TRIBUTE TO AN OLD FRIEND

2256Q

2256Q

Line Up and Wait
Joined
Jun 21, 2008
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Houston, Texas
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Display name:
RayK
F-104
0830150.jpg

YESTERDAY
​
LONG AGO WE WERE YOUNG. PEOPLE SAID YOU WERE SLEEK AND BEAUTIFUL, THAT I WAS HANDSOME AND DASHING. WE CLIMBED THROUGH THE SKIES TOGETHER, LAUGHING FOR THE SHEER JOY OF LIVING AS WE RACED THE SUN. WE SOARED TWENTY MILES ABOVE THE EARTH AND CAME DOWN FROM OUR LOFTY PERCH AT TWO THOUSAND MILES AN HOUR. WE CONFRONTED THE RUSSIAN BEAR, YOU AND I, AND WE NEITHER ASKED NOR GAVE QUARTER.


NOW THE YEARS HAVE FLOWN BY. YOUR PAINT IS CHIPPED AND ROUGHENED, YOUR GLASS DISCOLORED. MY SKIN IS WRINKLED, MY HAIR GRAY. WE ARE BUT SHADOWS OF OUR FORMER GLORY AND IN THIS LIFE WILL NEVER FLY TOGETHER AGAIN. BUT OUR HEARTS WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER THE ENEMIE'S FEAR AND THE THUNDER WE LEFT IN OUR WAKE. SLEEP IN PEACE, OLD FRIEND. VALHALLA AWAITS US.
 
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Ray -- One of the strangest experiences of my life was walking through the TAC museum at Hill AFB in Utah.

All the stuff we worked on and used every day was in a museum.

Wow.
 
It bugs me both planes I worked are now out of service; A-6 and S-3.
 
They were such great craft, too. Maybe we didn't have all the whistles and bells on today's machines, but those we worked with certainly got the job done, and did it well. :yes:
 
2256Q said:
F-104
View attachment 12617

YESTERDAY
​
LONG AGO WE WERE YOUNG. PEOPLE SAID YOU WERE SLEEK AND BEAUTIFUL, THAT I WAS HANDSOME AND DASHING. WE CLIMBED THROUGH THE SKIES TOGETHER, LAUGHING FOR THE SHEER JOY OF LIVING AS WE RACED THE SUN. WE SOARED TWENTY MILES ABOVE THE EARTH AND CAME DOWN FROM OUR LOFTY PERCH AT TWO THOUSAND MILES AN HOUR. WE CONFRONTED THE RUSSIAN BEAR, YOU AND I, AND WE NEITHER ASKED NOR GAVE QUARTER.


NOW THE YEARS HAVE FLOWN BY. YOUR PAINT IS CHIPPED AND ROUGHENED, YOUR GLASS DISCOLORED. MY SKIN IS WRINKLED, MY HAIR GRAY. WE ARE BUT SHADOWS OF OUR FORMER GLORY AND IN THIS LIFE WILL NEVER FLY TOGETHER AGAIN. BUT OUR HEARTS WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER THE ENEMIE'S FEAR AND THE THUNDER WE LEFT IN OUR WAKE. SLEEP IN PEACE, OLD FRIEND. VALHALLA AWAITS US.
Click to expand...

Nice. :)
 
dmccormack said:
Ray -- One of the strangest experiences of my life was walking through the TAC museum at Hill AFB in Utah.

All the stuff we worked on and used every day was in a museum.

Wow.
Click to expand...

I got that same feeling at PIMA in Tucson.
 

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Did it have the warning light "SLOW DOWN" on the panel for hot/melting windshield frame?
2256Q said:
F-104
View attachment 12617


YESTERDAY​


LONG AGO WE WERE YOUNG. PEOPLE SAID YOU WERE SLEEK AND BEAUTIFUL, THAT I WAS HANDSOME AND DASHING. WE CLIMBED THROUGH THE SKIES TOGETHER, LAUGHING FOR THE SHEER JOY OF LIVING AS WE RACED THE SUN. WE SOARED TWENTY MILES ABOVE THE EARTH AND CAME DOWN FROM OUR LOFTY PERCH AT TWO THOUSAND MILES AN HOUR. WE CONFRONTED THE RUSSIAN BEAR, YOU AND I, AND WE NEITHER ASKED NOR GAVE QUARTER.


NOW THE YEARS HAVE FLOWN BY. YOUR PAINT IS CHIPPED AND ROUGHENED, YOUR GLASS DISCOLORED. MY SKIN IS WRINKLED, MY HAIR GRAY. WE ARE BUT SHADOWS OF OUR FORMER GLORY AND IN THIS LIFE WILL NEVER FLY TOGETHER AGAIN. BUT OUR HEARTS WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER THE ENEMIE'S FEAR AND THE THUNDER WE LEFT IN OUR WAKE. SLEEP IN PEACE, OLD FRIEND. VALHALLA AWAITS US.
Click to expand...
 
Anthony said:
The F-104 is still flying!

http://www.starfighters.net/Home_Page.html
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They are a beautiful sight. It's good to see them in the air. I often wonder if my reflexes could still handle one. Sometimes things begin to happen in an awful hurry, and there's really not much time to think about it. You just 'do'.

I've flown a lot of different airplanes over my 47 year career in aviation, and the 104 is hands down the most enjoyable of the bunch. It was the plane that met all the dreams I had as a kid who wanted to fly fighters. Maybe because it was such a small fighter, things seemed to be brighter, the sensations more intense. For example, the 111 had a much higher ROC, but actually seemed slower. The 106 was faster, but the 104 FELT faster. Hard to put into words. Guess the easiest way is to simply say I loved flying them. :yes:
 
bbchien said:
Only two squadrons of my old bird left....
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Bruce, I want to commend you and your fellow Lifeline pilots for the wonderful work you do. Surely this is the ultimate purpose for which our beloved machines were created. I can think of no higher reason for their existence. :cheerswine:
 
dmccormack said:
Ray -- One of the strangest experiences of my life was walking through the TAC museum at Hill AFB in Utah.

All the stuff we worked on and used every day was in a museum.

Wow.
Click to expand...


And I go through the computer displays at the US history museum at the Smithsonian and see stuff I used, and stuff I still have. :eek:
 
Nice one, Ray... it must have been something to fly those beasties. I saw one fly at MacDill a while back and I feel privileged just to have seen it fly.
 
Dave Krall CFII said:
One at Reno one year actually did have the SLOW DOWN light...
Click to expand...

Never saw that one. Don't even remember that from pre-taxi checks. Engine overspeed, but slow down? Oh, well. Long, long time ago.

Afterthought: Ya know, it does vaguely seem like there was a joke about such a light being needed, but...I'm not sure.
 
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