Aviation Today

It all started when I was very little. The very first plane I remember having was actually not given to me but found while playing in a park with my mom. There it was, all lonely laying on the grass for apparently a few days: a plastic model of the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter. My passion hasn’t stopped growing since then.

Here is an overview of the plane:

The Starfighter was originally designed as an interceptor aircraft by the American Lockheed works, the prototype flying in early 1954. The plane however fell short of it’s designer’s expectations in this intended role and thus only around 277 planes were built for use in this capacity (including trainers).

Like many aircraft before it that fell short of original expectations, the F-104 Starfighter found a new job for itself as a multi-role fighter. In this form, the F-104G multi-mission Starfighter was used as a tactical support aircraft and reconnaissance machine.

The F-104 Starfighter has always been a striking aircraft to look at. This being mainly due to the very short wingspan of less than 22 feet (length nearly 55 feet). This earned the aircraft the nickname ‘the missile with a man in it‘.

Due to a series of accidents with the plane it also had the unfortunate moniker of ‘flying coffin‘. A speedy machine for it’s era, the top speed was around Mach 2 (twice the speed of sound) at altitude with an operational ceiling of 55,000ft. This just shortly after the Korean War where F86 Sabres were flying sub-sonic. Powering the aircraft to these velocities was a single General Electric J79-GE-11A afterburning turbojet producing 15,800 lbs thrust on re-heat. That’s about twice the power a regional jet engine (capable of carrying 50 people) has today!

The plane found many buyers around the world including Germany, Japan, Jordan, Pakistan, Taiwan, Holland, Belgium, Italy, Denmark, Greece and Norway amongst others. Many of these F-104s were built by the countries under license.

Curiosities: The F-104 was the first aircraft to hold simultaneous official world records for speed, altitude and time-to-climb.

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