Lockheed NF-104A Aerospace Trainer from the early 1960s

Posted by Aeromarine_eng@reddit | WeirdWings | View on Reddit | 18 comments

The NF-104A, a modification of the basic Lockheed F-104A Starfighter with rocket engine and reaction controls.

https://www.wpafb.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/2854337/flashback-lockheed-nf-104a-aerospace-trainer/

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Icy_Huckleberry_8049@reddit

I met a guy that actually flew these and he told me some of his stories on flying them.

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Icy_Huckleberry_8049@reddit

yea, the stores he told were incredible and AMAZING

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David_Buzzard@reddit

The Canadian airforce operated CF-104 for 12 years and had 112 'class A' crashes where the aircraft was totalled, killing 37 pilots. I don't think anybody could fly the plane.

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Tasty-Fox9030@reddit

"Is that a man?" ... "You're damn right it is!"

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Peter_Merlin@reddit

That quote from The Right Stuff is precisely what I was thinking of when I took this picture of Yeager.

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This is a very, very long read about the NF-104. I've linked to what seems to be the first page dealing with Chuck Yeager and his inability to fly that airplane properly, which progresses to his infamous bailout, and his efforts to shift blame to everyone else, and the end of the program. There are many pages prior to this.

http://www.kalimera.org/nf104/stories/stories_11.html

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xerberos@reddit

Yeager also had major difficulties understanding several technical aspects of the X-1. He had to sit with Bob Hoover, who tried to explain them to him.

He was by all accounts a great stick man, but apparently totally incapable of grasping complicated engineering systems. This is why NASA didn't select him as an astronaut, and Yeager was always pissed about that. He was famous for harassing astronauts at Edwards AFB.

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Aeromarine_eng@reddit (OP)

NASA required a bachelor's degree or equivalent. Early Astronauts had engineering degrees in addition to military test pilot experience. Chuck Yeager never attended college

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