The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter

Video from the channel Johnny Johnson about Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 15:10. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.

A presentation of the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter: its design, operational history and appearances in film and television.

It was designed by a team led by Kelly Johnson after interviewing Korean War pilots, who wanted to outclass Soviet MiGs in speed and climb, and it debuted in 1954. The YF-104A reached Mach 2 on 27 April 1956, and in 1958 it became the first aircraft to hold the simultaneous records for speed, altitude and time-to-climb. It was deployed in the Taiwan (1958) and Berlin (1961) crises and in Vietnam, where it lost 14 aircraft without scoring any kills. Its first aerial victory was Pakistani: in September 1965 it shot down an Indian Mystère IV. The USAF retired it in 1969, but it flew with 15 air forces. West Germany lost 292 of 916 aircraft and 116 pilots between 1961 and 1989, due to its low-level use, rushed training (around 400 flight hours against the 1,500 the USAF required) and the weight of the F-104G's avionics; the Lockheed bribery scandal added to this.

It had a 6.36 m wingspan and boundary-layer control, and landed at 155-160 knots. It was powered by the General Electric J79 engine and was the first aircraft with the 20 mm M61 Vulcan cannon. The downward-firing ejection seat of the first examples caused 21 failed ejections in the USAF. NASA used it from 1956 to 1994. The video reviews its presence in "The Starfighters" (1964), in a Star Trek episode, in the German TV movie "Starfighter" (2015) and in "The Right Stuff" (1983), which recreates Chuck Yeager's accident in an NF-104A in December 1963.