"John Szalay" wrote in message
42...
"Canuck" wrote in
:


"Mitchell Holman" wrote in message
n
it's just before accident. Red vertical stabilizer is Joe Walker's
F-104



Why did the flight require "chase planes" - and
five of them, at that............

It didn't. It was a promotional phot op for GE. They provided engines
for all of the aircraft in the formation as I recall. I read about
this a while back so my memory may be faulty.

Nick



AND in Chuck Yeager's opinion:
an accident that should not have happened.
the F-104 driver was NOT a good enough formation pilot to be
in that formation.

"Yeager"
page 179

Yep. I read that too quite a while ago. For those of you who haven't read
either one of Yeager's books, do yourself a favour and get them. They are
well worth reading and quite entertaining even if you aren't an aviation
buff.

While I'm at it, I'd also recommend Tom Wolfe's book "The Right Stuff" as
well as the movie by the same name which is based on the book.

Nick