Today I Was Thinking Of The F-104

I’ve often thought of a bucketlist project of making a slow indoor flyer out of the worlds most improbable subjet, the F-104 Starfighter. There is this problem of driving past one every day on the way into Radical RC.

Capt. Joseph B. Jordan, flying a Lockheed F-104C Starfighter set a new altitude record when he reached 103,395.5 ft over the Edwards AFB. Flight Test Center California. During this flight, Capt. Jordan reached 98,424 ft 930,000 m) in only 15 minutes 4.92 seconds. This was the first aircraft taking off on its own power to reach the 30,000 m and 100,000 ft altitudes.

Great Planes Lockheed F-104 Starfighter

Sounds Of The F-104 Starfighter

The Vikings” F 104G Starfighter German Navy’s Demo Team

Starfighter Start Up

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National Museum of the US Airforce

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Dolittle Raiders

Museum Hours
Open daily 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day
FREE admission!

Museum Location
1100 Spaatz Street
Wright-Patterson AFB OH 45433
(937) 255-3286

Website: National Museum of the US Air Force
USAFM Event Calendar: Events
Photo: Photo Collection

If your on your way to Dayton, odds are your visiting the Airforce Museum. I can’t tell you more than the official website, however I can offer that that you will need more than a day to enjoy the museum properly. Plan on 1.5 to 2 days to really take it all in and not be rushed. The IMAX movies are lots of fun and very reasonable in cost. It’s a great way to rest your feet in the middle of the day.

Look to plan your trip during special activities or perhaps when a significant modeling activity is underway in the Miami Valley. The museum holds many special events each year. You can meet great hero’s like living Doolittle Raiders and others. There are often special tours behind the scenes or in resoration facilities. Wings & Things Guest Lectures are given on aviation history and technology.

Tung-Sheng Liu (third from right in white jacket) stands with the crew of Lt. Travis Hoover. He helped these men escape capture following the Doolittle Raid. He later immigrated to the United States and was one of four individuals names as honorary Doolittle Raiders. (U.S. Air Force photo

Spend some time on the site to see what’s going on and be sure to check out my list of significant modeling events in the area. Plan time to visit some local hobby shops. You never know what you might find hanging from the ceiling or perhaps you’ll see a project underway that will light fire under your enthusiasm.

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About The Area Around Radical RC

Fred from Cary, NC asks:

Hi, just for fun, I googled your address (Google Maps View), and see some very interesting things near you.
You are across from Wright Field (Wiki). That could be fun. Do they let you fly RC stuff over there?
And behind you….looks like a park with lots of long slender ponds. Is it a park, or why did they make all that water? At first the satellite view made it look like a golf course, until I zoomed in, and realized it was water.

Thanks for your help…. Fred

Fred,
I fly & test small field models in the field out in front of the shop. Every kit we manufacture has been flown there many times. You can’t fly on the museum grounds (across Springfield St inside the museum fence). Behind the Air Force Museum (official website) is a large runway and towards the north end of it there is a club, you must be active or retired military to fly there and join the club. Each year on labor day weekend they hold a large fly in called “DOGS”. Where anybody can fly there. Occiasionally there are other events there like last summer the World Jet Masters were held there. I’ve seen kite contests out in front of the museum also. In fact they used to hold the Dawn Patrol out front. This was great as we’d see nearly full scale replica’s flying over the shop and landing in the field out in front of the museum. However, that event has moved out back on the runway. But, if you stick up an electric model, the ask you to shut it down. Which is sad in a way. What a nice thing it would be for visitors to see people poking around in the sky as your walking into the Airforce Museum.

We get modelers in all the time that are in town visiting the Air Force Museum. Almost every modeler in the USA or Canada if given a chance will visit it at some time in their lives. It’s a great location from an aviation point of view for sure.

The lakes you see directly behind (west of) the shop and north are part of the well fields. There is an Eagles nest (or maybe 2 now) and people with long range lenses in Eastwood Lake park are photographing them all the time. Eastwood is open to the public and the lake south west of Wright Brothers Parkway (Harsman Rd, Woodman Drive).

Here is a virtual tour of the US Airforce Museum.

Dave, Radical RC

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