traction bed. And he got his old job back. His lawyer got him $40,000 and he was in and out the hospital until Andy Mullin died in 1971. I wish someone knew his part in the jet age history books. Thanks for sharing the F104 story and the complexity of it's ejection system.

[@MaynardGKrebs-gv4vy]

Thank you for the info on your Dad. Sad that he ended up in that condition.

[@linklindsey5658]

Thats a helluva story! Glad your dad survived it. It seems they could have cut through the canopy to avoid the ejection seat egress. They do have concrete saws that would have cut through it.

[@everythingman987]

It also killed a lot of Canadian pilots, but it's safety record in Japan and Spain are flawless. Not a good idea to use a high altitude interceptor as a low altitude tactical strike platform.

[@noname-wo9yy]

imagine the surprise of the t72 tank commander what a supersonic interceptor crashes in a ball of fire in-front of him

[@komepollass]

Yeah. Spain lost none. Thanks to use them 100% in the AtoA role, better weather and higher level of training compared to 60s Luftwaffe German pilots.

[@Leptospirosi]

If you want a real inside of this plane check this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/m3ObnZKceLB3idk Germany did not built hangar for their 104 and left them "outside" all the time being used to the F86: just imagine how a sophisticated jet like the Starfighter would react to that treatment... v__v Also flying supersonic at treetop in bad weather is not the safest way to keep your plane intact. Another misconception about the 104 is the "Huge" turning circle: it was about the same of an F-4B/C/D below the sound of speed and above it the 104 could run circles around any other supersonic jet because it was conceived to manoeuvre above Mach1. This can be easily seen checking the turning ratio charts in the F-104 manual and those of the Phantom. When you go beyond Mach1 the centre of gravity of a plane moves and the plane becomes way less agile, and there was where the F-104 shines. The only better fighter plane above the sound of speed was the much more sophisticated F-106 which employed a complex pump system to move fuel between the different tanks so to correct the balance and shift back the centre of gravity. It also is often told that the 104 had short range which was true to some extent, but it could bring a nuclear bomb inside the enemy territory faster and deeper than any other fighter bomber except the F-105 which had an internal vane for reducing drag. the vaunted F-4 in the USAF created a lot of probems to the f-105 formation because they had to slow down to allow the fighters to keep pace when they were loaded with tanks. Finally, in air to air role, the F-104 could outrun, out accelerate and outroll any other fighter plane until the "teen" series became available, including all the soviet planes it could come across: in the eighties Col. Andy Bush created a controlled fight for their German cadets which were sceptical about the ability of the plane to face actual combat (because of bad press at home). The combat would involve an F-5E and an F-104G, flown by himself, starting at the same level and speed: the planes had to engage in a scissor manoeuvre and try to kill each other. in 3 sequent engagement Col. Bush was able to kill the F-5E 3 to 0 using the superior energy of the F-104 and fast roll ability. The F-5 pilot comment was "I can't F***ing believe it!!!" One of the defining characteristics the F-104 was the incredible acceleration which allowed it to dogfight mostly without reaching the AB, while a Phantom would simply open the gauges and blast away, but the huge weight mixed with two F-104 engines would drain the fuel tanks in 3 minutes where the F-104 would have the ability to stay in that fight up to 5min (tested at Decimo base in Sardinia), which is about the same time an F-15 can do! The bad reputation in combat for the F-104 comes form the fruitless cap in Vietnam where it never faced opposition, and the excessive wearing it was subject to due to lack of number: the only USAF f-104 shot down was lost pilot ambushed by a Chinese mig 19 driven by ground radar control to intercept the starfighter form behind and below. The F-104C did not had a RWR, which was immediately introduced on all the Starfighters after that fact. The other casualties were Pakistani second hand F-104A fighting against much more modern Indian Mig 21PF: Gen. Chuck Yeager tried hard to teach the poorly trained pakistani to NOT dogfight a mig 21 at low speed but they did fall for that more then one time. The problem with the F-104 is that you had to have a very high skill as a pilot to make it perform: it was not an instinctive plane that you just turn on the tail of the enemy: you need to know how to manage speed, turning rate energy retention and acceleration to be able to outperform the soviet migs: it can be done, but you got to know what you are doing. Finally the Starfighter was one of the best interceptors ever: it could be flown from stop to 30K feet faster then any other plane before the F-16 excpt may be the EE lightning, but the later had such a short range to be actually impractical and the red top missile was so bad that it probably wouldn't be able to shot down anything smaller then a T95. The latest f014S was able to carry both the Aim9 and the AIM7 in 1968 up to the Aim9L and the Aspide (which was an improved Sparrow) which made it usable as an interceptro up to the end of the nineties.

[@Bartonovich52]

Why not? The F-104 had everything that purpose built strike aircraft of the time had: Tiny wings for high low altitude speed and a smoother ride through thermals. A huge amount of thrust to carry high weights and go high speeds. The F-105 and TSR-2 both used these. The problem was... low altitude flying is risky. That’s why the F-105-even discounting losses due to enemy action in Vietnam-had a terrible attrition rate. In spite of its reputation as a “widow maker”... the -104 had a lower loss rate than the Sabre in Canadian and German service.

[@dogsnads5634]

@@Bartonovich52 The Lightning was the the highest performance aircraft in NATO by quite a margin until the F-15 arrived (and even then F-15 was only just slightly faster in the climb and acceleration) massively short ranged however, they were fantastic as an interceptor in Germany, not as much use as UK QRA. The Red Top was also probably the best IR missile around at the time (with an honourable mention to AIM-9B), all missiles were unreliable at the time. Sidewinder was made reliable first after all the experience in Vietnam. But..... TSR.2 could outrun a Lightning...in dry thrust with the Lightning in full burners....which given that the Lightning was the first combat aircraft able to supercruise is quite something....

[@dannelson8768]

It's not that I don't like this channel, but it's like "BLUES CLUES " for airplanes.

[@therealmp40]

the museum which has these aircraft has as one of it´s objectives to teach about aviation to others, so they have to make things more simple for the casuals

[@ZacLowing]

Too goofy

[@jamestheotherone742]

@@ZacLowing Yeah, They need less dumb-ass more factual info. If Wings over Rockies needs some editorial advice, go watch the Bovington Armor Museum on how to do a YT channel right. www.tankmuseum.org/

[@daleberger6984]

That may be an insult to "Blues Clues". My first thought was "is this produced for grade schools?" Awesome.

[@mat2941]

I’ve been to the retirement event for the Italian AF’s F-104 a few years ago and man that thing was loud! Beautiful aircraft

[@hendrixfirstone8975]

And nooow its comes to warthunder

[@devonlord99]

The hot rod age has begun

[@bluecollarwatches7048]

I was tdy to Gioia del colle air base in Italy in 1984 for displayed determination, the Italian Air Force still flew these then. Our pilots said this thing was a little rocket and hard to catch, easy to see though they smoked bad. They taxied these with no brakes, they would be zipping down the parallel runway at 50 to 60 mph. Cool plane.

[@jcheck6]

Interesting we had a squadron xchange with the Gioia del colle pilots and I was at their base for a week in the '70's with my RF-4C.

[@Odinsjewl]

They still have a F104 flying in Norway!!

[@stevesloan7132]

The most beautiful military aircraft the Airforce ever flew, particularly in polished aluminum and insignia.

[@mrz80]

NASA's Starfighters also looked gorgeous in blue and white. There's one hanging from the ceiling at the Air & Space Museum in DC. It's always one of the first things I go see when I'm there.

[@stevesloan7132]

@@mrz80 Thanks for the tip. I bet it's a beauty! They also have Liberty Bell 7 there. Both are definitely on my list of aircraft to see. And of course the Spirit of St. Louis! I have heard that they also have an X-15 there too. Marvelous aircraft! Have a great evening.

[@2Stonefly]

My son and I went here 2 years ago on a trip. He LOVED the B1A. He was in awe of it. You made a great father/son memory for him that day.

[@ewanwilson1974]

If you want legendary, you should look at the Avro Arrow, or what’s left of it. Built in the late 1950’s in Canada, the Avro Arrow was intended to be the main interceptor jet of the RCAF. This thing was a beast. Standing at 6.5 metres tall, 24 metres long and 15 metres wide, the Avro arrow was the first step in aerospace development. Flying at speeds above Mach 2, and a ceiling of 50,000 feet, the Avro Arrow was the best. Unfortunately it never saw use in the RCAF as it was cancelled in 1958 and all 6 were to be dismantled and destroyed.

[@Idahoguy10157]

The F-104 is still my pick for the coolest looking jet during its service. The AVRO Vulcan being my next favorite

[@MaskedVengeanceTV]

Actually knowing the history of the f-104 Starfighter makes the intro slightly disturbing...,..

[@brandongahm6208]

true

[@SamB-fv6su]

The host is a disrespectful Jack ass

[@shanek6582]

Sam B can you tell me what you mean please? Did someone get trapped in one?

[@796andy2]

yeah Dad (in a 100)was behind a guy who flamed out on take off (early model bottom eject) ugly

[@jblackjack]

Aka: the widowmaker

[@rjs1jd]

I I meant to say this is the most enthusiastic channel on KZbin ! And I give huge amounts of great props to the camera "guy" he's like 90%of the videos quality!

[@garycampbell8111]

I worked on these in the mid sixties. I was assigned to the 479th tac fighter wing, George AFB, Calif. I was an instrument tech & in 1964 we took a squadron to Spain for a few months patrolling the Mediterranean corridor. It was a fast, unforgiving aircraft.

[@AngeloTheRaccoon]

I'm glad to see that at least one of the former Puerto Rico ANG F-104 is still relatively complete, I do believe this is the second one I've seen, the first being in Muñiz ANGB in Puerto Rico.

[@1joshjosh1]

I'm watching Behind the wings instead of doing laundry, don't tell my wife.

[@laxmannate07]

Im watching behind the wings instead of doing my wife, dont tell the laundry.

[@alarii2582]

I'm watching my Wife instead of doing the laundry, don't tell Behind the Wings

[@mikegeorgius7589]

Gotcha. Just don't tell mine I'm eating vanilla oreos with strawberry milk...

[@alexanderantonov314]

Don't tell my love interest that I'm dating with that is SNAPPLE that im watching it

[@gavstreet8976]

I’m watching laundry instead doing my wife, don’t tell behind the wings

[@RovingPunster]

F-104 is living proof that even a brick will fly if you strap a big enough engine and a stubby pair of wings on it.

[@jameslatini]

lets not forget the space shuttle

[@hotshot0476]

Nah that's f4 phantom

[@TheEmperorOfWei]

You mean the F-4 not the 104.

[@RovingPunster]

@@TheEmperorOfWei I did indeed indicate 104, but the same point does sorta apply to the phantom. FWIW my brother was a maintenance crew chief for a squadron of them during his stint in the Air Force. That was a long time ago. My plane was the EA-6B Prowler.

[@rogerbloxham5381]

Roving Punster One of the nicknames for the 104 was the prostitute because she had no visible means of support

[@Oldbmwr100rs]

Most air forces had no unusual losses flying the 104. The Germans big problem was they tried to use it as a multirole aircraft, something it was not made to do. They didn't learn from WW2 when they also wanted all aircraft to be multirole, and then ended up with planes unsuited to tasks. The 104 was made as a bomber interceptor, hence not much fuel or wing, just off the ground and as close to the target as fast as possible. Most pilots loved and respected these aircraft, and they served for many years.

[@JimmyJamesJ]

You are absolutely incorrect. Canada lost half its 104's to accidents and the aircraft had an abysmal accident rate upwards of 30 accidents per 100,000 flight hours. I'd still love to fly one though.

[@SvenTviking]

Eric Hartmann had to retire from the Luftwaffe because of his objections to buying the Starfighter. But what did he know, he only had 365 kills in WW2. The Starfighter gained one possible kill in it’s whole career, in the Indo-Pakistan war. Tiny Folland Gnat fighters shot them down.

[@vk3139]

@@JimmyJamesJ Canada also used the F-104 as a strike aircraft, at least initially mainly for the low level delivery of nuclear weapons and later for conventional weapons, and the fact that the aircraft could technically carry air to air weaponry was almost as an afterthought in Canadian service. In Canadian service the F-86 before it also had a even worse record both in incident rate and number of killed pilots. Starting to see a pattern? Then you have Spain and Japan that operated them almost entirely without incident as interceptors. Just blaming the aircraft doesn't work, just blaming wrong use of the aircraft doesn't work, just blaming faulty maintenance doesn't work, just blaming low or wrong pilot training doesn't work, but the combination of all of them made the F-104s reputation that of a widowmaker. Just that it was much more evident in the nations that did use them at low level and in poor weather, for the obvious reasons that it compounds all the other issues.

[@lewiscole5193]

@@SvenTviking > Eric Hartmann had to retire from the > Luftwaffe because of his objections to > buying the Starfighter. According to his so-called "Final Interview", Hartmann didn't think that the Luftwaffe was ready for an aircraft with as high of performance as the F-104, not because the thought that the F-104 was a bad aircraft. As it turns out, the Luftwaffe experience after Steinhoff took over seems to support that belief. What people seem to forget is that the Luftwaffe at the time of the F-104 was *NOT* the Luftwaffe of WWII ... the service didn't have the old timers trying to fly the aircraft and in many cases, their first flight in an F-104 was the first time in a high performance aircraft for many Luftwaffe pilots. > The Starfighter gained one possible kill > in it’s whole career, in the Indo-Pakistan war. > Tiny Folland Gnat fighters shot them down. Anyone who tries to take an F-104 into a turning fight is an idea. As Operation Feather Duster (I or II, I can't remember) shows, when flown the way it should be flown, it beat the F-86, F-100, and F-4.

[@MrLuvOldies]

Thanks. The US Air Force F-104 Starfighter did hold the World Speed and Altitude Records in its time.

[@chucksdesk]

A good friend of mine flew these with the AZ National Guard in Phoenix. He has some wild stories about flying the F-104.

[@infinitepickle3727]

My grandfather was one of the test pilots for these

[@lime7014]

was he german?

[@infinitepickle3727]

Nope full blood American Still alive actually

[@swaguel]

@@infinitepickle3727 holy crap what were the chances that after this comment existing for 9 months, i would see the replies within an hour lol

[@lime7014]

@@infinitepickle3727 cool

[@daleberger6984]

Tell your grandfather this Air Force veteran thinks he has brass balls.

[@janmethner]

I sat in an F-104G of the German Airforce - yeah.....it is pretty cool! :)

[@clippedwings225]

Was it a heap of crumpled metal?

[@MikoyanGurevichMiG21]

Judging by the fact you're still alive to comment here, it had to be pretty cool.

[@nathanflynn6092]

The f-104 is the pinnacle of there being no margin for error, especially during landing

[@Cuckler]

Don’t know why everyone hates his attitude. It’s nice, adds style, and I enjoy him having some bounce to his voice instead of reading me a book. It’s clear the guy enjoys this kind of stuff and I’m glad to learn from him. Keep it up man.

[@mcguire4162]

I'd love to fly an F104! It is by far my favorite jet, especially because of the uniquely life like engine growls. This beautiful girl ought to be 100% restored, made airworthy even if she's going to remain on static display. Gorgeous 😍

[@theherminator5457]

How does this channel only have 7k subs, they are really quality

[@danthebiker07]

Good question!

[@shrimpylad6100]

Cause thet dont go into much dtail

[@jshepard152]

HELP! HELP! I can't get out!!

[@muchasgracias6976]

I'm totally loving this channel!! Another fantastic episode- thank you Mr B and team!!

[@Idahoguy10157]

I lived near Luke AFB in the 70’s. Luftwaffe trained to fly F-104’s at Luke. Beautiful airplanes!

[@bpicard2786]

I got a wing bite below my eye in the 70’s. only once.

[@SanBrunoBeacon]

The F-104 Starfighter was the first airplane model that I built when I was a boy. I remember saving up to buy this model and how excited I was when I brought it home and started putting it together. Over the years it got lost. Wish I still had it, because it was a beautiful model :-)

[@Azawakh1974]

I love Starfighters!!! Beautyfull airplane and very speed fighter. Super machine! I like Zippers!!!

[@xenophagia]

One of the most beautiful aircraft ever built.

[@lovellrodriguez8567]

F 4 wild weasel

[@coolcoolercoolest212]

He's such a goofball. I love this channel.

[@philipschneider750]

My Grandpa died with an F-104 in Germany, because we think the engine flamed out and the plane dropped like a Stone to the ground. The only thing that my Grandma got from the Government was a Letter with the Signature from Franz Josef Strauß and one sentence that her husband died becaus of an pilot error.

[@Lhenry-pf5zn]

I'm thinking mechanic error.

[@xavrag2225]

I mean no offense to you, but pilot error with high performance jets like the 104 were not uncommon during that time. A similar phenomenon occurred during the transition to the jet age with pilots stalling out on take off due to them over roatating like they would in a prop plane.

[@MaynardGKrebs-gv4vy]

What a beautiful aircraft. Looks like it's flying at Mach 1 sitting still. My dad was career Air Force. Saw them many times.

[@johnwalters800]

The first time I saw this fighter I was only 7 years old. I was watching Star Trek with my dad. I saw it flying up to shoot down my Favorite Star ship USS Enterprise NCC-1701. I went on to join the Navy in 1980. Guess Which Air Craft Carrier was I put on? No Joke USS ENTERPRISE CVN-65! No F-105 on board We had F-14 Tomcats and right before I left the new F-18 Hornets were replacing the Tomcats. Man landing on an Aircraft Carrier was the most heart pounding end to a trip I have ever gone through.

[@lastactionmedic5677]

You inspire me man. I'm in school on the GI Bill as a history major. Writing your thesis on nose art is by far the coolest academic endeavor I've heard of thus far. Geek out indeed 🇺🇲🤟

[@jebediahgentry7029]

I LOVE these "Behind the Wings" episodes!!!

[@robertspence831]

Wrote his Masters Thesis on WW-2 nose art? Respect!!!!!!!!

[@eddiet204]

My mom worked at Lockheed for almost 50 years. As a kid I remember riding in the car when she was meeting my dad and came to a stop sign on the sprawling facility and met a NASA F104 at the intersection. He had the right of way and taxied right past us.

[@rjs1jd]

Word of the day is ! "HOW COOL IS THAT!"

[@terifarley4770]

The Heinkel Salamander was the inspiration for the landing gear arrangement of the F-104, and in-turn the F-16.

[@jaydeister9305]

"Yeah, i agree, the F-104 is the greatest fighter ever designed and built."

[@chicuongvu1806]

jay deister fighter? A rocket with wing babyyyyy

[@michaelgray7847]

It was never in the same class as the English Electric lightning . Fact .

[@twotone3471]

The F-104 was also one of the fastest land vehicles of all time. Guy took off the wings and put high speed wheels on her, almost broke the sound barrier on land doing that.

[@jimbobaggans1564]

Crag Breedlove, wasn't it?

[@twotone3471]

@@jimbobaggans1564 Ed Shadle too, wants to break the current record.

[@Tigershark_3082]

I found an F-104G for sale, available for civilian purchase. It’s almost 100% complete, and costs roughly $400,000. So, I might have a new goal, yeehaw.

[@Spawn-td8bf]

I must politely differ. When I sat in an A-4 Skyhawk, I was shoulder to cockpit tight. When I had the chance to sit in an F-104, I had a whole lot more room, and I am NOT little, 6'2" & 320 lbs. (working on the girth part, LOL). I wish you guys were closer, but we have some pretty neat air museums here in Florida, Pensacola anyone? You do have a rather impressive facility. I, too, am an aircraft geek, military of course. You have my dream job, which is why my house looks like an air museum, much to my wife's chagrin. I love your unique approach and at 57, am not a kid. I have subscribed so keep them coming as Colorado would be a long road trip for us. Thank you, take care and God Bless from Florida.

[@lawrencegenereux8567]

I've been to the Air Force Museum at Eglin AFB in Florida. Saw an F104 parked next to an F4. The F104 was so small in comparison. It looked like a dart. Definitely a high performance machine though, like a supercar sports car. NOT for the average pilot.

[@fishingbeyond8435]

My grandpa Howard Stern worked on the electronic system for this aircraft! My family also recently met the test pilot Alex (forgot his last name) la flew this plane who unfortunately passed this year. He said this was a really fun plane to fly.

[@ThomasLeNinja]

As a current starfighter pilot in training, I very much enjoyed this video ! Cheers !

[@moosebat47]

Cool! F104 one of the coolest fighter ever!!

[@dirt_rooster36]

basically a smaller U-2 fuselage lol. which is probably what saved a lot of time developing the U-2

[@Lhenry-pf5zn]

According to my father this was the BEST aircraft my father ever flew.

[@prun8893]

Most beautiful jet fighter ever.

[@Dashi18n]

I’ve worked on one of these at Moffett Field and I’m happy to say our cockpit is actually complete

[@Wings_Museum]

We've been worked on ours too since we filmed this episode. Might need a F-104 part 2....

[@Dashi18n]

Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum That’d be awesome to see! Ours is a little bit of an odd ball in that it also has a tail hook on it.

[@overbank56]

One of my All time favorite cold War interceptors

[@jamesblair8436]

I have that one! In 1/72 Die Cast but in the Vietnam markings, without the refueling probe as well.

[@nickkerssens5444]

a thing of beauty is a joy for ever.. it will never fade away..

[@lel2015]

Love the enthusiasm in your videos. Great Job

[@tristanhunter5553]

This man is a vibe

[@johnnicatra570]

My favorite plane when I was a kid.

[@fechariong8569]

This guys awesome

[@robertelmo7736]

@3:40 Pretty sure my stepdad Lyle designed the plastic piece to go over the wings while they were on the ground. Guys would rub their hand down the wing and it would cut them.

[@suprtl01]

I absolutely love this channel. I went to college for aviation maintenance. And love airplanes. I literally wad just in colorado visiting a friend last weekend. Wish I knew of this place before. Please keep doing what your doing. Will visit when I get a chance

[@UAL012]

If you ever have an opportunity, read Chuck Yeager’s autobiography. He talks about the F104 on several occasions and he said that it was an interesting plane to fly but it had a really bad pitch up problem. They said that it wasn’t uncommon for that plane to be in a climb and then it would stall out and as it was dropping the pilots would have to put the engine in the full afterburner to try and get the momentum going again to save the plane. He flew especially modified F104 and got an altitude record for it but he was unable to recover the plane and ended up punching out a.k.a. ejected. When he did the rocket from the ejection seat hit him in the face and burned him severely. He was lucky to have survived but as you can tell if you’ve ever seen his interviews, he’s OK.

[@lewiscole5193]

The usual description of the F-104 was that it was an "honest" but "unforgiving" aircraft. Is something happened, you needed to deal with it right away or else _terrible things would happen_. But while people like to point at the F-104's pitch up and deep stall problems, most people seem to be unaware that other aircraft have such problems as well and not gets too excited about them. Without something to prevent it, swept wing aircraft are also prone to pitch up and/or deep stalls. For example, the F-86 and F-100 were prone to pitch up and/or deep stall problems. The problem was simply avoided (by the pilot) in the case of the F-86, but a fatal deep stall was sufficiently common in the case of the F-100s that it got the nickname "Sabre dance". The problem was finally fixed in the F-100G (IIRC) through wing fences. In the case of the F-104, it was equipped with a "stick shaker" which would shake the stick similar to what one might feel on some other aircraft when it was entering a stall before the main wings actually stalled.

[@EEProductionsEJW]

WHERES MY *P O L I S H E D A L U M I N I U M*

[@hachipanki8634]

Oh, another furry Aircraft-lover, i see

[@petarpasajlic]

This man is fenomenal!!!!

[@colinboone9920]

“Eject at 2. Something Mach, you’ll probably break something” 🤣🤣🤣

[@NHseacoast]

Good job Matthew.

[@Wings_Museum]

Thank you! MB

[@nikoteen9110]

Dude take it down a notch!

[@deltavii7499]

Going here on Sunday, hopefully Corona doesn't ruin the experience.

[@raxzal_]

I saw this in person and let me tell you guys it’s amazing!

[@champagnegascogne9755]

sponsored by Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown

[@scottl.1568]

+1

[@skeletonwguitar4383]

+2

[@egecandir7967]

+3

[@emilgirginov9848]

These always pop up when there is a new War Thunder update

[@Idahoguy10157]

Of the Air Forces that used the F-104, Germany and Canada had a bad safety record. The normal cause for crashing was “Controlled Flight into Terrain”.

[@esotericyetti327]

This guy is the Mr.Rogers of Aviation.

[@Guzzi_Cali2]

The real reason why such a lot F-104s got down in Germany was: We have quite different weather here in Germany AND the German Luftwaffe wanted to use this plane for multi purpose for what the 104 was never thought to be. That doesn't work. You can't have a cow that lays eggs and gives wool.

[@videomaniac108]

Erich Hartmann, one of the highest scoring aces of the Luftwaffe during WW2, became a commander in the West German air force after the war and was forcibly retired from that service in 1970 because of his opposition to the procurement of the F-104, being that he thought it was an excessively dangerous plane for the pilots to fly.

[@jimbobaggans1564]

Erich Hartmann, now that's a name I haven't heard in awhile. He wasn't one of the highest scoring aces of WWII. He was THE highest scoring ace of WWII.

[@b0sscaner]

Yup im here after the starfighters update for warthunder.

[@ilovemy4js]

I feel like the f-104s in war thunder is the worst thing gaijin entertainment ever added to war

[@StephensCustomModels]

You're a fun guy to watch, Matthew.

[@pussymcstanky]

My father used to be an aircraft engineer in the army, and he has told me plenty of times that they actually used to peel apples on the F-104's leading edge...so...yeah...I don't know about shaving, but you could definitely peel an apple using it 😂

[@PorWik]

Why would you peel an apple

[@pussymcstanky]

@@PorWik Well, there are two reasons that you might want to peel an apple for. Firstly, the apple's skin is really hard for the stomach to digest and you might feel a bit down, after eating an apple with it's skin still on. Further more, in today's day 'n' age, fruit and vegetables are sprayed with pesticides in order to fight off potential living hazards to the production. And those pesticides are harmful to the human body. All in all, peeling an apple is healthier (now) rather than eating it with it's skin on. Sidenote: Although peeling an apple is better for you, I don't know if the leading edge of the F-104 (or any aircraft for that matter) is what I would call sanitised. Plus, I think that it would be pretty cool to peel an apple using a "peeler" the size of a bus.

[@victormanuelpolanco922]

Thanx, Kelly Johnson!!!!.

[@N1RKW]

I was hoping to see him grab a wing tip and give it a wiggle. Something that impressed the heck out of me was the fact that a person could move the wing tips up and down at least 6" - 8". The wings were perfectly stiff and seemed to be hinged at the root. FYI, this was something that I discovered personally at the USAF Museum in Dayton Ohio, back in the days when they'd actually let people touch the planes. I'm not sure if this is a normal feature of the F-104, or if it was part of how that particular plane had been prepared for display.

[@terrencejohnson85]

As an Air Force pilot, I always considered the F104 a sport car

[@landonmontgomery2302]

Watching this while drunk…. Hell yeah!

[@dabking94.19]

"I'm Matthew Berchett and this is behind the wings. And i can't get out....HAHAHHHHHHHH!!" •Intro music• Me: "Yo, hangin out with Matt Berchett Gonna sit aound here and see some old jets. He Might tell a story or two. So sit back in the cockpit and stick around like glue!"

[@rjvan9220]

Was stationed at Soesterberg AB Netherlands in the late 70's with F-4E's, we would go TDY to Leewarden AB Netherlands and fly DACT missions against the Dutch F-104's. Coolest thing was they would taxi by and you could look up.the tailpipe and see a little hooded pilot light flickering at the bottom of the engine by the AB spraybars. Our Phantoms also had J-79 engines but used ignitor plugs. Always thought the pilot light was wierd.

[@jcheck6]

I was down at Zweibrucken flying RF-4C while you were at Soesterberg....never landed there for some reason.

[@guyvalentine7258]

👍👍👍 My first base after tech-school in the AF was Luke AFB just outside Phoenix Arizona. The German air force trained there in 104s. So I got to see them every day for over 13 months before shipping out for Udorn Air Base, Thailand. There were no 104s by the time I got there. At Luke we had F-4c's, in Thailand we had F-4d's, e's and RF-4c's. RF-4c's are a reconnaissance version of the F-4 that has no guns or even a weapons system installed, just cameras. Looked like a F-4e. I have often wondered if the E model was based on the RF-4c or the other way around.

[@jcheck6]

The RF-4C came before the E model. The E model had a different leading edge with slats as did the horizontal stabilizer which in turn created more drag and were slower. However the turn capability was greatly improved and did not have a tendency to go out of control at high AOA like the hard wing F-4's.

[@contraststriker8198]

I love old fighter jets

[@thomyg425]

Excellent made Videos thank you 👍🏼👍🏼 I remember the Joke about to get a Starfighter...buy a Property and wait😂😂 thank you and i look forward to more Videos from you

[@bitchfacedmgee7433]

They where probably the coolest looking plane to come out of the cold War but also the most dangerous

[@jimbobaggans1564]

I thought the B-58 was the coolest looking plane ever. Although I think that they had problems with that one too.

[@seminolerick6845]

At a McDill afb air show , a few yrs ago, was a civilian demo team of these... (Starfighters)...very inspiring aircraft for sure !

[@showtime112]

This guy really loves his job :)

[@rickpalo1]

Corny but very entertaining! Great learning experience!