For sale: used Starfighter jet, one careful owner

[Kellanved]

KIEL, GERMANY - A former German Navy fighter jet is being offered on the internet for sale to the highest bidder and it is all legal: the Starfighter F-104 G, currently parked at a naval air base in the northern city of Kiel, is surplus stock.

"The buyer will have to make several promises," said Lieutenant Boris Heide of the Navy media office Monday. These include no more flying by the U.S.-designed, Cold-War-era jet, which was carefully maintained by the Navy but has not been in the sky since 1998.

Bidders will be able to tender till late December or early January for the jet. VEBEG, the German government agency in Frankfurt that sells surplus stock will handle the sale, with a museum most likely to be the buyer.

...

http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=26&story_id=25573&name=For+sale%3A+used+Starfighter+jet%2C+one+careful+owner

This might actually be cheaper than the established method of obtaining a Starfighter: buying a few acres of land near a Luftwaffe base.

[anarch]

1. what? You have to agree not to fly it?

Then what the hell good is it?

Jeez.

These look like they go pretty fast...

[Kellanved]

2. Yes, they are fast.

But they had a tendency of ending up like this:


The handling of a brick.

[anarch]

3. well, for sustained Mach 2 flight...

I might be willing to take the chance. I wouldn't mind driving a Lamborghini, either....

[TheMightyFavog]

5. That's the reason they were called "Witwenmacher"

Now, if the Luftwaffe could see to it to let my have one of these bad boys... I promise I won't use it to blow shit up...



Or this one. I like the pint job. It's like something you'd see West Coast Customs do if they had a show called Pimpen Sie mein Flugzeug.

[jrandom421]

7. Which Version?

Air Defense or Interdiction Strike? I'd go for the IDS version. Lots of cool munitions like Durandals to crater your favorite Fundamentalist Wacko church parking lot and so on. :)

[jrandom421]

8. In addition

The downward ejection seat, the razor sharp razor thin wings, and the rep of being a "GE J-79 engine with a saddle" didn't help much, either.

[DainBramaged]

14. They put felt on the wings to prevent cuts, evil plane, bad plane

[MadHound]

4. Does it come complete with armament?

Park that puppy out in the front yard, and if anybody starts to give me shit, BOOM:evilgrin:

[NNadir]

6. I'm not buying it if I can't fly it.

I'm not buying if I can fly it either, but all the same...

[ProfessorGAC]

9. Can I Drive It On The Road?

I'll promise not to leave the ground, if i can drive it to work!
The Professor

[yellowcanine]

10. Maybe DUers could pitch in and buy it for Smirkie if he agrees to resign?

We could even throw in a flight suit so he could play dress-up.

[AngryAmish]

11. Ooooh I want one!!!!!!!!!

[madrchsod]

12. i wonder if travolta will be bidding?

[DainBramaged]

13. The original Flying Coffin Witwenmacher

One in a series of Widowmakers we've produced

B-26 (another high shoulder thin-wing design that was unforgiving from WWII)



This one the F104G In German service alone 292 of the 916 Starfighters crashed, claiming the lives of 115 pilots

"Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters" by Hawkwind

(Love Nina and 99Luft Ballons reference)

99 Red Balloons"

You and I in a little toy shop
buy a bag of balloons with the money we've got
Set them free at the break of dawn
'Till one by one, they were gone
Back at base, bugs in the software
Flash the message, "Somethings out there"
Floating in the summer sky
99 red balloons go by.

99 red balloons floating in the summer sky
Panic bells, it's red alert
There's something here from somewhere else
The war machine, it springs to life
Opens up one eager eye
Focusing it on the sky
As 99 red balloons go by.

99 Decision Street, 99 ministers meet
To worry, worry, super-scurry
Call out the troops now in a hurry
This is what we've waited for
This is it boys, this is war
The president is on the line
As 99 red balloons go by.

99 Kriegsminister
Streichholz und Benzinkanister
Hielten sich fuer schlaue Leute
Witterten schon fette Beute
Riefen: Krieg und wollten Macht
Mann, wer haette das gedacht
Dass es einmal soweit kommt
Wegen 99 Luftballons

99 dreams I have had
In every one a red balloon
It's all over and I'm standin' pretty
In the dust that was a city
If I could find a souvenir
Just to prove the world was here...
And here it is, a red balloon
I think of you and let it go.

[Ryano42]

15. Checking my Card Balances...

My fave plane!!!! :)

There is a civilian demonstration team in the US flying the last two F-104's

www.starfighters.net

They are fast and loud and difficult to fly...if they cut me a cheep deal I promise to just sit in her and :popcorn: and listen to my Right Stuff soundtrack! :dunce: