d/d 31oct56, Lockheed (oct56-1958), 83rd FIS loan (1958), General Electric testbed (aug58-aug61), Lockheed (sep61-aug62), 3205th DS (jun64-jan71) w/o 26jan71

Note: The initial assembly of 55-2969 was finished on August 20th, 1956 and delivered to the US Air Force eleven days later. First the aircraft stayed with Lockheed for tests. It encountered a small accident in August 1957. After it was repaired it was prepared for record-flying and In 1958 it flew a record flight by Walter Irwin on 8 May 1958 from Edwards Air Force Base carrying markings of 83rd FiS. On May 8th, Walter broke the altitude record by reaching 27794 feet. A few days later on May 16th, Walter continued braking records. This time his 55-2969 brought him to 2259 kmh speed record. Also two acceleration records were broken. The F-104 flew to 3000 meters in 41,8 seconds and 25000 meters in 4 minutes and 26,03 seconds. After the record breaking activities it was selected as a missile test aircraft at China Lake for some missile (AIM9) testing by Lockheed.
To improve the poor reliability of the J79 the company General Electric was starting a special project . For this the company got this 55-2969 on loan, arriving with General Electric on August 8th, 1958. It got General Electric markings and it received a partly dayglow colorscheme as well as nickname “Queenie”. It performed accelerated service tests on the J79, as well as other development work before the main test in 1960 as described beneath in this history page.
The aircraft served General Electric until August 1961 when the aircraft returned to Lockheed, Palmdale for future drone modifications. It was one of the last airplanes that still had a downward ejection seat, among other features that were common to the YF-104's.
As QF-104A drone it entered the 3205th Drone Squadron in 1964. Finally the life of this aircraft ended in 1971 when it was shot down.

Accident Reports:

22 August 1957 (F-104A)
Damaged on Eglin AFB but it could be repaired. During the repair it was modified into F104A1LO.

23 July 1965 (QF104A)
This day this Starfighter made a MACH 1.8 flight at 35 MFT when it was shot at by a missile. This missile pulled 25 G's while tracking the Starfighter which was confirmed by telemetry. The missile missed its target and the Starfighter could land again in one piece..

28 September 1968 (QF104A)
This day this QF-104A drone made an unmanned mission. During this mission it was hit under its left wing by an AIM-9 missile fired by a USAF F-4 Phantom. Gladly the aircraft could be brought/controlled back home and it landed ok. Carles "Chuck" Dildine was at the controls. He encountered some trouble controlling the heading on landing. There was no other damage and aircraft could be repaired.

26 January 1971 (QF104A)
This sad day the 55-2969 was shot down by an AIM-4H missile shot from an F-4E Phantom. It was on its 25th drone mission.

OCAMA J79 improvement program 1960-1961 and the use of 55-2969
(thanks to David Markley)

In January 1960 USAF established specific requirements for increasing J79 reliability and decreasing maintenance hours per flight hour. As a result of this requirement, all J79 factory and flight experience was analyzed to establish a program to achieve these new objectives.
The combined facilities of OCAMA Engine Division, the G.E. Flight Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base, and the G.E. Evendale plant were jointly utilized to determine what changes were required to achieve the optimum reliability and maintenance for the F-104/J79 weapon system.
A flight test program was initiated to measure compressor blade stresses under all flight conditions. Data from this test program disclosed that the first-stage compressor rotor blades were exceeding stress limits under certain flight conditions, and verified the need for a configuration change in the first-stage compressor-rotor blades.

In February 1960, two months after initiation of the program, General Electric redesigned the first-stage blade configuration from a multi tang to a single tang design. To evaluate the new first-stage compressor blade design, a second instrumented flight test program was conducted at G.E.’s Flight Test Center, Edwards AFB. The results of this instrumented flight test confirmed the aducuacy of the first-stage single tang blade configuration.
The new single tang compressor-rotor blade configuration was introduced by OCAMA as a retrofit program on all J79 engines to be accomplished at field maintenance and overhaul facilities.

Concurrently the OCAMA Engine Division initiated a controlled program to establish component life for all J79 engines operating in the USAF commands. As a part of this program OCAMA authorized General Electric to conduct a 500 hour accelerated flight test demonstration.

The project ended in March 1961 when 55-2969 flew from Tinker AFB for its last testflight. Powered by a J79-GE-7 it completed the 500th flight hour since the last major engine inspection. This 500 hours of inflight testing conducted during a six month period consisted of 257 missions, 232 typical Tactical Air Command missions and 25 flights exploring the extremes of the F-104 flight envelope. This final mission was flown by Col. George I Ruddell, Commander of the 479th TAC Fighter Wing, based at George AFB. This mission concluded an extensive program which was conducted by the Oklamhoma City Air Materiel Area (OCAMA), the General Electric Company and the Tactical Air Command, to demonstrate the improved reliability and low maintenance features of the F-104/J79 weapon system.

Over-all results of the above program reveal that the new compressor-rotor configuration was successful. The 500 hour flight demonstration completed in six months without overhaul or major inspection, together with the inspection of ten high time compressor-rotors at the USAF’s overhaul facility, Middletown, Pa, demonstrate the increased reliability of the J79-GE-7 turbojet engine.
In 15 months the compressor-rotor life improvement program was initiated, evaluated, and engines in the field converted to the new design configuration. Joint management of the J79 powerplant system, by OCAMA and General Electric, has achieved improved reliability and maintenance for the J79-GE-7 turbojet engine.  

During the testflights the 55-2969 received a nickname "Queenie" which was also applied on the fuselage. (see photo beneath).

55-2969 nicknamed "Queenie"

QUEENIE:
There are a number of speculations about the usage of this nickname. Jason Chapman (G.E.) told us: "I know two things: When the XP-59A was undergoing flight tests at Muroc, the Bell and GE crew nicknamed the airplane "Queenie", because they had to remove the engine access panels so often for maintenance and engine removal. In the early 1940's, "Queenie" was a well-known exotic dancer. I believe the coincidence is almost too good to be true, since I would suspect that 969 underwent a lot of maintenance during her development program. The only way to accomplish some engine inspections was to pull the tail section off the airplane--sometimes every night. I can see the similarities between 969 and the XP-59.
The 3 cards on the airplane were the Ace of Hearts, the 2 of Hearts and the Queen of Spades. I was told that the maintenance crew and several of the pilots liked to play the card game "hearts" during periods of inactivity, thus the cards painted on the side of the aircraft. Perhaps the name Queenie has something to do with the cards as well, but sadly I do not know".

This photo was taken at Edwards in 1960 showing the project team. Craig Markley is seen here in the rear center. The 55-2969 is showing the "Queenie" zapp and the GE logo on the tail. Also the dayglow paint scheme is visible. (Edwards, 1960, General Electric via David Markely).

Footnote: We want to thank David Markley for sharing all the General Electric related material which he got from his late father Craig Markley. Craig Markley worked for General Electric between September 1957 and November 1963. He was Aircraft Crew Chief, Director of work performed on Flight Test Aircraft. He was nterface with test engineering for scheduling of modification on the instrumentation, engine, aircraft and flight envelope. Testing of the engine in both the test cell and airframe. Assist the project engineer and instrumentation engineer with the design and fabrication of instrumentation components and wiring for data acquisition. He did the necessary paperwork to conform with GE and USAF requirements. Order and supervise the replacement of parts to maintain the aircraft in a flying status. To brief USAF pilots in the emergency procedures and problem symptoms of the J-79-GE-3 jet engine.
We also thank Jason Chapman (historian at GE's Flight Test Center) for providing valuable historical information.

The end is near. Here QF-104A 55-2969 is seen on the 3205th Drone Squadron at the Eglin AFB flightline, next to drone chase F-104D 57-1324. It was taken on 12 November 1969. It is the very last photo known of this aircraft which was shot down 14 months later.... The sprarkling dayglow scheme on the QF-104s was always a big challenge to all color photo and slide films....very hard to reproduce !!!!