F-104Z

[Tophe]

Here is a 3-view drawing that I received with a German article that I do not understand. I don't remember exactly but I think I got it from Justo Miranda, the very nice author of the Reichdreams collection ( http://www.luft46.com/rd/rdreams.html ) . This comes from the magazine Flugzeuge January 2001. As there are German roundels, I don't understand why this EADS project is not called F-104Z Zwilling-Starfighter...  

[Tophe]

another try...

[nev]

Well, the original F-104 was little more than an engine with wings.  This thing is 2 engines with wings!  I'd love to see its thrust to weight ratio!

[indydog]

Most Excellent!! Thanks Tophe!

[Aircav]

Oh, yes please        
 

[nev]

from the scan you've posted, I take it that the Z in F-104Z stands for "zussamenstellung" (bottom right of piccie).  My scholboy German tells me zussamen is german for together and I think stellung means "thing", so its a "togetherthing"    

[Captain Canada]

I was wondering about that centre wing too, Ves. It would be allot better if it was a wee bit bigger or fatter, to hold some fuel ! And it does seem a bit extravagant just for the carriage of four Sparrows ! Wonder if it would turn any better with more wing area like that ?

But it sire is cool looking ! Would be a good way to trash some of those Matchbox 'trenchers'

Cheers !

[Tophe]

Glad you like her... Some more :    

[Tophe]

And the last picture below...
Now I try to convert the scanned text in letter-text with OCR-trace 6 (nice Canadian software) then I will put this text on Alta-Vista's Babel-Fish and provide you with a draft translation. Maybe...

[Tophe]

It is too blurred, Ocr-trace cannot convert in text. Will some German-speaking what-iffer (Nev ?) tell us what it is all about ? (this is the beginning, to be continued)...

[Tophe]

End of my page, it seems the last sentence is not finished but this is all I have...    

[nev]

Sorry Tophe, my German is very basic, just a few words and phrases I learnt 15 years ago.  I can tell you that Fleugzeug is aeroplane though!    That article is very blurred as well, so I can only make out a few words here and there.  But I still speak very little german!

[Tophe]

Maybe I will type all the text someday and ask Babel-Fish to translate, but my speed for typing is rather low, and this may take more than one hour... Maybe next week-end.  

[Aircav]

If you un-focus your eyes it makes it a little easier to read.    
 

[John Howling Mouse]

This question goes out to Ollie (the aerodynamicist among us):

As much as we all KNOW how much I looooves me t-tails, wouldn't the closely spaced (yet not connected) t-tails as shown produce massive turbulence against each other?