F-104C Starfighter

The F-104 was the quinessential high speed interceptor. Conceived in the early 1950s when the dark shadow of the immense Soviet Nuclear Bomber fleet... more

by Stu Shepherd

Title

F-104C Starfighter

Artist

Stu Shepherd

Medium

Digital Art - Digital

Description

The F-104 was the quinessential high speed interceptor. Conceived in the early 1950s when the dark shadow of the immense Soviet Nuclear Bomber fleet hung over the consciousness of the free world, the Starfighter was designed to get airborne quickly, to zip to the intercept point immediately if not sooner (with a maximum speed of 1,450 MPH), then to dispatch with great prejudice any bomber attempting to penetrate the skies over the North American continent. It did its job well, as those bombers thankfully never did cross its path in anger.

Dubbed "The missile with a man in it," the Lockheed F-104 had a long sleek fuselage and short razor thin wings. It was designed for speed and not manuevreablity. It was also a tricky platform to fly, with a large attrition rate from accidents due to its edge-of-the-envelope flight characteristics. Yet it was affordable, and efficient, as witnessed by the fact that dozens of countries bought export versions of the fighter as their main aerial defender - countries such as Canada, Turkey, Pakistan, Taiwan, Japan, Germany, Italy... some continued to operate the Starfighter into the new millenium.



This picture depicts a brace of F-104C's of the 476th TFS, 479th TFW, based at George AFB, Victorville CA circa 1960. This squadron was deployed to Germany during the Berlin Crisis of 1960 and rotated with the other squadrons in the Wing on operational deployment in Spain and Germany during the next few years.

�2009 Stu Shepherd

Uploaded

July 20th, 2010