The NF-104A was enshrined for fans of aviation and cinema to admire during the climactic scene of 1983’s Best Picture nominee, The Right Stuff. In the film, an adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s masterwork non-fiction novel, Chuck Yeager takes the NF-104A up for an unauthorized spin. Contrasted against the Mercury astronauts, who bask in the nation’s adulation, Yeager operates anonymously, in the desert, under the midday sun, excited to determine what the NF-104A is capable of.
“The only problem was, nobody had ever wrung out the NF-104. Just how it would handle in the weak molecular structure of the atmosphere above 100,000 feet, what the limits of its performance envelope would be, nobody knew,” Wolfe wrote. “But Yeager loved the damned ship. It went like a bat … he seized the opportunity to test the NF-104 as if it had his name on it.”
Supersonic Aircraft
Developed from the F-104 Starfighter, the NF-104A is a mixed-power, high-performance supersonic aerospace jet. Used as a trainer for the North American X-15 program, the NF-104A was designed to go.
The plane was crafted around a General Electric J79 jet engine, but that wasn’t quite enough. In addition to the J79, a Rocketdyne AR2-3 rocket engine was pegged to the base of the vertical stabilizer. The AR2-3 burned a mixture of JP-4 jet fuel and 90 percent hydrogen peroxide oxidizer solution. The NF-104A carried enough of the jet fuel/hydrogen peroxide mixture to operate the AR2-3 rocket for approximately 100 seconds. The J79 could provide 9,600 pounds of thrust (dry) and 14,800 pounds with the afterburner engaged. Meanwhile, the Rocketdyne AR2-3 could provide an extra 6,000 pounds of thrust. The end result was impressive; the NF-104 could reach speeds in excess of Mach 2.
Extended Wing
The NF-104s wing was modified from the original F-104, with wingtip extensions that added to the new jet’s surface area. The modification was required to decrease wing loading, and to house the NF104’s Reaction control system (RCS). The RCS was used to help the NF-104 maneuver in the thin air of the upper stratosphere, where traditional aircraft control surfaces had little (or no) effect.
Yeager’s Harrowing Moments
Attempting to set a new altitude record, Yeager flew the NF-104A into the edge of space itself – and promptly lost control. The plane’s flight surfaces didn’t respond normally to the ultra-thin air found in the upper reaches of the Earth’s atmosphere; Yeager entered a flat spin and was forced to eject at high speeds.
“Chuck Yeager hasn’t bailed out an airplane since the day he was shot down over Germany when he was twenty…I’ve tried A! – I’ve tried B! – I’ve tried C!…11,000 feet, 7,000 feet from the farm…He hunches himself into a ball, just as it says in the manual, and reaches under the seat for the cinch ring and pulls. He’s exploded out of the cockpit with such force it’s like a concussion,” Wolf wrote.
Yeager survived the near-death ejection. The Right Stuff, a film without a plot or the near-universal “ticking time bomb” narrative device, concluded with Yeager emerging from the desert after the ejection. Despite the film’s emphasis on the Mercury program, Yeager is clearly the film’s hero. In late 2019, nearly forty years after The Right Stuff was released – and sixty years after Yeager’s ill-fated NF-104 flight, Edwards Air Force Base released footage of the flight itself. The grainy, low-quality footage is a must-see, declassified relic. As for the NF-104, only three jets were ever built. Two were destroyed in accidents. The last surviving NF-104 can be found at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Grass Valley, California, a proud reminder of when we flew rocket-powered jets into the upper reaches of the atmosphere.
Harrison Kass is the Senior Defense Editor at 19FortyFive. An attorney, pilot, guitarist, and minor pro hockey player, he joined the US Air Force as a Pilot Trainee but was medically discharged. Harrison has degrees from Lake Forest College, the University of Oregon, and New York University. He lives in Oregon and listens to Dokken.
