U.S. Air Force against a
QF-80 target drone Although the F-104 was designed as an
air-superiority fighter, the United States Air Force's immediate need at the time was for a supersonic
interceptor. In the late 1950s, the United States government believed it had dangerously fewer
jet-powered bombers than the
Soviet Union. In response, the USAF had ordered two interceptors from Convair: the
F-102 Delta Dagger and the
F-106 Delta Dart, but both were experiencing long development delays. The Starfighter's speed and rate of climb intrigued the Air Force, which pressed the F-104A into service as an interim interceptor with the
Air Defense Command (ADC), even though its range and armament were ill-suited for the role. On 26 February 1958, the first unit to become operational with the F-104A was the
83rd Fighter Interceptor Squadron (FIS) at
Hamilton AFB, California. As a result, the USAF reduced their orders of the F-104A from 722 to 170, and the F-104A and F-104B aircraft of the 83rd,
56th and
337th FIS were handed over to the
151st,
157th and
197th FIS of the
Air National Guard (ANG) after less than a year of service with the ADC.
Taiwan Strait Crisis of 1958 of the
Republic of China Air Force (ROCAF) taking off from
Ching Chaun Kang AB, Taichung, Taiwan, in 1969, with a Dart tow target slung under its wing. In August 1958, only a few months after establishing operational readiness with the F-104, the 83rd FIS was ordered to deploy for an air defense and deterrence mission in Taiwan. The
People's Republic of China had begun an intense artillery campaign against the
Republic of China (ROC) on the disputed islands of
Quemoy and
Matsu. Tension between the two forces was high; artillery duels had continued since the
first crisis in 1954, and the
People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) had recently moved 200 MiG-15s and
MiG-17s to airfields on the mainland to fight the
Republic of China Air Force (ROCAF). at
Hamilton AFB for transport to Taiwan, 1958 On 10 September, the first F-104s arrived in Taiwan, delivered disassembled by
C-124 Globemaster II transport aircraft. This was the first time that air transport was used to move fighter aircraft long distances. Within 30 hours of arriving, First Lieutenant Crosley J. Fitton had the first of the 83rd's airplanes in the air, and by 19 September the entire unit was ready for day or night alert status. The F-104 flew runs between Taiwan and mainland China at speeds up to Mach 2 as an air-superiority demonstration. According to Colonel Howard "Scrappy" Johnson, one of the pilots, the Starfighters were sent so the PLAAF would "track them on their radar screens ...and sit back and scratch their head in awe." The Starfighters were withdrawn after a ceasefire was agreed on 6 October, and Air Force officials credited the aircraft with deterring attacks. USAF Gen
Laurence Kuter, commander-in-chief of the
Pacific Air Forces, reported that the F-104A had "made a tremendous impression on both sides of the Taiwan Strait".
Berlin Crisis of 1961 , West Germany, in 1961–1962 After the Soviet Union cut off Allied access to Berlin in 1961, President
John F. Kennedy ordered 148,000
United States National Guard and reserve personnel to active duty on 30 August. 21,067 people were from the ANG, forming 18 fighter squadrons, four reconnaissance squadrons, six transport squadrons, and a tactical control group. On 1 November 1961, the USAF mobilized three more ANG fighter interceptor squadrons. In late October and early November, eight of the tactical fighter units flew to Europe with their 216 aircraft in
Operation Stair Step. Because of their short range, 60 F-104As were airlifted to Europe in late November, including the 151st FIS and 157th FIS. As with the Taiwan crisis three years earlier, the Starfighter did not directly engage any enemy fighters, but its presence provided a powerful air-superiority deterrent; it demonstrated very quick reaction times and exemplary acceleration during practice intercepts, and proved superior to all other fighters in the
theater. The crisis ended in the summer of 1962 and the ANG personnel returned to the United States, but the F-104's solid performance helped convince the ADC to recall some F-104s to active USAF service the following year.
Vietnam War F-104Cs at Da Nang, 1965 The Starfighter first saw action in the Vietnam War in 1965, seven years after the F-104C entered service with USAF
Tactical Air Command (TAC) as a
multi-role fighter and
fighter-bomber in 1958; the first TAC unit equipped with the type was the
479th Tactical Fighter Wing (TFW) at
George AFB, California. Starting with
Operation Rolling Thunder, the Starfighter was used in air-superiority and air-support roles. On 19 April 1965, the
476th Tactical Fighter Squadron (TFS) of the 479th TFW arrived at
Da Nang AB to help protect US
F-105 Thunderchief fighter-bombers against MiG-17s and especially
MiG-21s that were beginning to be flown by the
Vietnamese People's Air Force (VPAF). The F-104 was also deployed extensively as a
barrier combat air patrol (BARCAP) protector for the
EC-121D Warning Star
airborne early warning aircraft patrolling off the North Vietnamese coast. The F-104s deterred MiG interceptors and performed well as close support aircraft. They were largely uninvolved in aerial combat and recorded no air-to-air kills during the conflict. The North Vietnamese were well aware of the F-104's performance, and the 479th TFW's pilots felt that the MiGs deliberately avoided engaging them. Twenty-five MiG kills were scored by fighters controlled by
EC-121 Big Eye missions, and their Starfighter escorts played a vital role in ensuring their safety. From the first F-104 deployment in April 1965 to December, Starfighters flew a total of 2,937 combat sorties. Five were lost: one from the 476th TFS, which deployed from April to July 1965, and four from the
436th Tactical Fighter Squadron, which deployed from July to October 1965. Three were lost on 20 September: after
Captain Philip E. Smith's F-104 strayed into Chinese airspace and was shot down by a Chinese
Shenyang J-6, two more collided in mid-air while searching for Smith's missing jet. No losses were reported from the
435th Tactical Fighter Squadron's first deployment from October to December 1965. One is on display in the
Air Zoo in
Kalamazoo, Michigan. During the second deployment, nine more aircraft were lost. In all, 14 F-104s were lost to all causes in Vietnam. In July 1967, the Starfighter units switched to the
McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II and their F-104s were sent to the Air National Guard.
North American service missile at
NWTC China Lake, 1960 , 1982 By the late 1950s, USAF fighter doctrine had shifted away from air superiority (fighter against fighter combat) and placed more importance on the interceptor (fighter against bomber combat) and tactical fighter-bomber roles. The F-104 was deemed inadequate for either, lacking both payload capability and endurance in comparison with other USAF aircraft. As a result, the USAF procured only 296 Starfighters, including both single-seat and two-seat versions. During
Operation Power Pack, USAF F-104s were deployed to
Ramey Air Force Base to protect the American supply line against potential Soviet-supplied
Cuban MiGs. Twelve F-104s were sent to Puerto Rico, where they remained until 3 June 1965. Although the remaining F-104As in regular USAF service had been recently fitted with more powerful and reliable J79-GE-19 engines, the last USAF Starfighters left regular Air Force service in 1969. The aircraft continued in use with the
Puerto Rico Air National Guard until 1975 when it was replaced by the
A-7 Corsair II. In 1959, the
United States Navy (USN)
Navy Weapons Training Center China Lake borrowed a YF-104A-2 and two F-104As to test the effectiveness of the
AIM-9 Sidewinder missile at supersonic speeds. The aircraft were crewed by USAF 83rd FIS personnel. Most of the tests took place in 1960 and 1961. The two F-104As were lost to accidents, while the YF-104A completed the program safely and later was converted to a QF-104A drone. The last use of the F-104 Starfighter in US markings was training pilots for the
West German Air Force, with a wing of TF-104Gs and F-104Gs based at
Luke Air Force Base, Arizona. Although operated in USAF markings, these aircraft (which included German-built aircraft) were owned by West Germany. They continued in use until 1983.
Pakistan Air Force in 1964. In 1961, Pakistan received 12 F-104As and two dual-seat F-104Bs under the
Mutual Assistance Program for
major non-NATO allies. These were fitted with C-2 upward firing
ejection seats, AN/ASG-14T1
fire control systems, more powerful
General Electric J79-11A engines and the
M-61 Vulcans were also re-fitted on
Pakistan Air Force (PAF)'s request. The PAF also provided F-104 instructors to
Jordan after the
Royal Jordanian Air Force started receiving its Starfighters in 1968. One of the Jordanian pilots, Major Ihsan Shurdom, later rose to command the RJAF. Later in June, PAF F-104s forced an Indian
Dassault Ouragan which had intruded into Pakistani airspace to make a
forced landing at Jangshahi Village near
Badin. The F-104s first air to air combat victory was achieved by the PAF on the morning of 6 September 1965, when a pair of Griffin F-104As flown by Flight Lieutenant Aftab Alam Khan and Flight Lieutenant Amjad Hussain Khan were vectored towards 4 Indian
Dassault Mystere IVs that were attacking a passenger train at
Ghakhar Station. While Flight Lt. Amjad aborted due to radio failure, Flight Lt. Aftab went ahead with the interception and shot down a
Mystere IV with an
AIM-9B while damaging another with his M-61 Vulcan. The kill with an AIM-9B Sidewinder is claimed by the PAF as the first combat kill by any Mach 2 aircraft and the PAF's first missile kill, though the IAF denies the loss. On 4 December 1971,
Squadron leaders Amanullah and Rashid Bhatti flying F-104As again struck the IAF's Amritsar radar without any significant results due to heavy
Anti-Aircraft fire. ;Air to Air Combat On 4 December 1971, a Folland Gnat and
Sukhoi Su-7 were shot down after they confronted a formation of two PAF Starfighters attacking the Amritsar radar. On 8 December, an F-104 piloted by Flight Lieutenant Manzoor Bokhari intercepted a Canberra bomber and shot it down. The second F-104 loss occurred several days later on 17 December when a pair of
Jordanian loaned Starfighters on combat air patrol near
Hyderabad intercepted two MiG-21s which had intruded Pakistani airspace. The wingman, Flight Lieutenant Samad Ali Changezi engaged one of the MiG-21s and managed to get behind its tail. Unknown to him the second MiG-21 had sneaked up behind him and had fired a K-13 missile which had missed. His leader tried warning him but to no avail. As Changezi was about to shoot the MiG-21 down, a second K-13 was fired by the pursuing IAF MiG-21 which slammed into his F-104. The Starfighter went down over
Mirpur Khas along with its pilot. Changezi was posthumously awarded the Sitara-e-Jurat in honor of his wartime service. The IAF also claims two additional PAF Starfighter kills that same day including Squadron Leader Rashid Bhatti's Starfighter. However, the PAF said he returned without damage to
Masroor AFB.
1967 Taiwan Strait Conflict Air Force F-104J On 13 January 1967, four ROCAF F-104G aircraft engaged a formation of J-6/
MiG-19s of the People's Liberation Army Air Force over the disputed island of
Kinmen (Quemoy). Major Hu Shih-lin and Captain Shih Pei-po each shot down one MiG-19. One F-104 did not return to base and its pilot was listed as
missing in action. This was the final direct-battle engagement between the PRC and ROC of the Cold War era, and is popularly referred to as the
113 Air Battle, which has also become known as a scandal between military and public affairs; of the four F-104 Starfighters that engaged the J-6/MiG-19s that day, it has been revealed that the F-104 piloted by Major Yang Ching-tsung was lost at some point during the battle with the MiG-19s, or soon thereafter, to which the news of this suspicious loss was withheld from the public. However, the wife of Major Yang threatened to hold a public news conference regarding how her husband was not being honored for his ultimate sacrifice, and had to be restrained by RoCAF officials, telling her that "''We're preparing to retake China and revive our country, and we have to maintain the morale of our people and military. It’s best that we don’t announce any negative news''", while promising to take good care of her and her family. In aftermath of the
113 Air Battle, F-104 designer Kelly Johnson stated that this particular battle illustrated the relative strengths and weaknesses of the Starfighter in aerial combat. "We had them on acceleration and we had them on steady-state altitude, but we could not turn with them," said Johnson, who at the time was working on the larger-winged, more-maneuverable
CL-1200 Lancer derivative of the F-104. In response, Lockheed reworked the Starfighter from a fair-weather fighter into an all-weather ground-attack, reconnaissance, and interceptor aircraft, and presented it as the F-104G. The redesigned aircraft was chosen over the
English Electric P.1 (later the Lightning),
Grumman F11F-1F Super Tiger,
Vought F-8 Crusader and Republic F-105 Thunderchief. Ten other aircraft types, including the F-102, F-106,
Saunders-Roe SR.177, and the
Saab 35 Draken, were also considered but discarded earlier in the process. The F-104G was ultimately chosen because the other two finalists were still in the development phase while the F-104 was about to be introduced into USAF service; although the American version lacked all-weather capability, Lockheed promised they could deliver this, and favorable reports by the German Ministry of Defence delegation sent in December 1957 to flight-test the F-104 tipped the scales in the Starfighter's favor. The Starfighter found a new market with other
NATO countries as well, and eventually more than 2,000 of all variants of the F-104 were built for international air forces. Several countries received their aircraft under the U.S. government-funded
Military Aid Program (MAP). The American engine was retained but built under license in Europe, Canada, and Japan. The Lockheed ejector seats were retained initially but were replaced in some countries by the safer Martin-Baker seat. The so-called "Deal of the Century" produced substantial income for Lockheed, but the resulting
bribery scandals caused considerable political controversy in Europe and Japan. In 1976, a
United States Senate investigating committee led by
Senator Frank Church determined that Lockheed had paid US$22 million in bribes to foreign officials during the negotiation processes for the sale of its aircraft, including the F-104 Starfighter. In Germany, Minister of Defence
Franz Josef Strauss was accused of having received at least US$10 million for West Germany's purchase of the F-104 in 1961. On 26 August 1976,
Prince-consort Bernhard of the Netherlands was forced to resign as Inspector-General of the Dutch Armed Forces after being accused of accepting approximately US$1.1 million in bribes. In the Netherlands, the F-104 was used to aid in the ending of the
1977 Dutch train hijacking. On 11 June 1977, almost three weeks after the start of a hijacking of a train by Moluccan separatists, six F-104 jet fighters of the Royal Netherlands Air Force overflew the train three times at low altitude, using their afterburners to disorient the hijackers as a precursor to an armed attack by Dutch marines. None of the Starfighters used their weapons. The international service of the F-104 began to wind down in the late 1970s, being replaced in many cases by the
General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon, but it remained in service with some air forces for another two decades. The last operational Starfighters served with the Italian Air Force, which retired them on 31 October 2004.
NASA F-15 and F-104 testing
Space Shuttle tiles The Starfighter served with
NASA from 1956 until 1994. A total of 12 F-104A, F-104B, F-104N, and TF-104G aircraft performed high-speed and altitude flight research at
Dryden Flight Research Center. The F-104 also performed many safety chase missions in support of advanced research aircraft and provided a launch platform for
sounding rockets. In August 1956, the USAF transferred YF-104A serial number 55–2961 to the
National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA, the predecessor of NASA), designating it NF-104A. In preparation for the
X-15 test program of the late 1950s, it was fitted with the reaction control system (RCS) consisting of hydrogen peroxide-powered thrusters mounted in the aircraft's nose and wingtips. This system provided valuable experience for future X-15 pilots and astronauts in spacecraft control and maneuverability. The trials began in 1959 and concluded in 1961, after which the aircraft was used for other NASA purposes until it was retired in November 1975. In early 2016, another venture, CubeCab, was working on a rocket system that would launch
CubeSats from F-104s. The company said it planned to begin providing launch services "in early 2020".
World records The F-104 was the first aircraft to simultaneously hold the world speed and altitude records. On 7 May 1958, USAF Major Howard C. Johnson, flying YF-104A 55–2957, broke the world
flight altitude record for jet aircraft by flying to over Edwards AFB. On 16 May 1958, USAF Captain Walter W. Irwin, flying YF-104A 55–2969, set a world
flight airspeed record of over a course long at Edwards AFB. Flying F-104A 56–0762 over NAS Point Mugu, California, USAF Lieutenants William T. Smith and
Einar Enevoldson set several time-to-climb records on 13 and 14 December 1958: in the process becoming the first aircraft to take off under its own power and cross both the 30,000-meter and 100,000-foot thresholds. He also set a time-to-climb record of 904.92 seconds. USAF Major Robert W. Smith, flying NF-104A 56–0756, set an unofficial world altitude record of on 15 November 1963, and on 6 December 1963 he flew the same aircraft to another unofficial altitude record of .
Jacqueline Cochran, a lieutenant colonel in the
United States Air Force Reserve, flew TF-104G N104L to set three women's world's speed records: On 11 May 1964, she averaged over a course, on 1 June she flew at an average speed of over a closed-circuit course, and on 3 June she recorded an average speed of over a closed-circuit course. Lockheed test pilot
Darryl Greenamyer built an F-104 out of parts he had collected. The aircraft,
N104RB, first flew in 1976. On 2 October of that year, trying to set a new low-altitude speed record, Greenamyer averaged at Mud Lake near
Tonopah, Nevada. A tracking camera malfunction eliminated the necessary proof for the official record. On 26 February 1978, Greenamyer made a practice run for a world altitude record attempt. At the conclusion of the practice run, he was unable to get an indication that the right landing gear was down and locked even after a number of attempts to cycle the gear. Low on fuel and faced with a landing situation that was not considered survivable, Greenamyer successfully ejected, and the N104RB crashed in the desert.
Nicknames The Starfighter was marketed by Lockheed as the "missile with a man in it", and the press dubbed the F-104 the "Widowmaker" due to its high accident rate, but neither were used in service. In service, it earned a number of nicknames among its users: • American pilots initially called it the "Oh-Four", but when the F-100 Super Sabre began to be referred to as the "Zip-Zilch" (for "zero-zero"), the Starfighter acquired the similar nickname "Zip-Four"; this was eventually shortened to "Zipper" or "Zip". • The Japan Air Self-Defense Force called it (
Kanji: , "glory"). • Although German pilots often referred to the F-104 as the "Zipper" it earned several less-charitable names from the German public due to its high accident rate, common ones being ("widowmaker") or ("flying coffin"). It was also called ("ground nail"), the official military term for a tent peg. • Prior to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, the reputation of the Pakistani F-104 was such that the
Indian Air Force referred to it as
Badmash ("hooligan"), "Scoundrel", and "Wicked One". • Among Italian pilots its spiky design earned it the nickname ("hatpin"). • Among the Norwegian public and
Royal Norwegian Air Force it was affectionately known as ("the Vestfjord bull"), due to the immense roar of the aircraft based in
Bodø, at the southern end of
Vestfjorden. • In the Canadian Forces, the aircraft was sometimes referred to as the "Lawn Dart" and the "Aluminium Death Tube" due to its high operational losses, and "Flying Phallus" due to its shape. It was affectionately called the "Silver Sliver", "Zipper", or "Zip", but most often the "Starfighter" or simply the "104" (one-oh-four). • NASA's F-104B Starfighter N819NA acquired the nickname "Howling Howland" due to the unique howling sound of its engine at certain throttle settings. == Flying characteristics ==