F-104 Star Fighter - Birmingham, AL
Posted by: Groundspeak Premium Member hummerstation
N 33° 33.791 W 086° 44.474
16S E 524018 N 3713754
The F-104 Star Fighter was a high-performance day and night fighter powered by an axial-flow, turbojet engine with afterburner.
Waymark Code: WMEGRE
Location: Alabama, United States
Date Posted: 05/28/2012
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member DougK
Views: 4

F-104A and C are single place aircraft, built by Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, designed to cruise at high subsonic speeds and for combat at high supersonic speeds. Notable features of the aircraft include extremely thin flight surfaces, short straight wings with negative dihedral, irreversible hydraulically powered ailerons, and a controllable horizontal stabilizer. The wings, with leading and trailing edge flaps, have a boundary layer control system which is used in conjunction with the trailing edge flap to reduce landing speeds. A drag chute is installed to reduce the landing distances.

(visit link)

Years ago, back in the days of black and white TV when TV programming went off the air about midnight, every night they played a film of an F-104 in flight with the poem "High Flight" as the audio. Way cool!

“High Flight”

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence.
Hov'ring there, I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never Lark, or even Eagle flew -
And while with silent lifting mind, I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

John Gillespie Magee, Jr.
Type of Aircraft: (make/model): F-104 Star Fighter

Tail Number: (S/N): 56929

Construction:: original aircraft

Location (park, airport, museum, etc.): Southeast corner of the Birmingham Alabama Airport. Coords were taken at the airport fence.

inside / outside: outside

Other Information::
The aircraft is part of the collection of the Southern Museum of Flight. This aircraft is on loan from the U. S. Air Force Heritage Program.


Access restrictions:
The aircraft is inside the airport fence. Visit during daylight hours only.


Visit Instructions:
Photo of aircraft (required - will be interesting to see if the aircraft is ever repainted or progress if being restored)
Photo of serial number (required unless there is not one or it is a replica)
Photo(s) of any artwork on the aircraft (optional but interesting)

Tell why you are visiting this waymark along with any other interesting facts or personal experiences about the aircraft not already mentioned.
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