Supersonic jockeys

One of the more characteristic and sophisticated pieces of the flight equipment that the F-104G had, were the spurs. This peculiar piece, that was attached to the heels of the pilot’s boots it gave them a look identical to the Cow Boys.

These spurs were lazed with ties to the heel of the boot and they left a round empty space behind for the ball at the end of the launching cables and also served to gather the legs in case of launching.

Before sitting on the seat, the pilot would step with that part of the spur, the balls that once positioned allowed a freedom of movement but always united to the feet by the cables that went under the seat.

The neophytes, recently arrived to the Squadron or the invited guests to casually fly, the had quite a hard time with the cursed balls, to the great delight of the line mechanics who with all the experience they would observed attentively.

They were some cases in which a pilot would take up to 10 minutes to sit down and to make it more embarrassing every one could see it since the maneuver to hook up had to be done standing up and it was the only position in which the balls would go in.

There were also cases in which the veteran pilots would forget to hook up the balls and had to stop before reaching the runway, open the cockpit and hook up the balls.

The peculiar manner of hooking up and unhook them was done by hitting the heel against the seat. Some times the spurs were forgotten and left in the boots once the flight had been terminated and they continued wearing them to the Squadron building, causing damages because they were made of fine aluminium. Although, more than forgetting, it was the way that some of these pilots of the F-104G’s felt a little different to the others, with the classic clicking as they walked on the floor.