ost (Ditch) wrote:

Certainly the F-104 was an aeronautical marvel. It was an incredible
achievement. But give me an F-22 (or for that matter, an F-15, or -16)
and I'll promise to mort the Zipper long before the merge--even before
he knows there is going to be a merge.

This reminds me of my good friend who was flying F-15's at the time out of
Eglin. He was thinking of applying for an exchange tour with the Italians to
fly F-104s, which we both agree is about one of the coolest things built.
I was encouraging him to go for it but then he brought up a good point...he
goes "John, I would kill to fly a -104, but I sure as hell wouldn't want to
take one into combat these days!"


-John
*You are nothing until you have flown a Douglas, Lockheed, Grumman or North
American*

Last things first, I guess I'm "nothing," but I got a lot of hours.

Then, your friend characterizes what we used to refer to as an "Ego
Driver"--someone filled with the hubris of flying a pretty good
airplane who erroneously considers it superior to everything else.

If he had checked more closely (maybe he did, but I doubt it,) he
would have found out that the Italians produced and flew the "S" model
which had added AIM-7 capability to an already excellent interceptor
with great gun and all-aspect AIM-9. A pretty good airplane and, like
most, one which needs to be flown in its own best corner of the
P-sub-s charts. It wouldn't have been a bad airplane at all to take
into combat, and it would have been even more formidable if he went
with those Italian pilots who typically had a couple of thousand hours
in type and who had flown with each other for a decade.

Conversely, I determined, somewhat late in my career, that the
challenge of air combat was one that made it worthwhile in almost any
type of reasonable equipment. I guess that left me leaning a bit
toward mercenaryism.


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (ret)
***"When Thunder Rolled:
*** An F-105 Pilot Over N. Vietnam"
*** from Smithsonian Books
ISBN: 1588341038