Clarence Johnson! You are a witness in the case of bribing officials of the German Federal Ministry of Defense in order to accept the Starfighter into service with the Luftwaffe. In your testimony, you can only rely on what you yourself have seen and know from your own experience, and not on what you have heard from third parties. Do you understand these explanations?
- Yes, chairman.
As Vice President of Advanced Development at Lockheed, you led the Starfighter project team. Explain to the court your motives for creating such an unusual plane
“We started work on Star Fighter at the height of the Korean War. Unlike the transonic Sabers family, our fighter belonged to a new generation of supersonic aviation, whose speed was more than twice the speed of sound.
The Starfighter was conceived as a high-speed interceptor: a small, lightweight fighter with minimal aerodynamic drag and the highest possible engine power. Catch up with the enemy, plant a deadly cannon volley at him and instantly disappear into the stratosphere. Participation in close air combat initially contradicted the Starfighter concept and was rejected by us as an unnecessary atavism. The main qualities of the new fighter were speed and climb rate. The ideological inspiration was the project of the German jet interceptor "Komet".
How justified was this decision?
- At first everything went well. The F-104 "Starfighter" became the first production fighter to overcome the double speed of sound line. In 1959, he set an absolute world record, climbing to a height of 31 kilometers.
To compensate for the weak bearing characteristics of the wing, I proposed a boundary layer blow-off system: the selection of compressed air from the engine compressor and its supply to the flaps, which sharply increased their efficiency. Despite the high wing loading, the landing characteristics of the Starfighter were no worse than those of other fighters of the time.
The armament included the newest Sidewinder guided missiles with a thermal seeker. Many hopes were pinned on the Vulcan six-barreled cannon with a huge, previously unprecedented rate of fire - 100 rounds per second. Starfighter promised to be an outstanding interceptor …
What are the reasons why "Starfighter" was rejected by the US Air Force
- The abundance of innovative solutions in the design of the Starfighter affected the timing of its testing and development. By 1958, Starfighter was obsolete. Its avionics could not compete with the Phantom avionics.
Ie. Do you in any way associate the loss of interest in your fighter with an unprecedented level of its accident rate?
- The legend of the Starfighter accident is an aviation folklore picked up by sensation-hungry journalists. Most of the production fighters of that time had an accident rate of about 30%. Even much less innovative than Starfighter.
Who was the author of the idea of ejecting a pilot through the lower surface of the fuselage?
- This scheme has many advantages. There is no need for massive headrests and lantern release mechanism. We do not need to "throw" the pilot over the tail unit: the seat becomes lighter, you can install a lower power squib. According to the statements of competent experts, "down" ejection eliminates the danger of compression injuries of the spine for the pilots themselves.
Did you understand what the downward ejection was fraught with in the event of an emergency situation during takeoff or landing?
- This is the inevitable price for the high performance characteristics of the Star Fighter.
Now we must return to the main topic of our conversation. How did Starfighter end up in the Luftwaffe?
- In the late 1950s, the Germans were looking for a universal multipurpose aircraft to perform a wide range of tasks: fighter-interceptor, bomber and attack aircraft in one person, combining simplicity of design and minimal cost of operation. It is worth noting that the listed properties are not in any way contradictory: due to the high thrust of jet engines, the combat load of modern fighters can reach several tons. As a result, each jet fighter, with proper sighting equipment, can duplicate the missions of front-line bombers.
But your company forced the Germans to purchase a very specific "Starfighter" for these purposes
- The German modification of the F-104G was only superficially similar to the original Starfighter. Inside, literally everything has changed: a new, more powerful J-79-GE-19 engine, avionics based on compact semiconductor devices, a multifunctional NASARR F15A-41B radar for detecting air and ground targets. Seven points for suspension of weapons, including universal pylons for suspension of bombs and PTBs. The combat load of the German Starfighters reached 2177 kg. The six-barreled Vulcan cannon with 725 rounds of ammunition reappeared in the nose of the fighter. The ejection system has changed, we have returned to the standard ejection seats and the canopy canopy.
What was the F-104G wing loading at maximum take-off weight?
- 716 kilograms per square meter. Twice as many as those of his peers, but we must not forget about the complex of measures taken (blowing the boundary layer) and other tactics of using the "Starfighter". All this ultimately allowed us to build a balanced machine that fully meets the customer's requirements.
292 German F-104Gs were lost in flight accidents, killing 116 pilots. A third of those built. The prosecution believes that it was the actions of “Lockheed” that led to these terrible disasters. Your company deliberately persuaded our allies to purchase damaged aircraft, which entailed grave consequences
- The F-104G scandal was artificially inflated. For example, the Germans destroyed more than a third of their F-84F Thunderstreaks, but no one attaches much importance to this. The high accident rate is only a consequence of the curvature of the “aces of the Luftwaffe,” whose training was worse than that of the American pilots.
(F-84F is a further development of the F-84 fighter-bomber, which, shortly before the events described, distinguished itself in the skies of Korea, attributing a third of the destruction to its account).
Of course, do you have concrete confirmation of your words?
- Yes, chairman. As of the end of the 60s. the average flight time of the German F-104Gs per accident was 2970 hours, while the American F-104Cs had 5950 hours.
For comparison: the accident rate of Soviet fighters was expressed by approximately the same values: MiG-21 - flight time per accident 4422 hours, MiG-19 - 4474 hours, the absolute anti-record was set by the Su-7, which beat every 2245 hours (a well-known aphorism: the designer Sukhoi, and technician wet). Common aircraft stories of the era.
Remarkable statistics of the Spanish Air Force: not a single lost "Strafighter" for seven years of their operation (out of 20 available fighters). Even taking into account their low intensity of operation, under ideal weather conditions, such a result does not in any way confirm the F-104's reputation as the most emergency fighter.
The accident rate among Starfighters was indeed higher than that of other types of fighters. The F-105 Thunderchief became the record for reliability among the US Air Force fighters (one accident per 10,000 hours), but one must be aware of how different these machines were. A small interceptor "Starfighter", where literally everything was squeezed to achieve the highest dynamics and climb rate. And the super-aircraft of Alexander Kartvelishvili, which became the largest single-engine aircraft in the history of aviation. The takeoff weight of the F-105 was twice that of the Starfighter: as a result, Kartveli had the opportunity to install a powerful engine and achieve acceptable dynamics without compromising wing surface area.
The investigation finds your data convincing. But the main question remains. What was the reason for the choice of the Luftwaffe in favor of the F-104 in the presence of no less strong competitors: the American Super Saber, F-105 Thunderchief, F-5 Freedom Fighter or the French Mirage III?
- Most of the listed fighters in 1958 have not yet gone beyond the flight test centers. Choosing the Super Saber would be a clear step backward - the F-100 was a development of subsonic jet aircraft, its speed was only 30% faster than the speed of sound.
The heavy fighter-bomber "Thunderchief" was clearly beyond the means of the Germans.
The glory of the French Mirage was ahead; at the end of the 50s it was a "pig in a poke". In addition, the very fact of adopting a French aircraft would look like a slap in the face for the Luftwaffe.
Lockheed proposed an already proven fighter that had set three world records (speed / rate of climb / altitude) by that time and a ready-made program for its modernization in accordance with the needs of the Luftwaffe.
The prosecution is protesting. Your F-104 also did not meet the requirements of the Luftwaffe and was not eligible to participate in the competition. You slipped an exotic aircraft to the Allies with a wing loading of 716 kg / sq. m, while they needed a universal machine to solve both fighter and strike missions
- The Germans could not help but know that, due to the limited budget, they would have to make compromises. Lockheed made an offer at a bargain price. Upgraded the aircraft according to the customer's requirements. Equipped Starfighter with the most modern electronic equipment. Has agreed to its licensed production. The terrible figure is 716 kg / sq. m is only valid at max. take-off weight in the bomber version, when maneuverability is not of great importance. Do not forget about the measures taken by those. character and high thrust-to-weight ratio "Starfighter", which allowed him to "slip" dangerous modes without any consequences.
And now with all this, we will try to take off …
At the request of the Luftwaffe, we equipped the F-104 with new ejection seats and a light alarm system that turns on when there is a threat of a spin and other dangerous flight modes. As a result, the "aces of the Luftwaffe" began to jump out of the fighter, at the slightest triggering of the alarm - pay attention to the obvious disproportion: the number of pilots killed is almost three times less than the wrecked Starfighters.
The death of the son of the then president of the Bundestag, Kai-Uwe von Hassel, who crashed on the Starfighter on March 10, 1970, played into the hands of the “yellow press”. The tragedy was cheerfully picked up by journalists and spread around the world as confirmation of the terrible danger posed by the “aluminum coffin”.
Unlike his mythical image of a “widowmaker”, the real “Starfighter” went down in history as another representative of the most romantic era of jet aviation (1950-60). Time for bold searches and bold decisions.
Somewhat contradictory. Not the easiest to manage. In its own way, a beautiful aircraft with outstanding performance characteristics. Its climb rate can be the envy of most modern fighters - 277 m / s!
"Starfighter" was adopted by 15 countries of the world and remained in service for more than 50 years. He took part in hostilities, from which he came out with an equal ratio of victories and defeats.
F-104S Italian Air Force with suspended missiles "Sparrow"
The last Italian F-104ASA was decommissioned only in 2004. As for the Italians, they were impressed by the Starfighter when the test Aeritalia F-104S landed in Rome just 19 minutes 30 seconds after taking off from an air base near Turin. The Italians also defeated 38% of their licensed Starfighters, nevertheless they operated them the longest and modernized them to a very serious level: F-104S interceptors could be equipped with medium-range air-to-air missiles with radar seeker.
Clarence "Kelly" Johnson is a famous American aircraft designer of Swedish origin, head of the Skunk Works Advanced Development Department at Lockheed. Creator of the U-2 and SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft. Colleagues said about him that "this damn Swede can literally see the air."
