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MR_BURNS2 -> RE: Great short documentary on modern Luftwaffe, 1975 (2/14/2015 5:48:43 AM)
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ORIGINAL: DirtyFred
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ORIGINAL: comsubpac
yeah, we did put everything on them. even nukes... That and the "we don't need training" attitude did kill a lot of pilots.
im sorry that is not entirely correct - german luftwaffe training was not the issue - the f-104g starfighter was a "widow maker" - the german government purchased this obsolete 2-Mach-Rocket - 916 of them (30 F-104F, 137 TF-104G, und 749 RF/F-104G) - 292 went down - 116 pilots dead (108 germen and 8 american pilots).
the F-104 was reworked to convert it from a fair-weather fighter into an all-weather ground-attack, reconnaissance, and interceptor aircraft, as the F-104G. instead of using it as an high-speed, high-altitude fighter/interceptor the german Luftwaffe used the F-104G as fighter-bomber, recon, close air support, nuclear bomber. flying at high speed and low level over hilly terrain, a great many accidents were attributed to controlled flight into terrain or water.
Some former Starfighter pilots wouldn't quite agree with that, inadequate training was the major issue, though not the only one.
Günther Jostens´s biography gives some interesting insights into the problems.
That very same Starfighter worked much better for better equipped and trained Dutch pilots, german pilots on exchange with the dutch air force could see that for themselves.
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