I have heard there were a couble of reasons pilots didn’t like the 104
A. With out power it had the glide ratio of a lawn dart
B. If you ejected in the downward ejection seat below 1000 ft agl, you and the seat would reach the ground long before the chute deployed.
By the way, your radio procedure leaves something to be desired. Would get you reamed (talked to?) in any Army unit I know of. “Over” means I have finished my message and am waiting for a reply and “Out” means I have finished my message and don’t want to hear any more from you. One of the best (and funniest) "talking to’s I ever witnessed came because of the “improper use of radio procedure”. Early one evening all the commanders were at the TOC for a meeting and our Ops Sgt got on the radio and sent “All stations this net, this is Tango 30, commo check, over”. All the replies came back as per our SOP - “this is (call sign), read you Lima Charlie (loud and clear), out” until the Bn Co’s driver pops up with “This is Sierra Zero Six Alfa - I read you licken chicken, out”. The look on sarge’s face was priceless and when it dawned on him that S06A was parked just out side the door of the TOC it got even better. The sarge spoke with the young troop for a good 20 minutes and didn’t repeat a word or phrase in the entire time. A highly educational experience for all. Laughed about it for days.
You’re right Graham, that is the Reynolds Alberta Museum’s 104.
Its in the special paint sceme for 417 Squadron’s disbandment as the CF-104 training unit at CFB Cold Lake, Alberta in 1982. It was retired and put into storage in that scheme.
All the Canadian CF-104 colour birds are available in aftermarket decal sheets from Leading Edge. Additionally, Leading Edge also made a nice set of resin radar warning recievers for accurately depicting the CF-104s that were stationed in Germany While we still had bases there.
The Luftwaffe made some of what I think were the most spectacular 104 colour birds ever done, some of them were simply jaw dropping.
I think my father in law was used to seeing Hunters, Lighnings, Sabres et al touch down in the right place, so the 104 provided that extra thrill for the ground crews.
If memeory serves me a certain Europen country’s pilots had reputation for doing this on a regular basis.
Proper radio proceedure? While waiting in line for take-off the following was heard.
Tower: Tango Romeo 972 are you ready for take-off?
TR-972: Give me the word and I’ll fly like a bird.
Tower: You have my consent to leave the cement.
As an addition, re the 104, it initially had a downward ejection sequence, and yes the pilots were not happy with it. As the Zero-Zero ejection seat evolved the 104 was changed to the uppward ejection.
Like any aircraft, it went through an evolution, and changes were made to correct its less desirable characteristics. Yes, it had zero glide ratio, and had to be flow to the ground, but it was not intended to be a glider!
Most great fighter aircraft have a VERY narrow envelope of stability. If it were not for the “fly-by-wire” computer making thousands of corrections per minute, the F-117 and other modern aircraft woud be disasters.
Oh well, every aircraft has its pluses and minuses. rangerj