aviation - the past, present and future of flight

and it climbed like a homesick angel. We

were levelling out at 10,000ft before I knew

what had happened.”

Hans explained one of the greatest

challenges learning to  y the F-104 was

the landing: “On approach the F-104  ew at

around 200kts. It had a very high landing

speed of 175kts, plus 5kts more for every

1,000lb above standard landing weight

(mostly fuel), so it was often around 185kts

at touchdown. In comparison, on the F-84,

landing speed was between 110-130kts.

It may be just 60kts higher, but it made a

huge difference.”

Phase two concentrated on preparing

him for operations with 312 Sqn, which he

subsequently joined and involved  ying

practice conventional ground attack and

nuclear strike missions. Hans: “The main

part was low-level training. More time-

consuming was maintaining an all-weather

capability, often in cloud, using the F-104Gs

radar and LN-3 inertial navigation system.”

He continued: “At low level it performed very

well. With two wingtip fuel tanks and two

pylon tanks, it was really stable, although not

good at turning. Attack training for the strike

role required a low-level run into the target at

Mach 0.9 and was always exhilarating.

“The difficult part of  ying the F-104 was

its unforgiving nature if you made a mistake.

To make the F-104 perform well you had to

take it to the very corner of every part of the

 ight envelope. I think the F-104 was the

last aircraft in our air force where the pilot

made the difference between being good

and very good.”

AIR DEFENCE AND

PHOTO-RECONNAISSANCE

Leeuwarden on the Netherlands’ north

coast was its other main F-104G base from

where 322 and 323 Sqns undertook the

air defence role. No.322 had formed on

the F-104G on April 1, 1964, replacing its

Hawker Hunters; No.323 followed on March

17, 1964 and was declared operational on

October 1, 1965. The

aircraft were usually

con gured with wingtip

tanks and armed with two

AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles

mounted on a centre

fuselage pylon, plus

their 20mm internal

Vulcan cannon.

Both units similarly

maintained F-104s on

permanent NATO air

defence QRA and shared

centralised servicing

arrangements too. Air-

to-air gunnery training

at Leeuwarden used

the specialised French-

manufactured Alke Soule target system from

October 1971. It comprised a pod under the

starboard wing with the metal target ‘dart’

mounted under the port wing, winched out

behind the aircraft.

By January 1964, after 306 Sqn’s brief

early role in instructor training, it had re-

equipped with 18 dedicated reconnaissance

RF-104Gs at Twenthe, moving to Volkel

in September 1969. Role modi cation

necessitated removal of the aircraft’s Vulcan

cannon and magazine. It was replaced by

a camera bay  tted with the TA-7M system

consisting of vertical, left and right-facing

cameras, speci cally designed for high-

speed, low-level, daylight use, plus a

modi cation for night photography.

Later, the KLu purchased the more

sophisticated externally mounted centreline

‘Orpheus’ reconnaissance pod (TA-8M)

which made the original camera bay

super uous. Both systems, developed by

the Dutch Old Delft company, were later

carried by KLu F-16 Fighting Falcons.

DISPLAY PILOT

As well as undertaking his squadron duties

in 1974, Hans became the KLu’s F-104G

display pilot and continued in that role

38 Aviation News incorporating Jets August 2018

Two-seat TF-104G D-5817 serving with 322 Sqn about to land at Gilze-Rijen, March 1979. Cor Vermolen

A target towing  ight F-104G  tted with the Alke Soule air-to-air gunnery target system. Ronald de Roij

HVV F-104G D-8114 with tail and wings

removed at Volkel. HVV/Theo van den Boomen

36-40_starfighter_dutchDC.mfDC.mf.indd 38 04/07/2018 17:29