Re: Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters: Major Internet Win

[mimus]

On Mar 27, 10:35 am, happy zombie jebus
<meow.mix@FUCK_OFF_SPAMMER_meow.org> wrote:

> On Wed, 27 Mar 2013 06:34:19 -0700 (PDT), mimus <mimu...@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > On Mar 26, 6:37 pm, happy zombie jebus
> > <meow.mix@FUCK_OFF_SPAMMER_meow.org> wrote:
>
> >> On Tue, 26 Mar 2013 14:34:06 -0700 (PDT), mimus <mimu...@gmail.com>
> >> wrote:
>
> >> > From the dimly-remembered line, from more than thirty years ago, "I
> >> > focused the magnifying glass/That caused the downfall of Icarus" to
>
> >> > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1AbEFosgtE
>
> >> > in less than a minute:
>
> >> > Fucking awesome.
>
> >> i really am enjoying this mimus. thanks for posting the link.
>
> > I really like "The Song of the Gremlin (parts one and two)" best, but
> > it's a cool release overall:
>
> if i get the chance later on i'm going to plya it again. the track
> about the eye liner is the first track i heard by them, that's the one
> my mate put on the bizare mix tape he made for me.
>
> > Sort of a left-handed Hawkwind release.
>
> i don't know enough to comment.

I've passed it along to some-a the loonier Twitter Anonymous troll-y
types (UGNazi types).

LOL

--

Anything to hurt.

[mimus]

> Anything to hurt.

Triple-Whammy: Told a friend last night about this, and he immediately
started rambling about the Starfighter scandal, wot it turns out was
actually real, the Starfighter being an interceptor which flew well
high and fast but wasn't so good at landing . . . .

I always thought the whole thing was a creation of Calvert's deeply-
disturbed imagination.

Well, at least that makes the word "satirical" in the YT description a
little more closely applicable.

--

Live and learn. If only forty years later.

[mimus]

> Live and learn. If only forty years later.

"The Starfighter had excellent acceleration, rate of climb and
potential top speed, but its sustained turn performance was
poor . . . . It was sensitive to control input, and extremely
unforgiving to pilot error . . . .

"Early Starfighters used a downward-firing ejection seat (the Stanley
C-1), out of concern over the ability of an upward-firing seat to
clear the 'T-tail' empennage. This presented obvious problems in low-
altitude escapes, and some 21 USAF pilots failed to escape their
stricken aircraft in low-level emergencies because of it . . . .

"After just three months of service, the unit was grounded after a
series of engine-related accidents . . . .

"The USAF was less than satisfied with the Starfighter and procured
only 296 [21 craft--7%--at least lost!] . . . .

"The last use of the Starfighter in U.S. markings was training German
pilots for the German Air Force, with a wing of TF-104Gs and F-104Gs
based at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona. Although operated in USAF
markings, these aircraft (which included German-built aircraft) were
owned by Germany. They continued in use until 1983 . . . .

"During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, two F-104As were lost in
combat against the IAF Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21s. One of the F-104s,
flown by Wing Commander Middlecoat, was shot down over the Gulf of
Kutch, who successfully ejected over shark-infested waters, but was
never found . . . .

"At the same time that the F-104 was falling out of U.S. favor, the
German Air Force was looking for a foreign-designed multi-role combat
aircraft to operate in support of a missile defense system. The
Starfighter was presented and reworked to convert it from a fair-
weather fighter into an all-weather ground-attack, reconnaissance and
interceptor aircraft, as the F-104G. This was chosen over the English
Electric Lightning, Grumman F11F Super Tiger and Northrop N-156.[32]
The aircraft found a new market with other NATO countries, and
eventually a total of 2,578 of all variants of the F-104 were built in
the U.S. and abroad for various nations. Several countries received
their aircraft under the U.S.-funded Military Aid Program (MAP). The
American engine was retained but built under license in Europe, Canada
and Japan. The Lockheed ejector seats were retained initially but were
replaced later in some countries by the safer Martin-Baker zero-zero
ejection seat.

"The so-called 'Deal of the Century' produced substantial income for
Lockheed. However, the resulting Lockheed bribery scandals caused
considerable political controversy in Europe and Japan. In Germany,
the Minister of Defence Franz Josef Strauss was accused of having
received at least US$10 million for West Germany's purchase of the
F-104 Starfighter in 1961.[33] Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands
later confessed to having received more than US$1 million in bribes.
In the 1970s it was revealed that Lockheed had engaged in an extensive
campaign of bribery of foreign officials to obtain sales . . . ."

"High engine power had to be maintained on the final approach to
ensure adequate airflow for the BLC (Boundary Layer Control) system;
consequently pilots were warned not to cut the throttle until the
aircraft was actually on the ground . . . .

"The safety record of the F-104 Starfighter became high-profile news,
especially in Germany, in the mid-1960s. In West Germany it came to be
nicknamed Witwenmacher ('The Widowmaker'). Some operators lost a large
proportion of their aircraft through accidents, although the accident
rate varied widely depending on the user and operating conditions; the
German Air Force lost about 30% of aircraft in accidents over its
operating career, and Canada lost over 50% of its F-104s . . . .

"The introduction of a highly technical aircraft type to a newly
reformed air force was fraught with problems. Many pilots and ground
crew had settled into civilian jobs after World War II and had not
kept pace with developments, with pilots being sent on short
"refresher" courses in slow and benign-handling first generation jet
aircraft . . . . Operating in poor North West European weather
conditions (vastly unlike the fair weather training conditions at Luke
AFB in Arizona) and flying at high speed and low level over hilly
terrain, a great many accidents were attributed to controlled flight
into terrain or water, (CFIT). German Air Force losses totaled 110
pilots . . . .

"In 1966 Johannes Steinhoff took over command of the Luftwaffe and
grounded the entire F-104 fleet until he was satisfied that problems
had been resolved or at least reduced. In later years, the German
safety record improved, although a new problem of structural failure
of the wings emerged . . . . Erich Hartmann, the world's top-scoring
fighter ace, commanded one of Germany's first jet fighter-equipped
squadrons and deemed the F-104 to be an unsafe aircraft with poor
handling characteristics for aerial combat. To the dismay of his
superiors, Hartmann judged the fighter unfit for Luftwaffe use even
before its introduction . . . ."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_F-104_Starfighter

Holy. Fuck.

I like the phrase "benign-handling", as opposed, I guess, to "malign-
handling".

--

"Ready for last-minute cockpit check . . . ."

[happy zombie jebus]

On Wed, 27 Mar 2013 12:40:35 -0700 (PDT), mimus <mim...@gmail.com>
wrote:

i ended up dling the viking lp he did yesterday. i've not had the
chance to check it out. i'll try and do that later on.


--

mhm x v i x i i i

[happy zombie jebus]

On Thu, 28 Mar 2013 05:54:34 -0700 (PDT), mimus <mim...@gmail.com>
wrote:

its funny, i knew that and thought you did too.

>I always thought the whole thing was a creation of Calvert's deeply-
>disturbed imagination.

i'd not have called it disturbed, more along the lines of free from
social constraints.

>Well, at least that makes the word "satirical" in the YT description a
>little more closely applicable.

i picture the lp being done as a cartoon, a very off the wall one.