Lockheed F-104A Starfighter (Riverside, California)

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Serial Number: 56-0759 (Marked as: 56-0752)
Construction Number: 183-1047

The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter is a single-engine, high-performance, supersonic interceptor aircraft originally developed for the United States Air Force (USAF) by Lockheed. One of the Century Series of aircraft, it served with the USAF from 1958 until 1969, and continued with Air National Guard units until it was phased out in 1975.

A product of the American experience in the Korean War the F-104 Starfighter was designed to provide the United States Air Force with a high-speed point-defense interceptor capable of taking on the era's nimble Soviet block MIG fighters. The F-104's small wing span of only 21 feet, and exceptional thrust-to-weight ratio combined to create an impressive rate of climb comparable to today's most advanced fighters.

Designed in 1952, C.L. "Kelly" Johnson the first XF-104 made its initial flight in 1954. It was the first aircraft to maintain sustained flight at twice the speed of sound. On May 18, 1958, an F-104A set a world speed record of 1,404.19 mph, on December 14, 1959, an F-104C set a world altitude record of 103,395 feet.

The F-104 was produced in two major versions; armed with a six-barrel M-61 20mm Vulcan cannon the Starfighter served as a tactical fighter and, when equipped with additional heat-seeking Sidewinder missiles, it operated as a high speed day-night interceptor.

Over 2,578 Starfighters were produced by Lockheed and foreign contractors with 296 purchased by the United States alone. The F-104 entered the USAF inventory in 1958, serving with distinction as an Air Defense interceptor and in several 1965 deployments to Vietnam. The remainder became an integral part of the Air Forces of 14 allied nations, with the last Starfighter leaving Italian Air Force service in 2004.

The Museum's F-104 is on loan from a private party. Orginally a design model, the aircraft is painted in the colors of "Smoke II" F-104C #57-0925 assigned to the 435th TFS, 8th TFW, Udorn Air Base, Thailand. On August 1, 1966, Smoke II was part of a flight of Starfighters escorting F-105 Thunderchief Wild Weasels over Thai Nguyen Province, Vietnam when the aircraft was hit by a SA-2 Surface to Air Missile. Smoke II exploded in a ball of flame, the pilot Lt. Colonel Arthur Thomas Finney was killed instantly (his remains were returned to the US August 14, 1985).

March Field Air Museum