History

An aviation legend

Gerhard Neumann

Gerhard Neumann was born in Frankfurt an der Oder on 8 October 1917. After some adventurous years in Asia, he emigrated to the United States in 1946, where “Herman the German” – also the title of his autobiography – became an engineer at General Electric in 1948 and later rose to head its jet engine division.

Among his greatest achievements is the J79, the first jet engine to make Mach 2 possible, which powered both the F-104 Starfighter and the F-4 Phantom.

He was granted 8 patents, including one for “variable stators”, and received numerous awards in the USA, France and Germany (Otto Lilienthal Medal).

Gerhard Neumann visited the museum together with his wife Clarice on 21 January 1997. In the same year he celebrated his 80th birthday … four weeks later he passed away.

A community of former F-104 pilots

Cactus Starfighter Squadron

During the German Air Force flight training programme on the F/TF-104 G weapon system at Luke AFB, Phoenix, Arizona, which ran from 1964 to 1983, the Governor of Arizona established the “Arizona Cactus Squadron” by certificate dated 29 March 1967:

“In honour of the young German men who are made honorary citizens of the state after completing their pilot training.”

The initiative came from Tom Rhone, the LITTON employee in charge of looking after the “Germans”, who in 1976 also founded the “USAF / Luftwaffe International Friendship Foundation”, which has supported local charities ever since. On the German side, a student exchange is offered that enables a student to study in America.

Since 1992, the “Reunion” has taken place in Berlin every two years, coinciding with the International Aerospace Exhibition (ILA). The community, now organised as the Cactus Starfighter Squadron, aims to continue these activities and in 1997 set out its purpose in its statutes as follows:

“Based on the shared experience of common service and committed to the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany, the CSS maintains the tradition of military aviation with special emphasis on the era of the F-104.”