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U2/F104 Relation

Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2005 4:04 pm
by Morian Miner
Driving today past the Air National Guard, I was looking at the F-104 parked there and was noticing the nosetip. In Ben Rich's book on Skunk Works, he said the U-2 was nothing more than a lengthened F-104 with really long wings. But, from pictures I've seen of the nosetip/radome, it seems more blunted.

I guess I'm just wondering - has anyone thought about making a U2 if the F104 ever arrives, and how much modification is required? Is it just lengthen the body/new wings/new radome, or are there other major mods needed?

Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2005 8:45 am
by supersonicfifi
8) you are right about the link between the F104 / U2 but the extent of modification is uge !!!!! You can see effectively that the fuselage of the 1st f104 prototype from the cockpit to the tail is the same (minus the "mouses" in the engine inlet) but all the rest is different ! so the mods requires a huge amount of work :shock: if anyone is ready to the task i 'm quite interested ! a U2 could be uge with such a wingspan !