Savage pass

Word got to the Squadron that on the passes during the victory parade the majority of the people witnessing the parade could not see the F-104G.

The motive for this was the speed of the passes that was at 350 knots and the noise of the engines was always behind the formations so by the time the public heard the noise, the whistling howl of the J-79 engines, the planes had already left.

To solve the problem, some one suggested, that an airplane would go ahead first alerting the public and them when they heard the roar and would look upward they could see the rest of the F-104G’s a few seconds later.

The passing of this airplane alerting the arrival of the rest was given the name “The Savage Pass”, because it was a pass of incredible joy for the pilot,  because it was an authorized pass with afterburner and at 550 knots flying above the Castellana in Madrid, with a vertical exit with all the barrel rolls that he wanted to do.

The airplane destine to do it went with the formation during all the phases before the parade, acting as a reserve in flight in case there a failure before the parade.

Finally, when they were aligned with the Casrellana from San Agustin de Guadalix and a little farther the Leader of the formation of the F-104G’s would give the word and the reserve would turn the afterburner on, drop a little lower and run the city from North to South and making a swift vertical climb after passing Atocha, with all noise that the pilot could stand.

The sure thing was that nobody could see this pass and even the ones who had been warned ahead of time, because when the noise produced would reach the public the airplane was already a pair of miles away but they could contemplate the formations of the F-104G’s that were arriving in perfect order at a slower speed but yet very rapid.

This practice was repeated during the victory parades in which the F-104G’s too part.