Mentions of zoom climbs always put me in mind of the NF-104 AeroSpace Trainer. Basically a modified F-104A with an additional rocket motor, reaction control system for exo-atmospheric flight and aircraft system mods to cope with the profile....
The initial climb was at 450KIAS/M0.86 to FL310, then a climbing turn was flown onto the zoom heading, before accelerating at FL350 to M1.9 in full A/B, whereupon the rocket motor was ignited. On reaching M2.15, a +3.5G pull up was flown to 70° n-u, holding the attitude until 16° AoA was reached with minimum pitch rates. At some stage in the climb, the J-79 was throttled back to stay within limits, then shut down at around 85000ft. Zero roll and yaw was essential, initially with aerodynamic control, converting to reaction control somewhere above 110000ft. As the top of the zoom was reached, the tail trim was reset and the aircraft was pitched over to 140° n-d, the speedbrakes were extended and the IAS allowed to build until a re-light could be attempted....
Pilots reached around 120000ft flying this hugely demanding profile - until big head Yeager tried it, screwed up and eventually had to punch out. He tried blaming everyone except himself, but it was clear that he never managed to achieve the +3.5G pull to 70° n-u correctly and failed to reset the tail trim....
