LOCKHEED F-104 STARFIGHTER^65
Above: Lockheed F-104C cockpit. The instrument layout was well designed and presented, with critical
indications grouped together for quick identi cation of a problem. This arrangement became known
as ‘peek and panic’ by the Lockheed engineers.
Above right: Owing to its performance, the Star ghter was chosen to train test pilots destined to y the
X-15. The major modi cations to the Star ghters consisted in the addition of a 6,000lb thrust rocket
engine at the base of the vertical tail, reaction control thrusters in the nose and in each wing tip, a
larger vertical tail and increased wingspan. The Star ghters with these modi cations were renamed
NF-104s. They entered service in 1963 and their pilots could zoom to more than 100,000ft in a full
pressure suit, experience zero ‘g’, and use reaction control to handle the aircraft.
was followed by similar decisions by Canada,
then Japan, followed by a string of other NATO
nations, though a murkier dimension to these
sales successes would later emerge. The F-104G
was already on its way to becoming the free
world’s standard ghter; a total of 1,127 of
this multi-role variant was produced for NATO
countries alone, delivered from 1960 to 1973.
The F-104G went on to have a long service
career. Given the type’s high initial accident
rate in many countries and notably in Germany,
the decision to purchase such a ‘hot’ type to
be own by often young and inexperienced
pilots was put into question and searchingly
examined by newspapers worldwide. The
whole subject came to be seen as something of
The need for speed
The F-104 Star ghter became the rst
aircraft to simultaneously hold the
world speed and altitude records. Flying
YF-104A 55-2957, Maj Howard C. Johnson
broke the world altitude record on 7 May
1958 by ying to 91,243ft (27,811m) at
Edwards AFB. Just nine days later Capt
Walter W. Irwin set a world speed record
of 1,404.19mph over a course 15 miles
(24km) long ying YF-104A 55-2969. On
14 December 1959, Capt ‘Joe’ B. Jordan
ying F-104C 56-0885 set a new world
altitude record of 103,389ft (31,513m). He
also set a 98,000ft (30,000m) time-to-climb
record of 904.92 seconds.a scandal and many un attering epithets were
adopted, ‘widow-maker’ (or its equivalent in the
local language) being the most common – and
the politest!
Nevertheless, the Star ghter’s service career
spanned over 45 years. Yes, it was demanding to
y – with a wingspan of just 21ft 9in (6.63m) it
had the engine-out glide ratio of the proverbial
‘ ying brick’ – and nobody ever accused it
of being manoeuvrable. But the Star ghter
went fast, climbed like a homesick angel and
introduced pilots of many nations to the joys
of Mach 2 ight. Pilots loved the Star ghter’s
out-and-out performance and the type enjoyed
a mystique unmatched by any other ‘Century
Series’ ghter.