The Starfighter Serials

Accident Reports:

26 July 1958 (F-104A)
This day the aircraft, operated by the AFFTC, encountered a fatal accident at homebase Edwards AFB, Pilot Capt. Ivan C. Kincheloe, whom the Air Force had assigned to fly the North American X-15 rocket research aircraft, was fatally injured in this crash. He was officially the 7th pilot fatally injured in F104A accidents in the USA. The pilot was planning to chase a testflight of F-104A 56-735 flown by Lou Schalk and lost its engine just after takeoff at Edwards. Sadly he was too low to eject downward, so he tried to roll to inverted and fire the seat but he never made it around and out. Kincheloe ejected shortly before impact. This impact was 9.5 NM SW from the west end of Rwy 22, about 10 miles SW of the headquarters building at the Air Force Flight Test Centre (AFFTC).
Investigations results showed (Thanks to Tony Moore): Shortly after takeoff, the inlet guide vane (IGV) position feedback cable broke, allowing the IGVs to go to the full-closed position. The failure was not readily apparent to the pilot, as the J79 engine was still getting 100-percent RPM and there was no indication of an over-temperature condition. Unfortunately, the engine was now only providing 80-percent thrust, and the pilot could not light the afterburner because of reduced airflow through the engine. This situation resulted in a too low altitude to allow the pilot to escape the aircraft in time.

See also for the true story on an internet page, dedicated to Ivan Kincheloe:
http://www.astronautix.com/astros/kinheloe.htm

A special wreckhunter team by Tony Moore and Pete Merlin have visited the crashsite a few times and found lots of debris. See for more information on their webpage:
http://www.thexhunters.com/xpeditions/f-104a.html

This photo shows F-104A nr 60 being c/n 1060 and this makes it 56-772. It was taken in 1957 at the big flightline at Palmdale, California where all the Starfighter flew their very first hours after manufacturing. (Photo : Lockheed).

Just in use with the AFFTC this photo was taken early 1958 near Edwards Air Force Base. (Photo: USAF)

Left the famous and very unfortunate pilot Capt. Ivan C. Kincheloe, posing aside one of the pre-production YF-104A aircraft.
Right the remains of the crater left by the 104 in 1958 as it can be found today. It was taken by the X hunter research team in April 2009. For more information have a look at their wonderful website "www.thexhunters.com".

At the crashsite lots of small pieces could be found even a few years ago. Here some parts from the outside body which were found by Tony Moore and others from the X hunter research team. For more information have a look at their wonderful website "www.thexhunters.com".

This photo shows some small pieces from the cockpit compartment, found a few years ago by Tony Moore and others from the X hunter research team. For more information have a look at their wonderful website "www.thexhunters.com".