LOCKHEED F-104 STARFIGHTER 61
Left: Lockheed’s chief engineering test pilot, Herman R. ‘Fish’ Salmon, in a classic pose with a pre-
production YF-104A. When this was first presented to the press, its advanced engine intake design
(featuring a central fixed shock cone to control the supply of air to the engine) was still considered
secret. As a result, the intakes were disguised with pointed hemispherical fairings. The first variants
of the Starfighter featured a downward-firing ejection seat, this being considered the safest way
for the pilot to clear the T-tail when leaving his aircraft at high speed. Only later was the upward-
firing Lockheed C-2 seat fitted. When flying the second prototype, 53-37787, ‘Fish’ Salmon used the
downward-firing ejection seat and lived to fly another day, unlike the aircraft.Below: All F-104G Starfighters were powered by General Electric’s J79 jet engine. It was a pure turbojet
with single spool and 17-stage compressor. The J79-GE-11 version that powered the F-104G gave
10,000lb static thrust dry and 15,600lb with afterburner. If the Starfighter pilot had one real complaint
about the J79 it would be that it left a smoky exhaust trail, which made the aircraft easy to spot against
a clear sky, a huge disadvantage in air combat.Lockheed F-104 Starfighter
I
t looked like a speed machine and it was.
Dubbed the ‘missile with a man in it’, the
Lockheed Starfighter became the first
aircraft to simultaneously hold the world
speed and altitude records.
The design criteria for the F-104 Starfighter
resulted from a simple expedient adopted
by Lockheed’s engineers in the early 1950s;
they went out and met front-line US Air Force
pilots and asked them what they wanted in a
next-generation fighter. The results were hardly
surprising. What was needed, the engineers
were told, was an aircraft that flew faster and
higher than the enemy and was capable of
pulling tighter turns in combat.
Clarence ‘Kelly’ Johnson’s Special Project team
at the Lockheed ‘Skunk Works’ refined a number
of possible designs to find the best compromise
between these conflicting requirements. The
decision was taken early on to go for a Mach 2.2
top speed, this representing the limit imposed
both by the alloy materials to be used in its
structure and the airflow that current turbojets
could accept on entry to the compressor.The final design featured a long, thin body
which housed – indeed, was built around – a
single turbojet, a thin, unswept wing of short
(21ft 9in or 6.63m) span with 10 degrees of
anhedral (ie downward inclination towards the
tip) and a T-tail. To say that the wing was ‘thin’was an understatement; it had a maximum
thickness of 4.2in (10.7cm) and its leading
edge was so sharp that protective strips had
to be fitted to avoid injury to ground crew. The
wings clearly offered no room for stowage,
so the fuselage had to contain the retracted
undercarriage and all the fuel tanks. In March
1953 the US Air Force signed a contract for two
prototypes as the XF-104. Lockheed soon after
christened the new aircraft Starfighter.
Lockheed test pilot Tony LeVier made the
first flight of the XF-104 on 4 March 1954, when
53-37786 lifted off from Edwards AFB. Even with
an underpowered engine, the aircraft showed
great promise, the first prototype achieving
Mach 1.79 on 25 March 1955. It was not long
before the Starfighter was breaking twice the
speed of sound
The US Air Force’s Air Defense Command
(ADC) received its first F-104A in January 1958.
Service introduction was far from easy, and a
period of grounding was enforced after engine
problems with the General Electric J79. The
F-104’s ADC reign was short and by 1960 it had
been phased out of front-line service in favour
of newer types with an all-weather capability,
better radar and heavier armament.
The F-104C was an improved version for
Tactical Air Command (TAC). Powered by an
uprated J79-GE-7A, the ‘C’ model was intended
for the fighter-bomber role and was the
first Starfighter to be equipped for in-flight
refuelling. Weapon load could include a nuclear
store on the centreline station, a 20mm VulcanLeft: Wearing a high-altitude partial pressure
suit, Capt Iven C. Kincheloe Jr poses beside an
early F-104. Sadly he was killed flying the type.