In the days before cable TV and on-demand everything, folks were at the mercy of the big three networks. And, what's even more amazing, television wasn't a 24-hour proposition. Networks used to actually "sign off" at the end of the day. And since these sign offs were like a companion going away for the night, they evoked a lot of emotion. Chris Michel, the man who founded Military.com and brought DT to the masses, recently found some classic sign off footage very germane to our audience. Reading the comments you can see that some attribute military careers to these scenes of an F-104 soaring across the sky. And, of course, "High Flight" remains one of the greatest poems ever written about the art of flying.
Speaking of the Starfighter, I had the opportunity to do exercises against Turkish F-104s back in the day. As you might guess from the stubby wings, the F-104 isn't much of a dogfighter. (It was designed as a straight-line "interceptor.") An elegant machine, nonetheless.
High Flight
Uploaded by DwightFrye
(Gouge: CM)
-- Ward
