El caza que no perdonaba errores: Lockheed F-104 Starfighter

Video from the channel Dwayne's Aviation en Español about Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 12:10. Language: Spanish. Video type: Documentary.

An analysis of why the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, a record-breaking aircraft, racked up one of the worst accident records among Western fighters and earned nicknames such as "flying coffin" or "widowmaker".

After the Korean War, where MiG-15s outclimbed F-86s, the US Air Force called for an interceptor focused on speed and altitude. It was designed by Kelly Johnson, a Lockheed engineer since 1933, who had delivered the XP-80 prototype in 143 days and gave rise to the Skunk Works culture. His idea was to build the aircraft around a large engine and strip away everything unnecessary. The F-104A appeared in 1958, and that same year it simultaneously held the records for speed, altitude and time-to-climb. West Germany, which was rebuilding the Luftwaffe, made it its main combat aircraft.

The video attributes the losses to a combination of factors: the small wing and approach speeds above 200 miles per hour, pitch-up caused by the T-tail, J79 engine failures, the downward-firing Stanley C-1 ejection seat (which killed, among others, Kincheloe), a boundary-layer control system that depended on engine thrust, and its use in low-level attack in all weather. On top of that came rushed training and a shortage of two-seaters and technicians. Germany lost 292 of 916 aircraft and 116 pilots died; at the worst point, in the mid-1960s, one crashed every two weeks. Canada lost 110 of 238, almost 46%, and 37 pilots died.