Hobby Master Archive

The extreme shape of the Starfighter earned it the first nickname of “The Missile With a Man in it” and some USAF pilots also called it “Zipper” or “Zipper 104” because of it’s tremendous speed. After it proved to be challenging to fly, with high fatal accident rates, particularly in German service the plane was given many more nicknames because of its high speed and ability to occassionally fly itself into the ground. In Germany they referred to it as Witwenmacher (“widowmaker”), fliegender Sarg (“flying coffin”) or Erdnagel (“ground nail”, the official military term for a tent peg). Others were, Pakistan Badmash “Hooligan”, Italy because of it’s spiked nose Spillone “Hatpin” and bara volante “Flying Coffin”, Canada “Lawn Dart”. Primarily powered by a single 15 800 lb thrust General Electric J79-GE11A turbojet engine, equipped with afterburner, it was capable of high speeds (just under 1300 mph) and high rates of climb. On December 14, 1959, an F-104C set a world altitude record of 103,395 ft (31.5 km). The Starfighter was the first aircraft to hold simultaneous official world records for speed, altitude, and time-to-climb.

Lockheed F-104A coded 4201 was manufactured as c/n 183-1127 with a serial of 56-0893. In 1958 the USAF 83rd FIS deployed to Formosa (now Taiwan) in response to the second Taiwan Strait Crisis. It is believed that in 1960 and 1961 25 F-104As and 2 F-104Bs now coded 4201 - 4225 and 4101 - 4102 respectively were transferred to the RoCAF. In 1969 18 of the F-104As were transferred to Jordan including 4201 that now became 914L with 9 Squadron. The aircraft was wfu (withdrawn from use) in September 1969.

Lockheed F-104A specifications

Crew - 1 (Pilot)

Dimensions Length - 54 ft 8 in Height - 13 ft 5 in Wingspan - 21 ft 9 in Weight Empty - 13,384 lb Gross - 17,988 lb Maximum - 25,840 lb Performance Engine - 1 X General Electric J79-GE-3B (thrust 9,600 ) Range - 730 miles Cruise Speed - 519 mph Climb Rate - 60,395 ft/min Service Ceiling - 64,795 ft

Die-cast metal. Superb detailing in 1/72 scale. Pilot figure Pad applied markings. Fully assembled. Display stand included. Option to display model with wheels up or down. Minimum use of plastic. Very collectable Hobby Master 1/72 Air Power Series HA1025 Lockheed F-104A “4201” 56-0839, ROCAF, 1960 THIS IS AN EXCLUSIVE FOR TAIWAN