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The Lockheed F-104 Ejection seat, model C-2
This Limited Series Ejection Seat features a stunning mirror polished finish, accentuated by a black leather cushion and head rest, and green oxygen bottles.
You will notice the detailing, that we have laid in this masterpiece of craftsmanship, with every single part and bolt of the seat taken apart for the polishing of it.
The result is a unique vintage aviation object of unrivaled appearance, so rich in texture and details, that every human eye is immediately attracted by this venerable marvel, of which no equal can be found in the market.
In this seat, we express the history of the famed Lockheed F-104, that supersonic Jet, capable of flying at Mach 2.2, that flew worldwide in large numbers (over 2500 aircraft made) for over 40 years!
The Fighter earned a reputation as a very fast, but also very capricious Fighter/ Interceptor/ Bomber, in which a performing ejection seat was more than wanted, in case of egress of the pilot to safety after an accident or malfunctioning of the single jet engine or its complicated systems.
This ejection seat is a model C-2, this was the second type in the jet, and first one firing in rocket-boosted upward mode, giving more chances to pilots for survival, in case of low altitude flight exits. The previous model C-1 was designed for the downward firing mode, but evidently only proved to be a save escape at higher flight levels.
This somewhat weird option of ejection was needed, as no ejection seat at that time was powerful enough to shoot the pilot clear over the tail fin at supersonic speed!
As the F-104 Jet Fighter came to the European theatre of the Cold War as a NATO Fighter in the early 60-ies, the German Air Force deployed the F-104 G (Germany) model as a low level fighter /interceptor/ fighter-bomber, with a heavier airframe stucture, needed to handle all the extra weapons/ radar-systems.
In this controversial role (for which, allegedly, this jet was never designed), the upward firing Ejection seat was the only safe option, so came this depicted C-2 model.
This type was in use in Germany until 1968, but with the alarming accident rate of the type, all Starfighters were retrofitted as from mid 1968 with the more sophisticated Martin Baker Ejection Seat, model GQ-7A, soon also available as stunning object/ showpiece from Avion Art.
Immediately after the Korean Conflict ended in 1953, Lockheed's secretive design department (Skunk Works) started to make studies for a lightweight, supersonic fighter that could handle the better perfoming Russian Migs. The legendary Chief Designer Clarence L."Kelly" Johnson came out with a ground breaking design, that had the shape of a rocket. With the miniscule flimsy wings and a super streamlined canopy, it looked like a manned missile.The prototype XF-104 rolled out in February 1954 and test flights started from there, soon very promising in performance of speed and altitude.
In feb.1958, 4 years later, the F-104A entered formal USAF services, powered by the famed J-79-GE-3B turbojet engine, that in earlier versions gave its share for the disastrous accident rate of the type. This was even leading to a short term grounding of all F-104's in april 1958.!! Supersonic Flight and Technology where in their infancy.
The F-104's career (part of the supersonic Jet family called the "Century series") was born, along with its contemporaries, the F-100 Super Sabre, the F-101 Voodoo, and the superior Convair F-106 Delta Dart, the plane that was better designed to deliver nuclear weapons from a supersonic platform.
The early series F-104A's combat utility seemed to be marginal, lacking combat avionics of a proper interceptor and poor armament. Also its limited range was much critizised, but was comparable to other fast combat jets of the time. The later F-104C type was to become more satisfactory, basically the machine that Kelly Johnson had been hoping to build.
The Starfighter's career started as a rocket with a Speed record in May 1958 of 1,404.19 mph., and a Height record of 103,396 feet a year later........
Nevertheless, the F-104 did not have an impressive career in the USAF, not in numbers, nor in years in service, but the type saw limited operations in Vietnam (as from 1965) and soldiered on in the ANG's services. The true "Days of Glory" for the type however, (if such term is applicable), were to come from other Air Forces.
As the Starfighter was selected by major NATO members, contracts were signed before or in 1960 to start up the production of the various types of the F-104.In the process, License Manufacturing took place in 5 different countries outside the USA:
Messerschmitt Germany (260 built), Fokker Netherlands (350 built), Sabca Belgium (185 built), Fiat Italy (199 built), Canadair (140 built) and Lockheed USA finally built 164 for foreign Nato Members.
Other Countries that flew the type were: Denmark, Greece, Turkey, Norway, Spain, Japan, Pakistan, Jordan and Taiwan.
As such, The F-104 was to become the backbone of NATO and other Airforces in the 1960's and 1970's, replacing the subsonic jets as F-86 Sabre, and the Republic F-84 Thunderjet/Thunderstreak/ Thunderflash, and British-built Hawker Hunter etc.
In the late 1980's, most F-104's were to be replaced by more modern types, of which the General Dynamics/ Lockheed Martin F-16 is the most prominent.
But the Italian Air Force flew the Starfighter in a beefed up version, with updated weapons systems, even in the NATO campaign against Serbia in 1999 !!
The last Italian AMI Starfighter was retired from operational services only in the summer of 2004, making the operational life span of the type to go beyond 45 years.
Not bad for such notoriously temperamental Fighter, that featured throughout its lifespan an amazing loss rate:
In Italy, at least 138 F-104's in Italian services were lost, that makes 37,5 % of the total number.
The Canadian Air Force lost 110 Starfigthers, 46 % of the total
In Germany, a total of 915 F-104's were delivered to the Bundeswehr, almost 300 incidents took a high toll: 270 Starfighters got lost and worse, 110 pilots lost their lives with the type between 1961 and 1989, therefore the type was sometimes nicknamed the 'Widow maker" of "Flying coffin". But when compared to the attrition rate of the predecessors of the type, there was not much of a difference: in Northern Europe and Canada, low altitude high speed flights in poor weather and mountainous terrain make any aircraft accident prone.
Those high incident figures seem to be totally unacceptable by now, but at that time, in the middle of the Cold War, with supersonic Jets as the only adequate answer to the Russian MIG threat, there was not much of a choice for options or escapes from the (years earlier) selected path. With multi million dollar contracts signed for the Licence building, employment issues, acquisition of Hi Tech Expertise and NATO compliance, most countries had no other choice than to carry on, hoping for the gradual curing of their F-104 Jet Fighter problems, that occurred in the unavoidable upgrade from subsonic to supersonic fighters. The subsequent "Price of Progress" was high, the ejection seat was in such circumstances for many pilots the final exit to safety, and the invention and evolution of this seat surely had a contibution in the saving of many a pilot's life.
The ejection seat is a relatively small, but complex and ingenious safety capsule, full of small motors, cables, belts, bottles and switches, that all have a function in a safe exit and a survival kit in case of landing in water.
Under the seat, there are the rocket type charges (for your and our safety removed from the Ejection seats, that we show and deliver.., no worry for your ceiling).
They catapult the seat out, once the rip cord has been pulled by the pilot. But before the catapulting into open air, the seat takes some automatic precautions, in order to better protect the pilot against the very aggressive elements outside, especially at high speed. With high G-forces thrown into a windblast of over 500 miles per hour, in such explosive rocket like launch, so fast that the high T-tail fin behind the pilot will not split his helmet, that is no small feat to achieve for the designer and no small feat either for the pilot. It is said that a pilot's length after an ejection seat launch could shrink up to 1 inch (2,5 cm) due to spinal compression at the blast.
In order to avoid that arms and legs of the pilot will be swayed in all directions at ejection's spinning of the seat, his boots are connected to 2 steel cables, that pull the boots tightly to the lower front side of the seat. The arms are to be protected by a canvas webbing, that deploys with the arm rests, moving forwards, activated by cable motors, that also tighten all safety belts around the pilot. Finally, as he goes out into the open air, he will be disconnected from the Jet's oxygen system, but at 15.000 feet or higher, that is not a good idea for keeping the pilot's mind sharp and decisive, so this Ejection seat carries a (twin) bottle of oxygen, for the dire need of the stressed pilot, as he goes out.Once airborne, the seat must be separated from the pilot, and the parachute, in a backpack, must be deployed quickly, and at landing in water, there must be a dinghy at hand, with light and radio emitting devices, in order to trace the downed pilot soonest in this hostile environment.
Much of that equipement came packed in a small container under the seat, a sort of survival kit, that helped many pilots to survive until the moment of rescue.
If you look at this Ejection Seat on the photographs, you will notice the finer details as described here, it is a tribute to all pilots that flew the type and a great souvenir of that famous Jet Fighter Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, that seemed to have needed the ejection seat more than any other Jet Plane in history.
Such Ejection Seat in High Shine with so many details and such finish, will be for any interior a proud "'Piece de Résistance" and unique Collector's Item.
If interested in this Limited Series Ejection Seat, please contact us for more details about prices and availability.
We wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy 2010,
Avionart, December 2009
www.avionart.com
PS; We would like to thank following sites for the useful information and pictures.
In case you are interested to read more details of the Starfighter, its history and the Ejection Seats used, please visit:
Vector site (Greg Goebel)
Photovault (Photovault Aviation Museum)
Fiddlers Green
Wikipedia F-104 Starfighter
Wikipedia Ejection Seat
The Ejection Site