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Friday, December T, ISM
MBDFOHD (OFXGOfcjAIL tIBUNE THRS 0
- : a Q .
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Pentagon, Air Force Indecision Added 18 Months To F1 04 Production time
Oq : . " j on his own with designs for i tion had been approved, the proval from a host of Wright- J coping with every little detail ,BleaaaejBBaalBaaaaaaaaaaaaBaaaaaaaaaaaaBaBaaBaaaaaBBaaBaamaaBaaaBBa
m . . Must such a fighter and for F104s were slow to come off I Patterson aeencies before he I nf Air Force 'mill snecs' is be-! I " I
More Than Five Years
n
Used To Build F104
It is riot known if the Soviets
& r O
(gditor't note: This u th fourfh Of
wnoi.i situation in mmtry aircraft have an airplane in tne same
production )Och imperils our n- (.155 with the F104, but it
1,084 "u"1 snould not be too surprising if
O By ifeBEHT S. BIRD 0 they do. The Soviets have been
AND TOM iAMBEHT making remarkable aeronauti-
q Now York Herald Tsjun News I cal strides, apparently not too
(., aervico mucn noouieu uy niuctwiw",
Washington Give the F-104
a couple1 of seconds at feill thrOt
tl urittt rut fVl and
ee(ife nose pointed afc tUe sky j fame Irom American puots
O and itQvill climD right straight had been fighting the agile So
O up into the 9pp$r statosphere at viet MIGlos over the Yalu river
G000 mile? a, houre And even in Korea. They wanted a light
is aCJfcret.
tape and paperwork
Idea From Pilots .
The idea for the "Starfighter"
new lightweight
o.
taanutacuired oy the country followed the Korean air
ThisC
fJthter,
Locloieed .Circrift Corp
q been called 'The Missile With a
rrMan In It."
I tude and a lot of speed."
j..: Ui,
"Star- iNO aircrait uesiyiitri hi iw
has
O C
Only carnival man could de-
war more ciosoiy man u.
(Kelly) Johnson, Lockheed s. fa
mous vice president in charge
of research and development.
and his engineering mind had
O
scribe Jt.e r-iu won justice, u bcen busv on an aeron9llticai
low 0.0 clean anfl sum ana eiue. j drcama ast Jjg,)t hish.iiyig
Gn. at s:rme0 ''mu , mf I fighter not for Korean combat
inline. n n uc .u. blll for protection of this coun-
fly. A realneleg;rt plane; a real . . .
danriv o ahpad."
Itcan flash fraight up more
What happened to Johnson's
than 2 rSiles, and sVfeak along j dreaoi its ups. and downs is
s "straight and levef," as pilots
sayat alSmt Mach 2, or twice
lheLsi.ed of sound.
c The Airof,rce0Chief of Staff,
. 7, Gerf? Na'ian F. Twining, matter--ftfctly
calls it ,vthe fastest and
trtghest-flyingofigijter anywhere
G in the skj-.'o b o
0 Airmon Qjow 0 0
ftirntn oegin to glow when
a th" ta abSu fhis flying sti
letto, and they" iell"a!)Out how
(f. fast it ime into being. ?
How fast?00
At a tWie when the Soviets
are crowding this country for
air siipremac;. it took five ye;ars
and foqr monthsOto bring out
the F1Q$ frcfti first design study
to first production modr! flight.
QBy Airo Force Bnd Pentagon
itandards, that is indeed fast
"Ietimg."0as Oie 'developinent
3 cycte is called. .
G But the feanufacturer of the
Q "gtarfighter"se.-s this lead time
(as excsive, ti:mt it was '"a
vr,y long spanPfor evea today's
Q complex, highgErfomancet air
craft." O Er
0 In Set, the xAckhecd people
p sa1 that the F-04 could have
been-rolledQ off cUie produdion
line Vome 18 (jnonth? arlier if
they had not been neld up by
Pentagon and Air Force oindc
e?sion Aligning bSvJi tup1 level
delays Snd steady stream of
fitful little bueeaucratic road-
CD
blocks, o r c-
. w
set forth here in terms of time
spans with some slight over
lapping, in the life history of
the F104.
First Time. Span (30 months:
In September. 1950, the Air
Force asked American aircrait
manufacturers to submit designs
for a comparatively heavy all
weather Interceptor fighter with
good range, a completely auto
matic fire control system and
good protection for the pilot.
Though , such a plane vas con
siderably more weighty and
less dazzling in prospect than
the Johnsonr dream airplane,
Lockheed entered the design
competition arid won.
The Air Force authorized the
company to begin '"Phase I" pre
liminary designs for the new
fighters. Two and one-half
months later (one year after
first inviting competition for
design of such a plane) the Air
Force cancelled the Lockheed
design authorization. In other
words, the Air Force had
changed its mind. Further re
evaluation of the Korean air
war experience indicated that
any new fighter- should have
more performance, at the ex
pense of, range. ...
Johnson revived hi dream.
High performance without great
emphasis on range could mean
a lightweight fighter, just what
he had in mind. He went ahead
on his own with designs for
just such a fighter and for
months he pressed the Pentagon
and Air Force to accept them.
In December, 1952, the Air
Force told Lockheed to start de
signing a prototype lightweight
fighter and in March, 1953, au
thorized the company to build,
two airplanes.
Flown in 12 Month
Second Time Span (12
months): In contrast to the .30
months it took the Pentagon
and Air Force to make up their
minds on what they "wanted in
the way of a new fighter, and
to start building something,
Lockheed made and flew, the
first prototype F104 in just one
year flat.
Lockheed did this, first, by
forming a task force of engi
neers divorced as much as pos
sible from all interference and
assigned it one jorj to meet a
first flight date, March 1, 1954.
Not only a date, but an hour: 9
a.m. Both date and hour -were
met.
Second, Lockheed recruited
for its task force the. most cap
able men available. -
.Third,- the company gave the
task- force a precise set of re
quirements, not only as to
schedule, but for performance
and costs as well.
fourth, having provided for
the task force an "environment
of freedom," Lockheed gave its
chief the maximum authority to
do the job as he thought best.
Getting out prototypes in a
hurry was nothing new at
Lockheed. In World War II the
company built and flew a pro
totype F80 jet in 147 days.
Asked for Go-Ahtad
Third . Time Span (nine
months): Confident that the
F104 design would be success
ful, Lockheed proposed in Sep
tember, 1953, six-months before
the prototype was finished and
flown,, that the Air Force issue
a go-ahead for producing F104s.
But for nine months the Penta
gon and Air Force backed and
filled, waited and processed
paper work arid studies on the
matter.
The question of the right jei )
engine perplexed Washington; !
whether or not to take a risk on
a not-fully-tried power plant, j
And' the armament. Guns? Rock-1
ets? If rockets, what size? And,
as always, these were money 1
problems. ' . !
During this interlude of inde
cision, Lockheed, did what oth
er aircraft makers have done on
occasion to keep programs mov- j
ing and hold talented staffs in-!
tact it went ahead on its own,
preparing for production. In
June, 1954. . the company was
authorized to begin limited pro- j
duction. i
. Fourth Time - Span (20VS !
months): Even though produc- j
F104s were slow to come off
the line. For one thing, Washing
ton was having money trouble
and could not authorize- Lock
heed to do much more than buy
certain equipment and raw ma
terials whiph must be ordered
far in advance of delivery. The
first production model F104 did
not fly until June, 1956.
The Present: Today the rate
of "Starfire" production is a
military secret but it is certain
that not more than a relative
few of the wonder fighters have
been turned out. Certainly pro
duction will be . stepped tip
soon.
The Pentagon and Air Force
cannot be blamr-d entirely' for
money problems like those
which added to the F104 lead
time.- But they are blamed vig
orously by aircrait riakers gen
erally for -lengthening lead
time through, indecision ' and
red tape, and for "getting ton.
many people into the act" in
turning out wsrplanes,
.Most aircraft industry execu
tives interviewed complained,
for example, about what one
called the "dictatorial", attitude
of the Air Force's Air Material
Command at Wright-Patterson
Air. Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.
As of April this year,' the Air
Material Command organization
chart listed 72 offices, and divi
sions, . the great majority, of
which deal with the aircraft in
dustry and are involved in
nearly every aircraft project
sponsored by the. Air Force.
It routinely is necessary for
an airplane maker to obtain ap-
Patterson agencies before he
can proceed, for example, with
an idea or proposal which he is
convinced Will improve the air
craft he is building for the Air
Force.
As for red tape a top air
craft engineer told this story:
One of his draftsmen was as
signed one day to make a rou
tine drawing of a simple T-pipe
fitting in a new fighter. It took,
him about two hours to com
plete the drawing on a sheet of
paper eight by 11 inches. The
Air Force requires that all such
drawings be titled according to
its specifications, so the drafts
man -went to the specifications
to get the title- requirements.
The first set of specifications,
provided part of the require
ments and referred him to
another set. The second set of
specifications referred the
draftsman to another volume.
After two days of pouring
over specifications, the drafts
man obtained all. the require
ments for the title to his draw
ing and returned to his drawing
board. But putting the title on
his eight by 11-inch piece of
paper became a problem. The
title turned out to be so volumi
nous that it covered nearly two
thirds of the sheet of paper, and
shoved the drawing itself right
off the sheet. He wound up by
getting a larger sheet and doing
it all over again.
"This," the engineer ex
plained, .'is a small example of
what we call "horrible trivi
alities.' "
"The man-hours wasted in
of Air Force 'mill specs' is be
yond all count. And this wasted
time means longer lead time in !
getting out airplanes." . j
"Look at it," he explained. 1
pointing to a color picture of ;
the F104, soaring sleek and
pristine in its home in tht blue ,
yonder.
"Born out of long and heavy
labor in a bureaucratic quag-;
mire.". -
Next: Ponligon Rogimenta- !
tion Hinders Electron! Da- j
velopment. I
Copyright 1956. Hew York
Herald Tribune Inc.
Dulles May Patch Up
Franco-US Relations
Paris '(U.R) French' govern
ment sources predicted ' today
that next week's visit by U. S.
Secretary of State John Foster
Dulles will patch up the strained
relations between the United
States and its Franco-British al
lies. .'
- Dulles arrives here Sunday
two days before -Tuesday's meet:
ing of the North Atlantic Treaty
organization council of -ministers.-
. '
Dulles is expected to meet i
with French Foreign Minister !
Pineau and British Foreign Sec
retary: Selwyn Lloyd before the
NATO session with the aim of
restoring the alliance that -was
strained severely by the Franco
British invasion of Egypt.
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