[Captain Eddie]

In reading Gunther Rall's autobiography, he referred to the F 104 as not an all-weather aircraft? What does that mean? It doesn't melt in the rain, does it?

[mustangdriver]

It means that it can fly in both IFR and VFR weather and still complete it's mission I believe.

[Captain Eddie]

Originally Posted by mustangdriver

It means that it can fly in both IFR and VFR weather and still complete it's mission I believe.

Thanks, MD. I think I know in some general way, but what exactly is IFR and VFR?

[mustangdriver]

Sorry man, IFR means instrument flight rules-you have to use the instruments in the aircraft to fly and nothing else.
VFR means that you can use pilotage(or look out the window) to establish where you are.

[Captain Eddie]

Thanks for the quick response, mustangdriver. Now I know.

[mustangdriver]

and knowing is half the battle

[Hoverbug]

Originally Posted by Captain Eddie

In reading Gunther Rall's autobiography, he referred to the F 104 as not an all-weather aircraft? What does that mean? It doesn't melt in the rain, does it?

In this case, I believe it refers to an aircraft with an all-weather intercept capability, which the F-104 did not have until the "G". The F-104 like any tactical aircraft of the time had the basic instrument letdown equipment to allow it to operate in "IFR" (which is a civil term). In other words, the F-104 could fly through clouds, but not effectively engage other aircraft in them.

[FormerViperDriver]

Originally Posted by Hoverbug

In this case, I believe it refers to an aircraft with an all-weather intercept capability, which the F-104 did not have until the "G". The F-104 like any tactical aircraft of the time had the basic instrument letdown equipment to allow it to operate in "IFR" (which is a civil term). In other words, the F-104 could fly through clouds, but not effectively engage other aircraft in them.

Hoverbug has it right. The F-104 certainly was able to fly in bad weather (IFR), but could not do either the air-to-air (interceptor or air superiority) or the air-to-ground mission (dropping bombs) effectively in poor weather conditions. Even with the "G", the navigation system and radar were pretty crude and that made the all-weather capability only very marginally better. Of course, when you drop a "nuke" you only need to get close enough...

FVD

[Captain Eddie]

Thanks, all! I knew I could depend on you guys for answers. What a great Forum!

[ZS-VAN]

That nuke bit is very nasty FVD, just close enough. I'm led to believe that the SAAF had the capability too and that was exactly the tactic to be employed. Scary stuff.