Hobby Master Archive
Air Power Jets 1/72
F-104
The Lockheed YF-104A made its first flight February 17, 1956. The aircraft had a redesigned lengthened fuselage, relocated vertical stabilizer, a ventral stabilizing fin, redesigned air intake ducts all powered by the GE79 axial-flow engine. These modifications increased the stability of the aircraft. The 17 YF-104As were used to flight-test various engines, the Vulcan cannon, Sidewinder missiles and wingtip fuel tanks. The YF-104A was used to set a zoom climb record of 91,249 feet and a record speed of 1404.19 mph making it the first aircraft to hold these records at the same time.
The F-104 Starfighter was a revolutionary design with short razor-sharp wings. It was the first aircraft to be able to maintain Mach 2 not just in short bursts. The Starfighter shattered speed and rate of climb records that still are impressive today. This extremely high speed earned the plane the nickname “The Missile With A Man In It”. Because of financial considerations 15 or more countries purchased the F-104. The Starfighter flew with the USAF in 1958 and the last airplane was decommissioned in Italy in 2004.
