A
STUDY IN EGRESS EVOLUTION:
[Not only is the
Lockheed F-104 Starfighter one of the most fascinating modern aeronautical
designs ever to come off a drafting table, the aircrew ejection (egress system)
development that accompanied it is a story in itself.]
* * *
The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter
originated in the perceived need for a high performance dedicated air
superiority fighter by US Air Force pilots engaged in Korean War air combat.
Although the Air Force itself did not have such a requirement in the very early
50s, Lockheed’s Kelly Johnson personally visited the Korean Theatre early in
the war and soon concluded that superior speed and altitude were the two most
critical needs of the American airmen who had found themselves facing the
surprisingly capable Russian designed MiG-15 fighter, itself a product of
Russia’s excellent utilization of German World War Two advances in
aeronautical science.
Returning
to the United States, Johnson’s design team began studies for such a
‘super-fighter’ that drew heavily on the Douglas Aircraft’s experimental
research X-3 design. Incorporating the super-thin wing design of that aircraft,
along with other aspects of its developmental data produced in its 1952 flight
testing. After nearly 14 different combinations of features had been explored,
Lockheed finally produced their Model 83, which later became known as the F-104
Starfighter. When the first flight of the XF-104 prototype took place, in March
of 1954, the design had been formalized in a form very close to what the very
last production Starfighter would look like. The short, stubby wings (each only
7.5 feet long) were optimized for low-drag high speed flight over a broad Mach
environment (as was the high horizontal stabiliser), although the relatively
high wing-loading (about 95 pounds per foot) yielded poor maneuvering
capabilities. Nevertheless, the concept evolved and was advanced as a point
interceptor to counter relatively poorly maneuvering Russian bomber intrusion.
Due
to the aircraft’s anticipated supersonic performance, clearly some sort of
effective aircrew ejection system would have to be a mandatory feature of the
F-104, despite the fact that US Air Force pilots in Korea insisted that they
neither wanted nor needed ‘ejection seats’ in their aircraft! Again, the
Douglas X-3 experimental research aircraft appeared to provide a feasible
approach to the anticipated need with its downward firing pilot ejection seat.
In
the early 1950s, the technology of egress systems for high speed aircraft was
still in its infancy. Much of the knowledge that had led to the very first USAF
production ejection seat (that used in the Republic F-84 Thunderjet) had come
directly from captured German WWII aeronautical research and the capabilities of
the existing ballistic catapults were such that great concerns existed over the
ability of these catapults to loft a pilot safely up and over the high tail of a
supersonic aircraft like the Starfighter. Since it was also felt that safe
ejection was most important at high altitudes and speeds, the basic Douglas X-3
downward firing ejection system was used as a design inspiration for the F-104
seat. Since the Douglas X-3 seat had been reasonably well flight tested and
shown to be safe to use, given sufficient altitude, it seemed to make sense to
install a similar system in the new F-104 point interceptor.
Thus
it was that Lockheed subcontracted the Stanley Aircraft Company (the firm that
had developed the X-3’s downward firing seat for Douglas Aircraft) to engineer
the Starfighter’s egress system. The Stanley “B-seat”, closely based upon
the X-3 system, was the very first ejection seat used in the new Starfighter.
This seat was fitted to the prototypes and the first 26 production F-104A
aircraft. It was a system that featured retention for the pilot’s legs similar
to the Stanley seat used in the X-3, since arm and leg flail due to wind-blast
effects had been shown in ejection seat tests to be serious concerns. The
Stanley “B-seat” required the pilot to manually move his feet back against
the seat’s foot recesses to activate clamps that would hold the feet to the
seat before ejection could take place. This maneuver, plus a pull on the seat
pan’s triangular grab-ring located between the knees, would initiate the
sequence of events that would fire ballistic thrusters to rotate thigh guards
into position, tighten restraints, and lock the pilot’s inertia reel harness.
The seat would then begin to move down the seat rails and mechanically unlock
the belly hatch under the seat, which would then be swept away by the windblast.
When this sequence of actions had been completed, an M-3 initiator would ignite
the catapult’s explosive charge to fire the seat clear of the aircraft in a
downward trajectory. A gravity release back-up system was also incorporated, in
the event the ballistic charge in the catapult failed. Separation from the seat
was through manual release of the pilot’s belts and restraints, falling clear
of the seat, after which an automatic system released his personal parachute.
The
next seat used in the Starfighter was called the Stanley “C-seat” and it was
installed in the 15 subsequent F-104A production aircraft. The C-seat added a
set of spurs that were worn on the pilot’s shoes, to which were attached
cables that would automatically retract the pilot’s feet when the grab-ring
was pulled, as part of the ejection sequence. It also featured an improved
automatic seat belt and restraint release system, as well as an anaeroid
parachute deployment system that would activate automatically when a certain
altitude was reached.
A
further refinement of the Stanley “C-seat” resulted in the Stanley “C-1
seat”, which closely resembled the previous two seats in general appearance,
but which featured a number of further advanced safety systems. Whereas many
contemporary ejection systems required a separate action to release the
aircraft’s canopy prior to initiating ejection, on the C-1 system the entire
sequence of ejection events was initiated with a single pull on the triangular
grab-handle. Upon pulling up on the ring (known to some pilots as the
“chicken-ring”), the thigh guards would rotate into position, the feet would
be retracted and held securely to the seat, the pilots seat belts and shoulder
restraints would be tightened and locked, the belly escape hatch would be
ejected and the seat fired down and out. Once clear of the aircraft, an
automatic system would cut the foot spur cables, release the seat restraints,
and push the pilot out of the seat, where his barometrically activated chute
would deploy at the right altitude. There were reportedly less than 100 of the
C-1 seats manufactured and installed in early F-104A production aircraft.
Unfortunately,
by the time the first three years of service had been completed by production
F-104A models it had become dreadfully clear that the original downward firing
ejection seat concept was seriously flawed. The early GE J-79-3A engine used in
the Starfighter was prone to engine failures, flame-outs, and malfunctions, many
of them occurring on take-off and at very low altitudes and speeds. In the event
of such a loss of power the emergency protocol required that a Starfighter pilot
roll the aircraft to the side (ideally becoming inverted) so that the downward
firing seat would then shoot “up” out of the belly. As might be predicted,
reality almost always varied from the ideal escape scenario in the manual, and a
number of Air Force pilots were lost in these abortive escape attempts. It
became clear that an upward firing seat system was needed, since the majority of
in-flight emergencies were occurring at low speed and low altitude, rather than
at higher altitudes and faster speeds.
Finally,
Lockheed admitted the need and a hasty program was initiated to remove the
dangerous downward firing seats and replace them with a new Lockheed upward
firing C-2 seat (in about 1962). The C-2 seat, although it closely resembled the
earlier seats in general appearance, incorporated a new and improved ballistic
charge catapult that finally allowed the Starfighter’s high tail assembly to
be cleared upon ejection at high speeds. The seat’s headrest box was
strengthened so as to allow it to blow through a canopy that wouldn’t jettison
properly and certain other refinements were incorporated into the C-2 seat’s
design. A half-circular “D-ring” was substituted for the original triangular
pull handle and a rotary actuator system actively separated the pilot and seat
after clearing the aircraft. While the new C-2 system was far better than any of
the downward firing predecessor designs, it was still not a ZERO/ZERO seat (that
is, a seat capable of saving an ejecting pilot at zero altitude and zero
speed). The C-2 seat nominally required a forward speed of at least 80 knots and
an altitude of about 50 feet to insure a safe recovery.
Due
to changing US Air Force requirements and the fact that the Starfighter had a
relatively small internal fuel load, the F-104 did not see much use in US air
defense. It was used only briefly and in limited numbers as an air defense
interceptor, until later, more capable interceptors came into use (notably the
Convair F-106 Delta Dart). In the late 60s, however, Lockheed managed to sell
the F-104 aircraft to NATO allies, most particularly to Germany. This led to the
production of a large number of improved Starfighters under license overseas,
but the requirement Germany imposed on the F-104 was for a ground attack
aircraft—a role it had never been intended to be used in. Due to this fact,
the terrible European weather, insufficient aircraft maintenance, and pilot
training issues (German crews trained at sunny Luke AFB, where the weather is
always perfect for flying, and then returned to face the typical perpetually
marginal European weather which was seldom clear or ideal for flight
operations), Germany lost a large number of its F-104G (German) Starfighters.
Most accidents and emergencies occurred at very low altitude and close to the
ground, where the Lockheed C-2 seat was unsuited to safe recovery. Even the
replacement of the C-2’s catapult with an improved, higher-performance rocket
catapult system did not satisfy the German Luftwaffe and it ultimately selected
The Martin Baker Aircraft Company of the UK to devise a suitable, safe, and true
ZERO/ZERO seat system for their Starfighters.
Martin
Baker took their Mark 5 seat (already in use), added a rocket catapult system to
it, and reconfigured the seat to fit the small confines of the F-104’s
cockpit. After some initial problems that required moving the seat further aft
(about 6 inches), so as to clear the instrument panel sun-shield, the new Martin
Baker GQ-7A ejection seat was found to perform excellently in all emergency
egress situations and this seat (with some additional modifications) remained
the last ejection seat used in the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter through the
retirement of the last NATO F-104S models by Italy in 2004.
A
final refinement of the basic Lockheed C-2 upward firing ejection seat system
was the S/R-2 seat. This seat used a ‘Stabilisation/Retardation’ (S/R)
system that deployed a fast-acting drogue chute to keep the seat from tumbling
out of control upon ejection and also helped slow the seat/man package
sufficiently to allow safe main chute deployment at higher speeds where a chute
might be damaged by more severe aerodynamic forces. The S/R-2 system allowed a
faster, safer egress from a disabled aircraft at either high or low altitude and
also featured an improved high-altitude life support (oxygen) capability. A
ballistic slug deployment system on the seat’s chute pack would quickly drag
the pilot chute out into the slipstream at the man-seat separation moment ,
providing the correct altitude had been reached (this function was
barometrically controlled). This chute system (similar to the BA-24 used
on F-105 and F-106 aircraft) was also retroactively fitted to some C-2 seats.
The SR-1 seat, used in the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird Mach III recon aircraft was
very similar to the S/R-2 seat system, but was optimized for the SR-71’s
exceptionally high and fast operational profile.
The
seat you see here today is a specimen of the early Lockheed C-2 ejection seat,
as used in both late model USAF F-104s and early German F-104G models. It used a
Bendix contracted seat-survival kit (it could also be used with the USAF P/N
140000-44 seat survival kit, very similar to the Bendix kit) that carried an
enhanced emergency bailout oxygen system for escape at high altitude. The
earliest and original F-104 Starfighter operations were carried out at high
altitude, requiring use of a partial pressure suit that the Bendix seat survival
kit interfaced with. After the Starfighter evolved from its high altitude
mission to a lower altitude profile (ground attack, etc.), the seat kit’s
emergency bailout oxygen system was frequently removed and a pressure suit was
not needed. Of particular interest is the oval ring mounted on the left side of
the seat’s headrest; this was a back-up foot-spur cable cutter deployment
initiator that allowed the pilot to free his feet from the seat in an abortive
ejection or emergency. Note the two massive swing-arms located on either side of
the seat that have “No Lift” on them. These were thigh protector guards that
swung forward on ejection; when they moved forward they pulled a protective web
net out on both sides of the seat to also protect the pilot’s arms from
wind-blast. Finally, note the unique “spurs” that are found in the footrest
recesses. These are attached to the seat via cables to automatically retract the
pilot’s feet upon ejection. During regular flight the cables would draw forth
freely so that the aircraft could be piloted with only very slight tension on
the cables, so as to allow full use of rudder controls in normal operation.
These “spurs” were the status symbol of a Starfighter pilot and were worn on
the flight boots whenever an F-104 pilot was on alert and ready to scramble.
The
Lockheed C-2 seat on view was manufactured in 1964 and weighs about 80 pounds;
it was considered a relatively light design for its day, compared to some of the
far heavier 1950s and 60s seat designs (such as the Weber and Stanley seats used
in the Boeing B-52 “BUFF”). Fully loaded with seat survival kit and
contents, the seat could weigh close to just over 175 pounds installed in an
F-104 aircraft.