I remember them at an RAF Greenham Common RIAT as a 5 ship. 4 in formation aerobatics along the crowd line engaging the crowds full attention whilst the 5th blasted through from behind the crowd; fast and low creating a shock effect!

It was a good display. :D :ok:

The solo aircraft had no externals. I am sure at some point the 5 ship were called the starfighters.

See Post 20

I knew you had a tour on Starfighters Mr Wholigan but a display pilot, wow ! Are there any interesting tales that can be told in public ?

Ahhhhh that bit about the solo aircraft not having tip tanks I was unaware of, but having looked at my photos from 1979, I can just make out that the pic of a solo F104 that I have is without tip tanks, which confirms it was a 5 ship display not 4 as I previously believed.

What a mine of useful information PPRuNe is.

Just for interest, all 5 of our aircraft were clean, no tanks.

Vampire dave, not sure where the report at post 20 came from, but I can assure you the callsign of that team was Deadeye Zips, not Starfighters.

Wholigan
 

No tips??

Must have been a very short display!!

Absolutely not Bomber old mate. A clean 104 actually made fuel instead of using it. 😄

57mm - internal fuel was about 5800 lbs, with tip tanks fuel was about 8000 lbs and with tips and underwings it was about 10500 lbs. Tips and underwings was a pig to fly though.

As a teenager (about 1981) I was on a family holiday in Alsace, France when we stopped at one of the large barge locks on the Rhein south of Karlsruhe.

The balmy summers afternoon peace was broken by a strange noise approaching from the north.

A few seconds later a large formation of 4 diamonds of Canadian F104s (16 aircraft) and a single diamond of T33s (4 aircraft) appeared at about 1500 ft heading south towards Baden-Soellingen which was a few miles south of us.

A wonderful sight and a wonderful noise!

I am guessing it was maybe Families Day at Soellingen.

I remember a 104 and a Phantom trying to get on each others tail at altitude for several minutes near Laarbruch in the 80's. Neither had a terrific turning performance and the Phantom eventually broke off and made a run for it.

I also remember one of our Jags diverting to Baden–Soellingen after a wire strike. We had to change the No.1 engine and the 104 guys were amazed when I declined the offer of chains for the ground run. They didn't realise how little thrust the Adour had compared to the J79.

Wholigan: A Tradition of Excellence: Canada's Airshow Team Heritage Daniel D V Dempsey High Flight Enterprises 2002
417 TAC(F) Training Squadron, CFB Cold Lake, Alberta, CF104
1968 Starfighters (4 a/c)
1969 Starfighters (4 a/c)
1970 Starfighters (4+2)
1971 Starfighters (4+1)
1972 Deadeye Whiskeys (4+1)
1973 Starfighters (4+1)
1974 Deadeye Blacks (4+1)
1975 Starfighters (4+1) Team Image on P.415)
1976 Deadeye Zips (3)
1977 Deadeye Zips / Alberta Arrows (4)
1978 Deadeye Blues (4+1)
1979 Deadeye Zips (4)
1980 Deadeye Zips (4)
1981 No team
1982 Deadeye Zips (2+1)
1983 Closeout Team (4)

Don't shoot the messenger?

Quite right- messenger is safe from shooting. Methinks Dan doesn't quite remember it as well as the person using the callsign for the year. 😄😄

Just to clarify for me if you would be so kind, was it the combination of both tip and underwing that was the issue or just the addition of the underwing tanks that caused the creation of the pork condition?


Thanks. :)

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the Sound of Freedom...."

Biggles78.

Very heavy, lots of interference, tiny wing. I'll be honest, we never flew the aircraft with just underwings but, after all this time, I can't remember if it was even a cleared configuration.

A lot of people who had back seat rides as "guests" came away thinking the 104 was horrible to fly. That was because if you flew the 2 sticker as part of a formation, it needed 4 tanks to have the fuel to complete the normal single stick mission. Consequently it gave the wrong impression about the aircraft.

Slightly off topic, but me thinks this 104 display gimmick was the craziest of them all:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyBDEG9dg-Q

Yep. He eventually died!!!

Everyone does. I assume he died conducting that manoeuvre? Indeed looks pretty cool, but no much room for error...

He died in 1990 in a car crash.....