Andreassen noted: “Because of its past
association with the F-104 from 1963 until
1983, Bodø is the only place that could
support our project. The base has facilities,
support equipment and technical expertise.”
Once secure in its new home, 637
underwent a rigorous series of tests to
determine the work necessary to restore it
to flying status, and the technicians were
delighted with what they found. Surprisingly
for a museum piece, the Starfighter had
been on display with a full load of fuel, which
helped immensely with the preservation
of the fuel system. And, amazingly, when
power was applied to the cockpit the inertial
navigation system lined up.
Meanwhile all hydraulic lines were
replaced with material used on RNoAF
F-16 Fighting Falcons which are now
resident at Bodø.
A big challenge for Andreassen was
finding equipment he hoped he would never
have to use – Martin-Baker zero-zero ejection
seats. He said: “The original Starfighter had
a downward ejection seat, designed so that
the pilot would not collide with the tail. This
design, however, had some all too obvious
drawbacks and it was quickly replaced with
an upward-ejecting seat – which is what was
used in the RNoAF F-104s.“However, this was not capable of a zero-
zero ejection, which I felt was mandatory
on our airplane. Our search took us to Italy
where, by 2004, the last of the Italian F-104s
were being retired.”
A lot of horse-trading goes on in the
world of classic aircraft restoration, including
637’s, and an obvious question is: if the
Italian Air Force had flyable F-104s, why
didn’t Andreassen take an easier approach
and try to acquire one of them?
He replied: “They were willing to trade an
F-104, but we didn’t have what they wanted –
a flyable Junkers Ju 88! We bargained back
and forth with them and finally got a pair of
the Martin-Baker ejection seats we wanted,
plus a spare J79 engine, in exchange for an
Enigma machine!”CHALLENGES
Challenges for the team continued, as
there were restrictions on exporting
military equipment out of Italy into civilian
hands. Andreassen recalled: “Eventually
we agreed a deal where these items
were transferred from the Italian Air
Force to the Norwegian Air Force, and
then turned over to us. Besides, we
really wanted to restore and fly a genuine
Norwegian Starfighter.”Once the seats were acquired, 637
needed to be modified to accept them.
Andreassen looked to the Royal Danish Air
Force at Aalborg, which had done exactly
that when it had F-104s in service there.
“Although we wanted to leave the cockpit
as original as possible, we added a Garmin
750 avionics package, built a liquid oxygen
converter to service the oxygen system and
also got our hands on half a dozen drag
chutes used to slow the aircraft on landing.”
Meanwhile the team’s biggest
challenge was about to begin, as
Andreassen revealed: “When it came time
to place the Starfighter on the Norwegian
Civil Register, we hit a pond of quicksand.
There was a technicality over who actually
owned the F-104.
“This was a military aircraft given to us
at no cost, so there was no actual bill of
sale. The American Department of Defense
was involved, as was our military attaché in
Washington, DC.”
Work pretty much stopped for two years
as the Starfighter became a jurisdictional
football, being kicked around between the
US and Norway, and between military and
civilian parties. “For a couple of years, there
was really a question about whether we
were going to be able to navigate all the red44 Aviation News incorporating Jets August 2018Above left: The Garmin 750 integrated GPS/Nav/Comm/MFD system is the only equipment in the CF-104D that is not original. Photo courtesy
Friends of Starfighter Norway
Above right: Starfighter 637 soars above the Norwegian fjords on its maiden flight. Photo courtesy Friends of Starfighter NorwaySuccess! The CF-104D takes off for its first post-restoration flight on September 28, 2016. Sindre Nedrevåg/Team 63742-46_starfighter_norwegianDC.mfDC.mfDC.mf.indd 44 05/07/2018 18:29