Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!cbnews!military From: shafer@skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: F-104 Ejection Seats and Other Trivia Message-ID: <1990Aug18.182728.24742@cbnews.att.com> Date: 18 Aug 90 18:27:28 GMT Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker) Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Lines: 44 Approved: military@att.att.com From: Mary Shafer The F-104 was originally built with downward firing ejection seats. The reason was that in the 50s, when it was designed, the ejection seats didn't have enough acceleration to ensure that the pilot would clear the T-tail. Leaping out of the cockpit to be struck by the tail wasn't much of a bargain. This same lack of thrust is why 50s aircraft didn't, as a rule, have zero-zero seats. Of course, the capability was added as soon as available. Sometime in the early 60s (pilots' memories vary on the precise year) the F-104 was converted to upward firing ejection seats. All existing planes were modified and new ones were built with these seats, since more powerful pyros had been developed and smacking into the tail was no longer so probable. Ivan Kinchloe, a test pilot's test pilot, was killed when he ejected from his USAF F-104 on takeoff here at Edwards. The Society of Experimental Test Pilots gives the Kinchloe award every year as sort of a "test pilot of the year" award. Our F-104Ns were modified at McClellan AFB, near Sacramento, CA, since that was the F-104 depot maintainence base. The story connected with this is about the last of ours to be modified (this plane is now hanging in the National Air & Space Museum, BTW). The modification was originally scheduled for early winter, but McClellan was so foggy (the infamous tule fog) that it was closed for landings for almost three months. 89 days to be precise. On the 90th day the plane would have been grounded and we would have been unable to fly it without a waiver. Everyone took this modification really seriously. Everyone talks about the F-104 in the past tense, but we're still flying two of them in research projects. Don't say the F-104 _had_, say it _has_ or you'll make me nervous. :-) They're also still being flown by a number of foreign air forces. -- Mary Shafer shafer@skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov ames!skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov!shafer NASA Ames Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, CA Of course I don't speak for NASA "A MiG at your six is better than no MiG at all"--Unknown US fighter pilot