The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter is often referred to as the “missile with a man in it.” It encapsulates the obsession of the age with a speed and altitude regime. It was conceived at the start of the Korean War when US Air Force pilots called for a lightweight, high-performance fighter to counter the Soviet threat; Lockheed answered with the F-104.
The story of the F-104 begins in 1951 when Clarence “Kelly” Johnson, Lockheed’s chief designer, went to Korea to visit American forces. Pitted against ever-increasing numbers in the skies over Korea were pilots already flying the North American F-86 Sabre. Upon returning to California, sketching of what would eventually be the F-104 was soon underway by Johnson’s team. Everything about the design focused on the General Electric J79 engine in producing a supersonic air superiority fighter with the most lightweight airframe possible.
The prototype, the XF-104, flew on March 4, 1954, at Edwards Air Force Base. Though developed so quickly, it would be another four years in the making before the F-104 was declared operational. This occurred on February 20, 1958, when the aircraft became the USAF’s first fighter with the ability to speed over Mach 2.
The F-104 could be both its biggest advantage and Achilles heel. Although it was extremely fast and very capable of climbing, the difficulty of taking off and landing was particularly high. Although the aircraft was equipped with a boundary layer control system to improve the speed of landing, as the control was not effective during the turn with a wide turning radius, dogfights were ineffective. Still, thanks to its special record at very low altitudes, it became the unsurpassable strike fighter.
The operational Experience of the USAF was not good, the F-104 was plagued by a high accident rate and poor reliability. The aircraft entered service in 1958 with the 83rd Fighter Interceptor Squadron, but it had the first engine failure operational experience. The aircraft ordered was thus reduced significantly. Though making many airspeed and altitude records, the record in the battle of this was limited. The F-104 couldn’t make any kills in the Vietnam War and had lost so many fighters, thus being removed from USAF service in 1969.
While the F-104 struggled to find favor with the USAF, it enjoyed significant success abroad. It failed in the tender requirements for the USAF, but the Starfighter upheld an impressively high number of export orders to NATO and other US-allied countries. It saw service in the Republic of China Air Force and the Pakistan Air Force, scoring kills during the 1967 Taiwan Strait Conflict and the India-Pakistan Wars, respectively. Major buyers included Germany, Italy, and Spain, which bought the strengthened airframe, longer-ranging, and better-avionics-equipped F-104G model.
However, the F-104’s export history formed not without controversy. Germany, for one, had to deal with a large bribery scandal upon acquisition, while over 100 pilots had been lost in crashes largely thanks to its high accident rate. General Johannes Steinhoff grounded the Luftwaffe’s F-104 fleet in 1966 until solutions could be found. Despite these issues, production continued until 1983, with Italy flying the Starfighter until 2004.
The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter undoubtedly is one of the most controversial figures in aviation history. Sure, it broke records all the time and showed fantastic technological advances, but as deeply etched are its service and safety records. The F-104 was, more than any other, the exemplar of the hopes and dangers of supersonic flight in the Cold War era: it was a “missile with a man in it.”.