31 Facts About F-104 Starfighter

Lockheed F-104 Starfighter is an American single-engine, supersonic air superiority fighter which was extensively deployed as a fighter-bomber during the Cold War.

On 4 March 1954, the Lockheed XF-104 Starfighter took to the skies for the first time, and on 26 February 1958 the production fighter was activated by the USAF.

The F-104 Starfighter eventually flew with fifteen air forces, but its poor safety record, especially in Luftwaffe service, brought it substantial criticism.

F-104 Starfighter featured a radical design, with thin, stubby wings attached farther back on the fuselage than most contemporary aircraft.

The F-104 Starfighter established world records for airspeed, altitude, and time-to-climb in 1958, becoming the first aircraft to hold all three simultaneously.

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F-104 Starfighter was airborne for only 21 minutes, much shorter than planned, due to landing gear retraction problems.

Canada, who had chosen the Starfighter to fulfill its NATO obligations, delivered 121 sets of wings, aft fuselages, and tail assemblies built by Canadair to Europe while it constructed 200 CF-104s with Orenda-built engines for the Royal Canadian Air Force.

F-104 Starfighter's airframe was all-metal, primarily duralumin with some stainless steel and titanium.

The F-104 Starfighter had good acceleration, rate of climb, and top speed, but its sustained turn performance was poor.

Unlike some supersonic aircraft, the F-104 Starfighter did not have variable-geometry inlets; instead at high Mach numbers excess air was bypassed around the engine.

F-104 Starfighter was designed for production rates of up to 20 airplanes per day from a single assembly line.

Commencing with Operation Rolling Thunder, the F-104 Starfighter was used both in the air-superiority and air-support roles.

The F-104 Starfighter was deployed extensively as a barrier combat air patrol protector for the EC-121D Warning Star airborne early warning aircraft patrolling off the North Vietnamese coast.

Twenty-five MiG kills were scored by fighters controlled by EC-121 Big Eye missions, and their F-104 Starfighter escorts played a vital role in ensuring their safety.

In July 1967, the F-104 Starfighter units transitioned to the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II.

The F-104 Starfighter was deemed inadequate for either, lacking both payload capability and endurance in comparison with other USAF aircraft.

The Starfighter was instrumental in capturing an IAF Folland Gnat on 3 September 1965, which opted to land at a nearby unused Pakistani airfield and surrender rather than engage the intercepting F-104s .

The IAF claimed two additional PAF F-104 Starfighter kills that same day, one of which was the aircraft flown by Changezi's wingman, Squadron Leader Rashid Bhatti; the PAF said he returned without damage to Masroor.

One F-104 Starfighter did not return to base and its pilot was listed as missing in action.

The F-104G was ultimately chosen because the other two finalists were still in the development phase while the F-104 was about to be introduced into USAF service; although the American version lacked all-weather capability, Lockheed promised they could deliver this, and favorable reports by the German Ministry of Defence delegation sent in December 1957 to flight-test the F-104 tipped the scales in the Starfighter's favor.

International service of the F-104 Starfighter began to wind down in the late 1970s, being replaced in many cases by the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon, but it remained in service with some air forces for another two decades.

The F-104 Starfighter performed many safety chase missions in support of advanced research aircraft, and provided a launch platform for sounding rockets.

F-104 Starfighter said it planned to begin providing launch services "in early 2020".

The F-104 Starfighter's large turn radius was due to the high speeds required for maneuvering, and its high-alpha stalling and pitch-up behavior required attentiveness from its pilot.

Unlike most aircraft, the F-104 Starfighter was landed with the engine at high power, as the boundary layer control system lost effectiveness below approximately 82 percent engine rpm.

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Some pilots experienced uncommanded "stick kicker" activation at low altitudes while flying straight and level, so F-104 Starfighter crews were often directed to deactivate it for flight operations.

Original fatigue calculations had not taken into account the high number of g-force loading cycles that the F-104 Starfighter fleet was experiencing, and many airframes were returned to the depot for wing replacement or outright retirement.

Erich Hartmann, the world's top-scoring fighter ace, commanded one of West Germany's first post-war jet fighter-equipped wings and deemed the F-104 Starfighter to be an unsafe aircraft with poor handling characteristics for aerial combat.

Safety record of the F-104 Starfighter became high-profile news in the mid-1960s, especially in West Germany.

F-104 Starfighter was the first aircraft to simultaneously hold the world speed and altitude records.

F-104 Starfighter was operated by the militaries of the following nations:.