The-Dude

My old man liked it for some comfort reasons. No need for a travel pod, because you were able to stuff all your luggage inside the compartments there.....

According to my old mans logbooks, he once reached with an F-104F in ISA - condition 35000 fts in 01:32 minutes. This thing was considered a hot rod. With the G-engine in the D- airframe, it performed nearly as good as the Dash-19 A.

It all comes down to the matter of taste. My old man transitioned from the F84 to that bird and later became an IP on it. In service he flew the F, the G and the TF- 104 G with a couple of hundred hours on it. And his IPs all said that the G was flying much better than the A, despite the fact, that it was heavier. Better radar, an Litton LN-3 INS and the Mergenthaler bombing computer was not that bad either, despite beeing replaced by the dual Lear Timers later on. Ground Mapping was first class for those days and the same like in the 105. And the As with the big engine were in service for over 2 years only. Only aircraft frome one particularf unit, the 319 FIS ( 26 airframes) only those received the Dash 19 engine. Not entirely accurate. It was to replace the F 100 in TAC, initially. Due to long testing and construction, the Tactical Air Commandf lost it´s interest in the A. This was due to poor endurance and the lack of stores to hang on. Therefore all the A- Versions were going to the ADC. Acting als Stand In until the F 106 would be operational. The ADC chose the A due to its superb climbing abilities. But Sidewinder only and the gun was reducing this bird to nice weather only. And the low range was the main problem for the A. There are many reasons the USAF has´nt bought the A in large quantities. The C Version was the second try to sell this bird to TAC. Originally 440 were projected, but only 77 deliverd and the rest was cancelled. Then it would be the G......

Reading the article in the news, it looks like it is the late, beefed up version of the A. Day Fighter only.....and not the G. Which is a little bit unfortunate, IMHO We will see, after the Q&A will come out and more details

still not working

AT SAAF they were stationed there together with the Hueys....

So you were based at Stuttgart AAF?