Musical Monday - Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters
From The Song of the Gremlin (Part 1)
I focused the magnifying glass
That brought the downfall of Icarus.
I focused the magnifying glass
That brought the downfall of Icarus.
Balloons were easy; a simple pin;
Or a knife in the case of the zeppelin.
That blade was the cause of many a prang
In the early days of stick and string.
I am the gremlin. I was there.
Making mischief in the air
And always will be wherever man
Flies in the face of Creation's plan.
Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters was a 1974 satirical concept album by Robert Calvert, the former frontman of British space-rock band Hawkwind. It consists of a mixture of songs and comic spoken interludes.
The concept was based on the German Air Ministry's purchase of the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, colloquially known as the Widowmaker. In German service these planes had a poor safety record, with 207 of almost 1,300 Luftwaffe Starfighters lost in accidents during the aircraft's time in service, which lasted from the early 1960s until the mid 1980s.
The Starfighters had inherently challenging flight characteristics, possibly made worse by a number of ill-considered modifications made by the manufacturers at the behest of the Germans in order to clinch the sale
Comments
They always said, if you wanted you own Starfighter, buy a piece of land and wait. Pretty soon, you'd have enough pieces to build your own....
Posted by: Rob Burgeman | October 12, 2009 8:16 AM
The Germans did the same fighter as bomber gub with the ME-262. Go figure.
Posted by: Fred | October 12, 2009 8:56 AM
Gunther Rall, German ace and starfighter champion just passed away....he escaped the fate of many.
Posted by: Thud | October 12, 2009 4:15 PM
I'd forgotten about this album, bought a copy of it years ago - it's good. Oh and Rob, if I remember correctly that line is in there somewhere!
Posted by: Bruce | October 12, 2009 5:31 PM
I remember looking at a friends 'Airfix'model Starfighter in the '60s & thinking what a good looking plane it was. He made them in a way I couldn't -ie: without glue smearing the cockpit etc & thought he told me it was known as the 'flying coffin' -but who can be sure after all these years of alcohol abuse?
Posted by: ed | October 12, 2009 5:54 PM
I was brought up on a fast jet base. Nothing quite like it. I still get a buzz from seeing fast jets. First one I sat in as a kid in the 60s was a Freedom Fighter. Its derivative I believe was used by USAF for its Aggressor Squadrons. I saw the Starfighter at several air shows in the 70s. It was almost as good as the Lightning which I was lucky enough to go up in.
Posted by: bill | October 12, 2009 6:26 PM
More info on the Tsar-52 crash in the "Ejection" video:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Fairchild_Air_Force_Base_B-52_crash
The definitive case study:
http://www.crm-devel.org/resources/paper/darkblue/darkblue.htm
The pilot was completely loony-tunes and getting suicial ... but had connections. The bras ordered his commander to give him his final farewell flight.
The co-pilot was his wing commander, as he could not get anyone else to sit in that seat.
He should have been section-8'ed instead ... would have cost the Wing Commander his career, but the flight crew would still be alive.
Posted by: Kristopher | October 12, 2009 9:22 PM
Catch a falling starfighter
Put it in the pocket of your jeans
Use it as a gigarette lighter
Or an opener for a can of beans
His other album, Lucky Leif and the Longships is well worth tracking down as well.
Both great "concept" albums from lyrics to album covers. Juses, spent hours playing those and staring at the covers.
How sad I know this.....
Posted by: Skippy Tony | October 12, 2009 9:38 PM
It is a beautiful design. But it was not a bomber, nor a dogfighter. It was intended to fly straight lines at high altitudes, and to do so very quickly indeed! The proper armament included two Sidewinder IR missiles, and the internal 20mm Vulcan cannon. High altitude, high speed, fair weather, ground controlled intercept. Anything else was madness.
Chuck Yeager found out about it's little problems when he tried to take a rocket powered test variant too high (actually, not quite high enough) on a hot day, trying to break the ground to altitude record. Got trapped in a tail-first flat spin, and couldn't recover it. The ejection itself nearly killed him.
If you want a fighter-bomber, you design it that way from the start, pay what it costs, accept the inherent limitations of trying to construct a "Swiss Army knife" of an airplane, and live with it. You don't take a pure fighter and hang bombs on it, and you don't try to make a B-52 perform like a fully aerobatic design. Madness!
Posted by: Bob | October 13, 2009 10:03 AM
That video of the B52 is one of the weirdest things I have ever seen.
Posted by: bill | October 13, 2009 10:59 AM
RIP Robert Calvert, you were one awesome poet and storyteller.
For years I've only known 2 other people who knew about this album. It's nice to see that it's not totally obscure.
Posted by: LoisAlene | October 14, 2009 3:39 PM