Flight Journal article about Viet Nam F-104s

[donnieboy]

In the June, 2006 issue of Flight Journal, there is an article about the F-104s' deployment in Viet Nam. I learned some things. I knew the F-104 was used as a bomber escort, riding shotgun alongside F-105s and F-4s, but didn't know that it was used in the ground attack role as well. On many occasions, F-104s dropped napalm and 750lb GP bombs on V.C. and N.V.A. troop concentrations. The pilots who flew these missions said the Starfighter was a very stable little bombing platform and could reach a 250-mile radius from Danang in 40 minutes or less, a statistic greatly appreciated by pinned-down grunts. The article says that Kelly Johnson actually designed the F-104 with a secondary ground attack capability. Who knew? Anyway, I feel better about my 21C "Smoke II" winging it's way here. I guess it wasn't just a namby-pamby high flying Russian Bomber interceptor!