Lockheed F-104 Starfighter F-104G

The F-104G, G for Germany, was the most-produced version of the Starfighter and the one that made it the common fighter of much of NATO. Its origin was a 1957 German Air Staff paper asking for a single aircraft to fulfil fighter, fighter-bomber and reconnaissance requirements. In response, Lockheed redesigned the entire airframe, with 96 new forgings, additional skin panels and reinforced landing gear with larger tyres and improved brakes. The so-called Super Starfighter received the more powerful J79-11A engine, the larger tail with powered rudder of the two-seat F-104B and D, improved blown flaps with a manoeuvring mode for combat, electric de-icing of the intakes and a larger drag chute. Its avionics introduced the Autonetics F15A NASARR multi-mode radar, with air-to-air and ground-mapping modes, and the Litton LN-3 inertial navigation system, the first such system placed in operational service on a production fighter. Together these changes increased the external load and let the aircraft meet the NATO requirement to carry a nuclear special store of about 910 kg under the fuselage. According to the source, the F-104G won because the other two finalists were still in development while the F-104 was about to enter USAF service.

After West Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy also selected the Starfighter, and the four nations set up four licence production groups: ARGE South (Messerschmitt, Heinkel, Dornier and Siebel), ARGE North (Hamburger Flugzeugbau, Focke-Wulf and Weserflug, plus Fokker and Aviolanda in the Netherlands), the West Group (SABCA and Avions Fairey in Belgium) and the Italian Group (Fiat, Macchi, Piaggio, SACA and SIAI-Marchetti), contracted for 210, 350, 189 and 200 aircraft respectively. BMW, Fabrique Nationale and Alfa Romeo licence-built 1,225 J79 turbojets. Canada delivered to Europe 121 sets of wings, aft fuselages and tail assemblies built by Canadair, which later also built F-104Gs funded by the US Military Assistance Program, while Lockheed built the two-seat trainers for Europe and Canada and supplied spares and support. A central office, NASMO (NATO Starfighter Management Office) in Koblenz, achieved a high level of standardisation: in April 1963 an F-104G was assembled at Erding Air Base from components made in all four partner countries. That central coordination, however, caused long delays in adopting improvements proposed from Edwards, such as an arrester hook, a standby attitude indicator and an emergency nozzle closure system.

In all, 1,127 F-104Gs were built. Compared with the American models it had a strengthened fuselage, wing and tail, more internal fuel, fully powered brakes with a new anti-skid system and revised flaps. According to NASA data it was 16.66 metres long with a span of 6.63 metres, weighed 6,350 kg empty and up to 13,166 kg at take-off, reached about 2,459 km/h and carried a six-barrel M61A1 Vulcan cannon with 725 rounds, up to four Sidewinders and stores on seven hardpoints. It gave rise to the RF-104G reconnaissance model, with three KS-67A cameras in place of the cannon, the two-seat TF-104G, the Japanese F-104J interceptor and, in Italy, the F-104S.

In West Germany its introduction was traumatic. A newly re-formed air force received a highly complex aircraft: many pilots and ground crew had come back from civilian jobs after the Second World War, refresher courses were short and conscript ground personnel turned over quickly. The poor weather of north-west Europe, very different from the fair conditions at Luke in Arizona where they trained, and fast low flying over hilly terrain led to many controlled-flight-into-terrain accidents. The Luftwaffe used it mainly as a low-level fighter-bomber, far from its design as a high-altitude interceptor, and the extra avionics added distraction and weight; German magazines portrayed it as overburdened with technology. A total of 116 pilots were lost in West German F-104 accidents. In 1966 Johannes Steinhoff took command of the Luftwaffe and grounded the entire Luftwaffe and Navy fleet until he was satisfied the problems had been solved or reduced; safety later improved, although wing fatigue emerged and forced wing replacements or retirements, and some aircraft were fitted with flight data recorders. Erich Hartmann, the top-scoring fighter ace in history, judged it unsafe even before it arrived, and Eric Brown noted that the USAF required 1,500 flight hours of its F-104 pilots, against around 400 for the Germans.