IMO the F104 was one one of the best looking jets ever made but as we
all know, -- looks aren't everything.
IMO the F104 was one one of the best looking jets ever made but as we
all know, -- looks aren't everything.
gregM
Live to ride -- Ride to live
I was addicted to the "Hokey-Pokey" but I've turned
myself around.
Thanks for following and for your comments Vince and Greg
Vince, regarding the German government and the future of the memorials to the Schutztruppe, I upload two images from the 1977 film "A bridge too far"
You will all remember when von Rundstedt takes command and is greeted with enthusiasm by the demolished German general staff....
His response as a wise and skeptical man is to say: give me time.... It's just a matter of time....
Greg, in a quick internet search for: "flying coffin". You will see that the F 104 it's not the only plane, but it is one of the search results (In fact the first and most repeated result is the MIG-21) Although we have to admit that its design was incredible....
It was a revolutionary airplane. It looked too futuristic for its time. It was certainly an elegant and fast marvel of engineering. His name went down in the history of military aviation. But its high accident rate won out for the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter his nicknames of “Widow maker” and “Flying Coffin” ... Of course the F 104 was a "Beauty.... deadly"
The F-104 aircraft was part of the Century Series, alongside the F-101, F-102, and F-105, to amplify the US Air Force requirement for strategic nuclear warfare. Tactical Air Command attempted to adapt to this strategic mindset by emphasizing interceptors and fighters capable of delivering nuclear weapons. However, this approach led to problem after problem (a common theme that emerged throughout this aircraft series) as the jet fighter class faced challenges in their intended missions....
The Century Series aircraft (clockwise from bottom): Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, North American F-100 Super Sabre, Convair F-102 Delta Dagger, McDonnell F-101 Voodoo, and Republic F-105 Thunderchief, circa 1950.
Regards, friends
Santi
By the way, many German children, today around 60 years old, remember the terrible sound that the F 104 made on low-level flights through the skies of the FRG.
Interesting stuff about the 104 and the controversy, which I'm old enough to remember. My favourite fighter of that period was the Northrop CF5, as it was known here, or Freedom Fighter. And Santi, regarding von Rundstedt, say what you will about him, but he was no idiot, something which even AH recognised. Too bad there weren't more like him in the upper echelons of the Wehrmacht.
Of course I consider von Rundstedt a great strategist. As I said before, a "wise and skeptical man". In that scene he understood that despite his best efforts, given the immense allied superiority, it was only a matter of time before he was defeated.
I tried to express that the current Germ... government we are talking about lacks the wisdom of von Rundsted and that it is only a matter of time before it destroys certain monuments...
Sorry for the errors in the meaning of my expressions in English
Regards
Santi
Another postcard recently added to the collection. It’s the perfect summary of the life of William I of Prussia.
Three portraits and five scenes that we will discuss very briefly (from left to right and from top to bottom) between the two dates of the centenary of Kaiser Wilhelm I: March 22, 1797 (left) March 22, 1897 (right)
Top left scene: Königratz, July 3, 1866.
The arrival in extremis of the Crown Prince, who saves the situation and decides the victory for the Prussian side. The grateful king shakes hands with his son.
Top Center: Portrait of the Kaiser in 1871. (he is 74 years old) is already the Kaiser of Germany.
Top right Scene: Sedan, September 1, 1870.
Wilhelm I receiving Napoleon IIIs surrender after the Battle of Sedan
Center Left: Portrait of the Kaiser in 1816. (he is 19 years old) He is a young prussian prince.
Central Scene: Proclamation of William I as Kaiser of Germany in the Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles on January 18, 1871
Center Right: Portait of the Kaiser in 1887. (he is 90 years old) He is the elderly Kaiser of Germany
Bottom left scene: On 19 July 1870 King Wilhelm at the sacrophagum of his mother, Queen Louise (1776-1810) in the mausoleum in Charlottenburg
Bottom rightscene: Hurray 4 Kings!
It’s a 1882 Postcard. Kaiser Wilhelm I, seated (he is 85 years old) holds in his arms a newborn, his first great-grandson: Wilhelm, (Friedrich Wilhelm Victor August Ernst; 6 May 1882 – 20 July 1951) future German Crown Prince of Prussia.
Standing on the left, is the son of William I, the then German Crown Prince of Prussia, future Frederick III, German Emperor (99-Tage-Kaiser) is currently 51 years old.
Standing on the right in the red hussar tunic, the future Kaiser Wilhelm II, happy father of the newborn. He is 23 years old at that time.
Bottom Legend: Zum 100 jährigen geburstag Kaisers Wilhelm's I - On the 100th birthday of Kaiser Wilhelm I
Although we will talk a little more about the curious history of the painting in the center of the postcard....
Anton von Werner and the painting of the Kaiser's Proclamation
Anton von Werner selfportrait, 1885
On January 15, 1871, the painter Anton von Werner (1843-1915) received a curious telegram: "If you manage to reach Versailles before the 18th, you will witness an event worthy of your brushes."
Moltke before Paris (von Werner painting)
That day, Anton von Werner had worked for hours on his latest work, Moltke before Paris, in his studio in Karlsruhe, in the Grand Duchy of Baden.
Kaiser Friedrich III, (von Werner painting, 1888)
The telegram had been sent to him by Prince Frederick, the Kronprinz of Prussia. Von Werner did not hesitate and left for the city's railway station.
The journey between Karlsruhe and Paris took less than two days, but after the French defeat the Prussians and their allies besieged Paris, so the German headquarters was at Versailles.
Von Werner arrived at Versailles at dawn on 18 January. The last leg of the journey had been done in a horse-drawn carriage, with a soldier stationed on the roof to protect the travellers from the French soldiers.
When he arrived, he still didn't know what he was going to witness. He went straight to the crown prince's palace, where he was given a safe-conduct to access the palace of Versailles.
There, he went up to the Hall of Mirrors. On the side of the gallery windows stood Prussian and Bavarian soldiers in full dress uniform. On the mirror side were huddled the officers of the German armies that had invaded France the previous year.
In the center of the gallery a field altar had been set up. There, a military chaplain from Potsdam held a service, which concluded with the singing "Nun danket alle Gott." von Werner began to draw those present during the homily.
The group then made their way to a flat platform filled with banners at the end of the gallery, where the princes lined up with William I in the centre. Bismarck, standing and surrounded by the army leaders, read a proclamation.
Next, the Grand Duke of Baden, being the highest-ranking person present at Versailles apart from the King of Prussia himself, pronounced a "Salutation" to "His Majesty the Kaiser (Emperor) William," which was repeated three times by those present.
Thus, in the painter's opinion, "the extraordinarily short and simple ceremony ended without any pomp", apart from the cheers that continued among the troops arranged in the palace and the park.
At that moment, von Werner understood that this was the great historical event he had to witness in order to be able to capture it with his brushes: the proclamation of the King of Prussia as emperor of a new German Empire.
The proclamation had been scheduled for January 18, a very special day: the 170th anniversary of the coronation of the first king of the Hohnezollern house on January 18, 1701.
It is not true that Bismarck organized the event at the Palace of Versailles to enrage his French enemies. In order for the ceremony to coincide with the date of January 18, the ceremony had to be held where William was that day: Versailles.
Anton von Werner dedicated 4 paintings to the proclamation of the Kaiser throughout his life and unfortunately only one survived
The 1st version was commissioned for the Royal Palace in Berlin. It was destroyed in World War 2 and we only have a blurry black-and-white photo of it showing its layout, with the emperor in front and Bismarck with his back on the left side of the painting.
The artist was not satisfied with the result. The newly proclaimed emperor was too far removed from the viewer in the composition and, moreover, Otto von Bismarck, the political head of the new state, was practically invisible.
The 2nd version was commissioned to be placed in a memorial gallery in the Old Berlin Arsenal (now the Museum of German History). It was also lost in the war, although we have color photographs.
We can see the painting under the right arch of the great hall
This composition has passed into the collective consciousness of Germans.
In the new version, the emperor does not occupy the center of the image. There we see Chancellor Bismarck and Marshal Moltke, those responsible politically and militarily for the victory over France.
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