The Lockheed F-94 Starfire is a notable, early all-weather jet interceptor.
Less well-remembered is an aircraft spawned by its prototype studies, the YF-94 NF(H) Moonfire.
Born out of a need to defend North America from a non-existent Soviet long-range bomber threat, the new interceptor would debut a few technological leaps along with many dead-ends.
Developed early on in the
F-94 Starfire project, this jet was up-gunned and specialized for night bomber interdiction. The new fighter was armed with six 20 mm cannon, one rapid-fire 25 mm cannon and a .50 cal. machine gun which was typically loaded with tracer rounds for sighting purposes.
The aircraft had a crew of two, a pilot and a radar operator/targeting officer in back.
Officially known as the YF-94 NF(H) for Night Fighter - Heavy, the Lockheed firm was bound and determined to get as much mileage out of the Starfire concept as possible so they called this related development the Moonfire.
One great hindrance to the Starfire was its huge radar and associated electronics. That problem seemed solved with the AN/APG-333 & 1/3 radar, a smaller and more powerful top-secret version of the famous AN/APG-33 which was carried in one of the wing pods. The other pod carried a a powerful General Electric searchlight.
Moonfires would be vectored by ground control to the enemy's general location. Then the AN/APG-333 & 1/3 radar would allow the fighter to home in on its target which would be illuminated by the searchlight for effective gunnery. The Air Force ordered a small production run for evaluation purposes, but the design was obsolescent from the start.
By the autumn of 1953, the aging service-test batch of YF-94NF(H) Moonfires formed part of the 7997th Fighter Interceptor Sqn. based at Plane Field, near Plainfield, New Jersey to ride out their time until retirement. These aircraft had just returned from temporary deployment to Thule, Greenland for cold-weather tests. They hadn't even been back in the 'states long enough to have their protective coat of paint and red arctic recognition panels removed as the month of October wound down.
The timing of the 7997th FIS and their Moonfighters would be very fortunate indeed because of Steve Allen's Oct. 30, 1953 Friday Fright Night show which aired on WNBT-TV.
The presentation that evening was one of the first made-for-TV science-fiction movies, a re-telling of the War of the Worlds in black and white.
Eerily reminiscent of events exactly 15 years before, the viewing public panicked when the Martian spacecraft landed.
Of course this was all just early special effects and those fearsome flying saucers were only props, but those tuning in didn't know that.
Along with the public panic, the Air Force was notified and a flight of YF-94 NF(H) Moonfires was scrambled to intercept the invading men from Mars.
Of course, they never found any invaders but it all made for great headlines the next day.
NBC wanted to fire Allen immediately but Steve had an ironclad contract and the board wasn't going to shell out money for nothing.
So they found him another show in an even later time-slot.
The new show was essentially an hours-long abuse fest opening with Steve's monologue which was received with boos and cat-calls. Next, side-kick Don Rickles would fling insults at the host. "Nearsighted hockey-puck" and "four-eyed momma's boy" were some of the more memorable put-downs. After that, Steve would ask Miles Davis for a musical interlude to which the jazz genius would often reply "@#$% you! I play what I want you lilly-white mother @#$%&$!!!" Then various celebrity guests would appear, missing no opportunity to needle the host and question his parentage, sanity, sobriety and sartorial choices among other things. Steve was able to endure this for two years until NBC mercifully made him the co-host of "Books, Bongos & Bourbon with Jack Kerouac".
Steve Allen's career lasted longer than the Moonfire's. The last YF-94NF(H) was retired before Elvis had his first hit and none survive today.
Brian da Basher
