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By red
#403691
Roadrunner71 wrote: Tue Jun 12, 2018 11:23 pmI live in the S-F east bay area town of Brentwood. I am wondering if the chance that I might get to see, and even Better Yet, get to Hear a F-104 Starfighter fly once again? What are my chances?
Roadrunner,

Not too good, for a flying F-104. Check Wikipedia for the "List of surviving Lockheed F-104 Starfighters." They show 15 of them on display, in California.

That design came from the mid-1950s. Canada had some, and I think Germany had some of the last flying units, but that was decades ago. With sailplane wings added and conventional tailfeathers, the F-104 was stretched out by Lockheed, to became the U-2 (TR-1) spyplane. We do have flying U-2 (TR-1) aircraft in the USAF inventory.

There are (expensive) RC models of the U-2 available, but I would rate them in the expert-pilots-only class of RC models. The real F-104 was a handful, so I doubt anybody would like an RC version.
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#403796
red wrote: Wed Jun 13, 2018 8:53 am There are (expensive) RC models of the U-2 available, but I would rate them in the expert-pilots-only class of RC models. The real F-104 was a handful, so I doubt anybody would like an RC version.
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Well, thanks to the magic of a "google" search on "rc F-104":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rRR5prazcM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AQkIMlD-WU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToMGlISt1Hc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAyPsRB8IUg (lands hard at 3:44)
and many more...

now, what sort of hang glider could you buy for the price of one of those? ;)

besides you can learn some German--
re the last-- around 3:50
"aber ist nichts passiert, danke schon" -- https://www.linguee.de/deutsch-englisch ... siert.html -- "but nothing is mashed, thank you" -- -- might come in handy while hang gliding!

Of course my thoughts are -- especially re the first -- do this on some cold winter morning -- what a waste of a sky full of cumulus clouds!