1962 German Air Force Starfighter formation accident

Causes

The investigation of the accident by the General for Flight Safety was made more difficult by the fact that only eyewitness reports and the pilots' radio communications could be used for the evaluation. The crashed aircraft had no flight data recorder or cockpit voice recorder. The literature frequently assumes that the formation leader Jon Speer briefly lost his orientation in the clouds and therefore began the pull-out of the manoeuvre too low. The fact that none of the pilots attempted to escape with the ejection seat suggests that none of the pilots was aware of how low he had got as a result of the manoeuvre. Since Bernd Kuebart and Heinz Frye, as is usual in formation flying, flew exclusively by visual contact with Speer and not by instruments, they were unable to assess the situation and react accordingly.

Wolfgang von Stürmer's aircraft struck the ground somewhat apart from the three other F-104s, from which it was concluded that he had attempted a pull-out manoeuvre. This was unsuccessful; his Starfighter entered a high-speed stall.

The official report determined as causes

that Jon Speer had too little experience in formation aerobatics,

that he had inadvertently flown into the clouds and had then lost his orientation,

that the apex of the manoeuvre leading to the accident had been set too low, the radius of the loop had been too small (for the speed and manoeuvrability of the F-104) and the pull-out had therefore not been possible.

A contributing factor to distraction and disorientation may have been that one of the two “wingmen” had come too close to Speer. One of Speer's last radio messages was “Go away”. In the opinion of many F-104 pilots it was generally a mistake to permit aerobatics with this aircraft type, since the demands on the pilots, who had to concentrate on flight parameters such as speed and precisely holding position, were too high.

Günther Rall, one of the most successful fighter pilots of the Luftwaffe in the Second World War and the first German pilot with an F-104 licence, travelled to Nörvenich Air Base on the day of the accident and learned there that there was an F-104 aerobatic team. He said to Hans-Ulrich Flade, commander of a training group: “Tell me: have you all gone mad? Aerobatics with that bird? Formation aerobatics?” Flade replied: “But of course. Kammhuber approved it himself. There is even talk of taking Kammhuber along tomorrow.” Rall wrote about this in his autobiography: “The Starfighter is the most fascinating aircraft I have ever flown, but it is about as suited to aerobatics as a Formula 1 racing car is to the Monte Carlo Rally.”