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Mike Lazalier, lead engineer, Aerospace Testing Alliance, on the test platform near the bottom of the Mark 1 "space chamber" on Oct. 5, 2009. Performing on-site visits such as this, is one of the many tasks he performs as an Aerospace Testing Alliance lead engineer with the 718 Test Squadron at Arnold Air Force Base, Tenn. The Mark 1 Test Facility is a state-of-the-art space environment simulation test chamber for full-scale space systems testing. The thermal chamber is completely lined with a liquid nitrogen shroud that can provide thermal conditions down to 77 degrees Kelvin. With a working interior diameter of 36 feet and at 70-feet tall large objects can be installed and small objects can use the height to experience Zero-g states for two seconds. Inside the upright vessel is a support structure that weighs in at 200,000 pounds and is 12-square feet of seismic mass provides vibration isolated of test articles. The facility has mechanical roughing pumps, turbo molecular and cryogenic high vacuum pumps, all with cryogenic traps. Solar (day/night) simulations with infrared lamp arrays are available for thermal cycling. A $1.5 million dollar upgrade in fiscal year 2000 replaced existing oil diffusion pumps with a complete dry pumping system, cleaned the interior of the chamber and refinished the surface the (LN2) thermal shroud. A new Hewlett Packard 3852, with 1,500 channels of data capability, replaced the previous Micro-Vax data system. These upgrades, combined with the shear size of the facility, at 42-foot-diameter by 82-foot, postures AEDC for future testing of full-scale satellites and other space systems requiring a contamination-free test environment. The Government is interested in obtaining information concerning a Space Threat Assessment Testbed (STAT). The STAT is a testbed facility that will be used to test space system survivability against natural, environmental, and man-made effects. STAT will provide connectivity to a Satellite Operation Center (SOC) for systems under test in order to train space operators to recognize threats and aid in the development of tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) to mitigate the effects of those threats. STAT will include space chambers with realistic natural space environmental conditions, as well as integrated representative threat sources. STAT Spiral 1 is currently developing the technology to integrate and control the various environmental sources and build a capability to test subsystem size components and microsats. STAT Spiral 2 will scale up the STAT Spiral 1 capability to accommodate an entire satellite or a full-scale mockup with the key subsystems installed. This program includes efforts to design, develop, procure, and install modifications to the existing Mark 1 space chamber in order to create STAT Spiral 2. (U.S. Air Force photo/Lance Cheung)
Airbus A380-861
MSN 004 [Engine Alliance testbed]
F-WWDD 'VNO'
Airbus S.A.S.
Copyright © 2012 A380spotter. All rights reserved.
Research into the "blown wing" concept dates back to just before World War II, but it was not until the 1950s that the technology was put into use. The concept was to bleed air from the aircraft's engine through holes over the wings' flaps: this would lower the aircraft's stall speed and make it easier to control at low speeds, such as at landing. The first aircraft to operationally use a blown wing was the F-104 Starfighter--with such a small wing, it needed all the help it could get due to a high landing speed.
Blown wings fell out of favor after Vietnam, as outright speed was not found to be as effective in combat as originally thought, but then was resurrected as both the United States and the Soviet Union began experimenting with STOL (Short Take-Off and Landing) transports--the YC-14 and YC-15 (and later the C-17 Globemaster III) for the US, and the An-72 Coaler for the USSR. While the Americans went with large blown flaps for their transports, the Soviets mounted the engine above the wing, using direct thrust to get the same effect. There was numerous research into blown wings/flaps, which led to the creation of the unique Ball-Bartoe JW-1 Jetwing.
The Jetwing was never meant to go into production, and only one was produced, strictly for experimental purposes. Most of both wings had redirected engine thrust blown over the wing surface, and wing fences were added to ensure the air went where it was supposed to go. Though it looked ungainly, with a faint whiff of the F-84 Thunderjet, the Jetwing proved to be easy to fly, and remained controllable at the astoundingly low airspeed of only 40 mph. (Most aircraft land at least at three or four times that number.) The aircraft first flew in 1977, and the test program proceeded through the late 1970s before it was grounded. The Jetwing was then donated to the University of Tennessee for display and further research, but when the university no longer wanted the aircraft, it was in turn donated to Wings Over the Rockies in the 1990s.
This strange aircraft was nearly hidden behind the museum's EA-6B when I visited in August 2020, and I had no idea what it was--I thought it was some sort of "Luftwaffe 1946" experimental design come to life. The Jetwing is an interesting artifact, and unique.
These are being retired quickly. This bus is one of two 5800 series buses with amber destination signs. Those two buses were testbeds for the newer amber signs.
iCub è un robot androide costruito dall'Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) di Genova. Alto 104 cm e pesante 22 kg, la sua estetica e funzionalità ricordano quelle di un bambino di circa tre anni.
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iCub is a 1 metre high humanoid robot testbed for research into human cognition and artificial intelligence.
It was designed by the RobotCub Consortium of several European universities and built by Italian Institute of Technology, and is now supported by other projects such as ITALK.[1] The robot is open-source, with the hardware design, software and documentation all released under the GPL license. The name is a partial acronym, cub standing for Cognitive Universal Body. Initial funding for the project was €8.5 million from Unit E5 – Cognitive Systems and Robotics – of the European Commission's Seventh Framework Programme, and this ran for sixtyfive months from 1 September 2004 until 31 January 2010.
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Sito ufficiale IIT:
www.iit.it/en/research/departments/icub-facility.html
Official website IIT:
www.iit.it/en/research/departments/icub-facility.html
Wikipedia italiano:
Wikipedia english:
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Picture taken during the Festival of communication in Camogli September 14, 2014
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Please don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit permission. © All rights reserved
You can see my most interesting photo's on flickr: -------> FLICKR click here
You can see my web site as Nikon Photographer Advanced: -------> NPA click here
A photo I have forgotten to post so far, Bow's LT246 carrying a Pepsi wrap last year. This one was quite a dark drive, given that the wrap covered the fixed top and bottom sections of the driver's window. This LT is now a TfL testbed for retrofitted camera mirrors.
Airbus A380-861
MSN 004 [Engine Alliance testbed]
F-WWDD 'VNO'
Airbus S.A.S.
Copyright © 2010 A380spotter. All rights reserved.
MRMS HMT Hydro Experiment
The Multi-Radar Multi-Sensor (MRMS) Hydrometeorology Testbed - Hydro (hereafter denoted as HMT-Hydro) experiment is a part of the United States Weather Research Program (USWRP) through the Hydrometeorology Testbed (HMT) that runs from 25 June to 20 July 2018. During the HMT-Hydro experiment, forecasters and hydrologists from the National Weather Service (NWS) will work with National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) research scientists to assess new technology and techniques to improve the prediction and warning of flash flooding. In particular, NWS participants will evaluate new probabilistic hydrologic modeling concepts and output within the Flooded Locations and Simulated Hydrographs (FLASH) system that could help convey the uncertainty of the flash flood threat. NWS participants will also evaluate high resolution precipitation forecasts from the NSSL Warn-on-Forecast (WoF) project and the addition of these forecasts into the FLASH system. Feedback from participants will allow NSSL research scientists to identify how these precipitation forecasts could influence the warning decision making process, including the potential for increased warning lead time. The HMT-Hydro experiment runs in conjunction with the Flash Flood and Intense Rainfall (FFaIR) experiment at the Weather Prediction Center (WPC) to collaborate on the short-term forecasting of flash flooding for both a national and regional scale.
I created these illustrations for a video that promotes Philadelphia as the perfect testbed for the google high speed fiber initiative. The video will go live on Friday, but I thought I'd get them up ahead of time. To find out more about the public-private partnership in Philly to promote the City of Firsts as a site for this project, please visit gigabitphilly.com And if you have ideas for how Philly could use an ultra high bandwidth data network that connects individuals, industry, and government, please submit your ideas here. You can also show your support by coming to the press conference with Philadelphia Mayor tomorrow (Thursday, March 25) at 2:30 at City Hall on the 2nd floor. A high speed data network in Philly has the potential to accelerate our medical, film production, university, technology, financial services, and community sectors by letting people share massive amounts of data rapidly---that means rich interactivity, problem solving, and communication. Gigabit Philly Videos GigabitPhilly Site GigabitPhilly Facebook Fanpage Follow GigabitPhilly on Twitter Can you imagine Gigabit Philly? ---Jonny Goldstein
At NATC in Sept.-Dec. '59 for carrier suitability trials. Modified by Grumman as NRA-3B with big nose, and assigned to NMC/PMTC until 10/90, then bailed to Hughes. Active as testbed aircraft at Van Nuys Airport. Civil reg # N578HA. Transferred to Whidbey Island NAS for display at Whidbey Memorial. Flew to NAS Whidbey on 4/29/2011.
Airbus A380-861
MSN 004 [Engine Alliance testbed]
F-WWDD 'VNO'
Airbus S.A.S.
Copyright © 2010 A380spotter. All rights reserved.
Airbus A380-861
MSN 004 [Engine Alliance testbed]
F-WWDD 'VNO'
Airbus S.A.S.
Copyright © 2010 A380spotter. All rights reserved.
Nice old flightdeck, without any LCDs. This once was the prototype testbed aircraft and was shown at Paris Le-Bourget airshow as well. However it never managed to get the success and therefore, only few aircraft are still flying worldwide, mainly in Russia.
Airbus A380-861
MSN 004 [Engine Alliance testbed]
F-WWDD 'VNO'
Airbus S.A.S.
Copyright © 2010 A380spotter. All rights reserved.
An EEV testbed on a shakedown flight.
Designer's notes: Inspired by the techniques in this build. I only have enough pieces to build one so it'll end up being an HVA for one of my IO fleets. I just need to build a tender to go along with it.
11/2014 - Altoona, PA
Inside the cab of NS 1000, formerly Conrail Q1, the SD45 engine testbed used at the Juniata Shops. Built 6/1968.
here it is, for real, live and unfaked ;)
the demo shows the current album name (top line) and song name (bottom line) that is being played.
being played by ANOTHER COMPUTER off in another room!
on this box, there is an IR receiver window (left circle) and you can use a sony DVD player remote to skip to the next song, skip backward one song, pause and play songs. all the basics - all via web client URL tricks ;)
the module in the rear is the ethernet 'shield'. that is wired to the main arduino (foreground) via some hacked up ribbon cables.
there is also a quadrature rotary encoder on the right but its not being used for this application.
power is provided by the usb connector on the left. that jack is also used for programming the arduino.
if you have the 'mpd' daemon running on your system and install my patched scripts then this MPDmaster box of mine can do some simple control over the network (10/100 ethernet).
...and, yes, that ethernet board *is* sitting on a roll of electrical tape. makes a fine insulator, in more ways than one (lol).
Airbus A380-861
MSN 004 [Engine Alliance testbed]
F-WWDD 'VNO'
Airbus S.A.S.
Copyright © 2010 A380spotter. All rights reserved.
Honeywell International Inc. Boeing Testbed 757-200 N757HW S/n 22194 LN:5
The third engine pylon seen above the upper half of the right side of the fuselage is what is used for testing Honeywell's 20 different TFE731 turbofan models in real time flight test evaluations.
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Thank you Ned Harris for this 757 TIA landing information today.
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© Paul Larson
C/n 01 the testbed for SAAB 35 Draken. The wing was about 70 % of the size of the projected aircraft. Built in 1951 as 210A marked Swedish Air Force U, in 1952/1953 modified to 210B. Draken = the kite. When SAAB 35 was introduced it took over the name Draken, and SAAB 210 was renamed Lilldraken (The small kite). In Flygvapenmuseum - Swedish Air Force Museum in Malmslätt outside Linköping, Sweden 27. July 2007.
In 1951, North American proposed to the USAF a supersonic fighter based roughly on the F-86 Sabre. The USAF ordered two prototypes, designated YF-100 Super Sabre--the first of the legendary "Century Series" of American fighters. The prototypes first flew in 1953, ahead of schedule, and performance was as advertised--the YF-100 became the first fighter to achieve supersonic speed in level flight. (At least the first Western fighter--the Soviet Sukhoi Su-7 made the same achievement about the same time.) The USAF ordered it into production as the F-100A in 1954.
Almost immediately, however, the F-100 ran into problems. It was very unstable, subject to sudden rolls and stalls, especially at low speeds. This became known as the "Sabre Dance," and was so prevalent that it led to the premature retirement of the F-100A only three years after it became operational. Modifications were made, primarily a larger tail, and this cured much of the instability issues. It resulted in the much improved F-100C/D series, the latter intended for the tactical fighter-bomber role.
Because of their high speed, cannon armament and wide variety of underwing stores, F-100C/Ds were some of the earliest fighters committed to the Vietnam War. These were used almost always over South Vietnam to support ground troops, though in the first months of Operation Rolling Thunder, they were used over the North as well. A F-100D was credited with the first aerial kill of the Vietnam War in 1965, but they were withdrawn south as North Vietnamese defenses became more advanced. F-100s proved superb in the support role, and were popular with their crews, though the nickname "Hun"--short for One Hundred--could also be attributed to its still-squirrely flying characteristics.
By the end of the Vietnam War, most F-100s were relegated to Air National Guard units (a number of F-100-equipped ANG units served in Vietnam), where they would finally be phased out in 1979. Denmark, France, Turkey, and Taiwan would also use F-100s, with the last leaving Danish service in 1982 in favor of the F-16. Many remain in museums, and a few are flyable.
Usually finding information about F-100s is fairly easy, but 55-3503 has proven to be very elusive. Not much can be found about this aircraft online, but what can be found is rather interesting. In 1965, as the Vietnam War began to intensify, the USAF commissioned Project Pave Arrow--some of the research into precision-guided weapons. To test the feasibility of laser-guided bombs, four F-100Ds and two O-2A Skymasters were seconded to Pave Arrow. The F-100s carried M117 bombs equipped with laser seekers, while the observer in the O-2 used a water-cooled laser to mark the target.
Pave Arrow was less than successful--the lasers kept getting fogged up over the humid Florida ranges--but it was an important step forward in the development of precision weapons, and later experiments would solve the problems with the laser. 55-3503 was one of the F-100s that served with Pave Arrow. It may have been retired soon after that, or may have been sent to Vietnam; again, very little information exists about this aircraft.
55-3503 was almost certainly retired in the early 1970s, and eventually ended up at the Pueblo Weisbrod Museum. It was painted as a Thunderbird aircraft and kept inside, but was repainted in Southeast Asia camouflage as an aircraft of the 31st Tactical Fighter Wing at Phan Rang, South Vietnam (which 55-3503 may have served with). A PACAF badge is carried on the upper tail. Many F-100s on public display have their pitot booms removed (to avoid tourists and photographers like me from impaling themselves), but 55-3503 still has its boom, though it's folded up.
USN XF4D-1 Skyray BuNo 124587 record setting Skyray, aka Ford, with a world speed record flight of 752.944 mph on 03 October 1953. Transferred to GE Flight Test at Edwards AFB in July 1955 where it served as the J-79 and CJ-805 testbed & returned to the US Navy in May 1960.
N356AS at Victorville after a ferry flight from Roswell, NM. From what I can find online, this jet will become an engine testbed for General Electric.
Underneath the Boeing's tail you can see one of the DC-10 fire fighting aircraft that is based at Victorville.
Moscow Zhukovesky (Ramenskaye) - UUBW
August 2001.
Gromov Research Institute,
Bort 05,
Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker
Testbed for flight controls, as indicated on the fuselage.
This 1970 Boeing 747-100 (ex-Pan Am) is the aircraft used by General Electric to test their jet engines. The #3 engine is replaced with whatever engine is being tested. The aircraft is stored and maintained here in Victorville.
With the crazy Rodenstock XR-Heligon 100mm F/1.5
A lens that was used to project an X-ray image onto a cathode TV tube.
From left to right: Meyer-Goerlitz M42 100mm F/2.8 (awesome lens), Olympus 12-50 (good) and the Rodenstock XR-Heligon 100mm F/1.5
Photo taken with the Primax 35mm F/3.5 M42 lens on the Olympus E-M10.
20084 on the testbeds at Crewe Works 24.4.85 - the loco had been fitted with experimental extended range fuel tanks (scanned print)
Copyright Kevin Whitehurst - no unauthorised use
Dassault Falcon 20--Permann Collection Image--Please tag these photos so information can be recorded.---Note: This material may be protected by Copyright Law (Title 17 U.S.C.)--Repository: San Diego Air and Space Museum
Jaguar Cars Ltd., better known simply as Jaguar is a British luxury car manufacturer, headquartered in Coventry, England. It has been a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Indian company Tata Motors Ltd. since March 2008 and is operated as part of the Jaguar Land Rover business.
Jaguar was founded as the Swallow Sidecar Company by Sir William Lyons in 1922, originally making motorcycle sidecars before switching to passenger cars. The name was changed to Jaguar after World War II due to the unfavourable connotations of the SS initials.
The Jaguar XK120 is a sports car which was manufactured by Jaguar between 1948 and 1954. Jaguar's first post-war sports car, it succeeded the SS 100, which ceased production in 1940.
The XK120 was launched in roadster form at the 1948 London Motor Show as a testbed and show car for the new Jaguar XK engine. It caused a sensation, which persuaded William Lyons to put it into production.
The "120" in its name referred to its 120 mph (193 km/h) top speed (faster with the windscreen removed), which made the XK120 the world's fastest standard production car at the time of its launch.[3].
It was available in two convertible versions — first as the roadster (designated OTS, for open two-seater, in America), then also as a drophead coupé, or DHC, from 1953 — and as a closed, or "fixed-head" coupé (FHC) from 1951. The DHC was a more deluxe model, featuring a beautiful wood dashboard and wood features on the door interiors.
The roadster version was successful in racing.
The first 242 cars, all roadsters hand-built between late 1948 and early 1950, had aluminium bodies on ash frames. To meet demand it was necessary for the mass-production versions, beginning with the 1950 model year, to have pressed-steel bodies. They retained aluminium doors, bonnet, and boot lid.
With alloy cylinder head and twin side draft SU carburetors, the dual overhead-cam 3.4 L straight-6 XK engine was comparatively advanced for a mass-produced unit of the time. With standard 8:1 compression ratio it developed 160 bhp (119 kW). [2] A 7:1 low compression version was also available to cope with low quality fuel. This same basic design of the XK engine, later modified into 3.8L and 4.2L versions, survived into the late 1980s.
All XK120s had independent torsion bar front suspension, semi-elliptic leaf springs at the rear, recirculating-ball steering, telescopically adjustable steering column, and all-round drum brakes that were prone to fade. Some cars were fitted with Alfin brake drums to help overcome this brake fade.
The roadster's lightweight canvas top and detachable sidescreens stowed out of sight behind the seats, and its barchetta-style doors had no external handles; instead there was an interior pull-cord which was accessible through a flap in the sidescreens when the weather equipment was in place. The windscreen could be removed for aeroscreens to be fitted.
The drophead coupé had a padded canvas top, which folded onto the rear deck behind the seats when not in use, and roll-up windows. The windscreen was fixed. Dashboards and door caps in both the FHC and DHC were wood-veneered, whereas the roadster's were leather-trimmed. All models had removable spats ("fender skirts" in America) covering the rear wheel arches, which enhanced the streamlined look. On cars fitted with optional centre-lock wire wheels (available from 1951), the spats were omitted as they gave insufficient clearance for the two-eared Rudge-Whitworth knockoff hubs.
In addition to wire wheels, upgrades on the Special Equipment, or SE, version (called the M version in the United States) included increased power, stiffer suspension and dual exhaust system.
Out of this world public domain images from NASA. All original images and many more can be found from the NASA Image Library
Curated higher resolutions with digital enhancement without attribution required can be downloaded: www.rawpixel.com/board/418580/nasa
This is a free download under CC Attribution ( CC BY 4.0) Please credit NASA and rawpixel.com.
Boeing - House Demo
Scale 1-200 model
Boeing B757-200
Registration - Aircraft type - Configuration - Engines - Status:
N1789B (MSN 25495/599) - Boeing 757-23A - 2x PW PW2040
N1790P (MSN 26436/587) - Boeing 757-230 - 2x PW PW2040 - Stored at DME 2006
N1795B (MSN 29380/836) - Boeing 757-2Q8 - 2x PW PW2040
N3502P (MSN 25054/362) - Boeing 757-236 - 2x RR RB211-535E4
N3519M (MSN 26160/555) - Boeing 757-2Y0 - 2x RR RB211-535E4 - Stored
N368T (MSN 26375) - Boeing 757-2T4 - Not taken up - Not Built - Registered per FAA but aircraft (presumably) never built
N5573L (MSN 29591/852) - Boeing 757-223 - 2x RR RB211-535E4B - wfu and std at ROW Roswell Industrial Air Center (ROW / KROW) 28 Sep 2017
N6046P (MSN 29305/894) - Boeing 757-22L - 2x RR RB211-535E4 - Stored
N6066Z (MSN 30061/886) - Boeing 757-23P - 2x PW PW2037
N747BJ (MSN 22209/40) - Boeing 757-225 - 2x RR RB211-535E4
N757A (MSN 22212/1) - Boeing 757-200 - Testbed - 2x RR RB211-535C - 2x PW PW2037
N757ET (MSN 24627/263) - Boeing 757-222 - C24Y158 - 2x PW PW2040 - Broken up Sep 2015 at MWH - Scrapped
Flat black display stand - Original box - Old decals
Airline Color Scheme - Introduced 1995 ?
IATA: -
ICAO: BOE
Callsign: BOEING
Airline Full Name: The Boeing Company
Country: United States
Fleet Size: 27 Aircraft (+ 11 On Order/Planned)
Brand: CMD
Colors: Black - Blue - Red - Grey - White
Material: Synthetic
Condition: New
Dimensions (cm): Box: 5 x 8 x 31,7 / Model: 19,3 x 24 x 11,5
Weight (g): 124
Boeing 737-683
cn: 28297 / ln: 30
ff: 02-03-1998 N1786B
02-03-1998 N35135 rr Boeing testbed for C of A for the B737-600 series
21-01-1999 SE-DNS SAS "Signe Viking" config CY112
28-07-2001 LN-RRY rr SAS "Signe Viking"
02-2005 Painted in SAS Braathens colours as the first 736, and opf SAS Braathens from 01-04-2005 (allthough AoC change to CNO was officially made 20-04-2006 for LN-RRY ).
01-07-2007 LN-RRY SAS Norge tfd, "Signe Viking", op in SAS Braathens colours,
SAS Norge colour update was not before 12-2008 (!)
01-10-2009 Scandinavian Airlines - SAS tfd, "Signe Viking" config CY120
Again: LN-RRY did not get updated to std SAS colours before 2013 (!)
07-08-2019 wfu and std ENGM/OSL, after 20,5 years in SAS service
27-08-2019 Departed ENGM/OSL at 13:20 pm as SK9121 to St. Athan EGSY/DGX for part-out and scrap
These were used for barrier tests at Edwards. One of them was also a testbed for the GE TF-39 engine, later used on Lockheed C-5 Galaxy aircraft. One TF-39 replaced 2 of the J57 turbojets. Note that Rogers Dry Lake isn't dry in the winter. The B-52s are just at the southern tip of the lake.
Airbus A380-861
MSN 004 [Engine Alliance testbed]
F-WWDD 'VNO'
Airbus S.A.S.
Copyright © 2010 A380spotter. All rights reserved.
The fourth of the 1950s era “Century Series,” the F-104 Starfighter was designed around one single element: speed. Clarence “Kelly” Johnson, head of Lockheed’s famous “Skunk Works” factory, had interviewed US Air Force pilots during the Korean War, seeking their input on any new fighter. Since the pilots reported that they wanted high performance more than anything else, Johnson returned to the United States determined to deliver exactly that: a simple, point-defense interceptor marrying the lightest airframe to the most powerful engine then available, the superb General Electric J79.
When Johnson offered the L-098 design to the USAF in 1952, the service was so impressed that they created an entire competition for the aircraft to be accepted, ostensibly as a F-100 Super Sabre replacement. The Lockheed design had the clear edge, though both North American’s and Northrop’s design went on to be built themselves—the North American F-107A Ultra Sabre and the Northrop T-38 Talon. The USAF purchased the L-098 as the F-104A Starfighter. The design changed very little from initial design to prototype to operational aircraft, which was done in the astonishing time of two years.
When the first F-104As reached the USAF in 1958, pilots quickly found that it was indeed a hot fighter—too hot. The Starfighter’s design philosophy of speed above all else resulted in an aircraft with a long fuselage, T-tail for stability, and small wings, which were so thin that special guards had to be put on the leading edges to avoid injuring ground personnel. Because of its small wing, the F-104 required a lot of runway, and blown flaps (which vents airflow from the engine over the flaps to increase lift) were a necessity; unfortunately, the airflow system often failed, which meant that the F-104 pilot would be coming in at a dangerous rate of speed. Because it was feared that a pilot who ejected from a F-104 would never clear the tail, a downward-ejection seat was fitted, but after killing over 20 pilots, the seat was retrofitted with a more reliable, upward-firing type. The design also was not very maneuverable in the horizontal, though it was difficult to match in the vertical. Its shape earned it the moniker “Missile With a Man In It” and “Zipper.”
One thing pilots did not complain about was its speed—the listed top speed of the F-104 was Mach 2.2, but this was because above that the fuselage would melt. The J79 was a near flawless engine that gave the Starfighter an excellent thrust-to-weight ratio; uniquely, the intake design of the Starfighter gave the engine a bansheelike wail. So superb was the F-104 at level speed and climbing that NASA leased several as trainers for the X-15 program, and in setting a number of speed and time-to-climb records.
If the F-104 had gotten a mixed reception at best in the USAF, Lockheed felt that it had potential as an export aircraft. Beating out several excellent British and other American designs in a 1961 competition, every NATO nation except France and Great Britain bought F-104s and manufactured their own as the F-104G; Japan also license-built Starfighters as F-104Js, while still more were supplied to Pakistan and Taiwan. Just as in USAF service, accident rates were incredibly high, particularly in West German and Canadian service—Germany lost 30 percent of its initial batch, and the Canadians over half. Worries that the F-104 was too “hot” for pilots usually transitioning from the F-86 were ignored, and later it was learned why: German, Dutch, and Japanese politicians later admitted to being bribed by Lockheed into buying the Starfighter.
Its high accident rate earned such nicknames as “Widowmaker,” “Flying Coffin,” and “Ground Nail.” Pakistani pilots simply called it Badmash (“Criminal”) and the Japanese Eiko (“Glory,” inferring that it was the easiest way to reach it). German pilots joked that the quickest way to obtain a F-104 was to buy a patch of land and wait.
Nonetheless, once pilots learned how to tame the beast, the accident rates eased somewhat, and NATO pilots discovered that the Starfighter excelled as a low-level attack aircraft: fitted with bomb racks, the F-104 was remarkably stable at low altitude and high speed, and Luftwaffe pilots in particular found that they could sneak up on a target, launch a simulated attack, and be gone before ground defenses could react. The Italians in particular loved the F-104, building their own as the F-104S: these aircraft were equipped with multimode radar and armed with AIM-7 Sparrow and Aspide radar-guided missiles, making them a superb interceptor. Though most NATO nations reequipped their F-104 units with F-16s, F-18s, or Tornados beginning in 1980, the Italian F-104S fleet was continually upgraded and soldiered on until final retirement in 2004. 2578 F-104s were built, mostly F-104Gs; today over 150 survive in museums, with at least ten flyable examples, making it one of the best preserved of the Century Series.
An early F-104, 56-0755 was assigned to the Air Force Flight Test Center (AFFTC) at Edwards AFB, California for its entire career. Initially, it was used as a JF-104A testbed before becoming a chase plane for both USAF and NASA projects, including the X-15 and XB-70 Valkyrie. It was retired in the early 1970s and eventually made its way to the March Air Museum. It is painted in aluminum paint to simulate bare metal, and does a fine job of doing so, retaining the markings 56-0755 wore with AFFTC.
Taxing out from a gas-n-go at the TX ANG 111th RS for a long night of weapons payload stability testing over the Gulf of Mexico with Emirates Air Force F-16F Block 60 #00-6056. 848 is frequently used as the company testbed for new systems and also as a chase plane.