Table Of ContentLockheed F-I04
Starfighter
DEDICATION
This book is respectfullydedicated to the memoryofI-1olger Krohn ofthe Marineflie er
General Gordon Ockendon RCAF, and also to the F-104 p'IloStOfaII nati'ons. g,
Lockheed F-104
STARFIGHTER
Martin W. BOWMAN
with Matthias VOGELSANG
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The Crowood Press
First publishcd "'2000by Acknowledgements
ThcCrownod PrcssLtd
Ramsbury, Marlhorough
Wiltshirc 82HR
The authors would like to thank: teve Jorg Knodel; apt ( ) A Kockx MBA,
Adams; Ames Re earch entre/Hugh L. Defence Arrache, Belgian Defence Office;
Contents
Dryden, Flight Research Facility, Edwards Col Hasso K()rrge, Emba sy of the Federal
AFB,California; ArehivoHiswrico yCulcur RepublicofGermany, London; Frau Holger
al del EjeTetito del AiTe; Capt Argeri, 23" Krohn; Capt Keiichi Kuno, Defence
©MartinW. Bowman2000 Gru/J/JO,AeronauticaMilitare /taliana(AMI); Arra he, Embassy ofJapan, London; Mick
ThomasRem Berdal (ba),SeniorExecutive Jennings; TrevorJenny; BenJones; Richard 7
Introduction
All rightsrc,crvcd. 0 partnfthispuhllGltinnmay Officer, Pressand Information Branch, HQ Kleebaur, Dornier Luftfahrt GmBH; Col
hcrcproduccdortransmittcd inanyform orbyany DefenceCommand, orway; LtCol David Roberr J Lawson, Military and Defence 25
IllCan~,electronIcormechanical, including LBashow, CAF (Retd); Daniel Brackx, PR Arrache, British Embassy, Madrid, pain; 1 A EW STAR 1 BOR
phOIOCOp)',recording,orilnyinformation~t()rage Officer. Aeronautical Dept, Ministere de la Denny Lombard, Lockheed-Marrin kunk
and retrieval~ystcm, withoutrerlllis~ioninwriting Defense ational, Belgium; Alan Brothers, Works; Peter Loncke, Force Aerienne Belge 2 1 THE ASCENDA CY
from Ihcpuhlishcrs. Lockheed, Martin Corporation; Denis (FAe)/Belgische Luchtmacht (BLu); NASA; USAF ervice 1958-75 39
Calvert; MickCartwright;Capt-cdr(OF3), Harry Luijkx, The Netherlands; Mike
British LibraryCaraloglling-in-Publication Data Head of Public Affairs a.i., Force Ahienne Macht; Brig Gen Paolo Magro, Air 57
AGltalogllcrccord forthIshook isavaihlhlcfrom Belge (F e)/Belgisehe Luchrmaehr (BLu), Arrache, Italian Embas y, London; Peter B. 3 G FOR GERMA Y
thc BritishLibrary. Bru sels; Air Force Maj G n Epaminonda Mer ky (ed.), Approach; Joe Mizrahi (ed.),
Dimopoulos, Elliniki Vassiliki Aeroporia Sentry Books, Inc.; Pete ash; ational 4 VER 10 S AND PROJECT MODELS 75
ISB 1861263147 (Royal Hellenic Air Force), Historical Defence HQ, Orrawa; Michael Oakey and
Branch Director; raham Dinsdale; Robert hisstaffat Aero/Jlane Monthly, London; the 5 NATO OPERATORS 97
F Dorr; El Commandante, 18° Gru/J/Jo, late Gen Gordon Ockendon, RCAF
PholOgraphprcviouspagc: XF-I04-LOprototypc AeronauricaMilitare ltaliana (AM!);T. Mal (Retd); Bert Oostmeijer; Harry 'Chaco'
53-77 6(Company I 01). Lockhccd cohn English;Jack Farstad, Kongelige orske Prins, lnt F-l 4 ociety, Kolganas 7, 7 Z7 6 TAR WARRIOR
Lufrforsvarer (K L, Royal orwegian Air LEmmen,The etherland; Raymond L. Lt Col David L. Bashow 119
Force) Museum, BvxJo; tephen M. Fochuk; Puffer, Ph.D, Hi torian, Edwards (AFMC);
Jan Govaerts, Force Aerienne Belge (FAe)/ Col J. Qumoq, Military aval and Air 7 WiNNING THEiR SP RS 131
Belgisehe Luchrmaeht (BLu) (Retd); Andy Arrache, Embassy ofthe Hashemite King
Graham;CaptLucaGuadagno,Aeronauriea dom ofJordan; Public Affairs Office,Japan
Militare ltaliana ( MI);Gp aptSultan M. Air taff Office, Tokyo; Hans Redemann; 8 WORLD-WIDE MILITARY OPERATORS 155
Hali, P F; Mary Ann Harness of A &M Mike Rondot; Eric Schul:inger, Lockheed
NASA DrydenFlightRe earchCenter;Col MartinCorp.Roger'Kicker' eroo;Graham 9 HOOTI G FOR THE TARS 169
Lauric Hawn RCAF (Retd); John Heath M. and Anne Simons; Col K.R. orfleet,
Typefacc,,,,cd:Goudy(texr), corr, Aerospace Publishing; Heritage and Air Force Advisor, Canadian Defence Liai
Cheltcnham (headings). History, Winnipeg, Canada; Bob Holder; son taff (London); arl Stef RCAF Appendix 1 Starfighter Chronology 180
Del Holyland, Martin-Baker Aircraft Co. (Retd); Luca torti;Tactical AirCommand
Typc,cl anddcsigncd hI' Ltd.; Vivi-Ann Jacobsen, Royal Danish Denmark; Ton 'Rabo' van der Zeeuw; Cec
I)& Publishing Embassy, London-Dublin-The Hague; cherro Vito; Hans-Ulrich Willbold, Appendix 11 tarfighter Production Totals 182
Baydon,~larlhorough,\Vill,h,rc. Philip Jarrett; Phil Kemp; Cdre Javed VVM/MK, DaimlerChrysler Aerospace;
Ahmed Khan,Armyand AirAdvisor, High and the dedicated staffofthe U 2nd Air 189
Pnntcdand hound inGrcat BritainhI' Bookcraft. Commission for Pakistan; Michel Klaver; Division Memorial Library in onvich. Appendix 11l tarfighter Operator World-wide
190
ores
191
index
Introduction
In the Ascendancy Lockheed AircraftCompany. Fred E. Keel makea large profitand againstAllan Loug
er, a wealthy brick manufacturer, acquired head'swishe ,inJuly 1929,adeal wasmade
In the early 1900s, Malcolm and Allan 5l percentofthe common stock and took with the Detroit Aircraft orporation
Haines Loughead, two young aviation the title ofpreSident. Allan Loughead was whichsnapped up 7per entofLockheed's
minded brothers in an Francisco, Cali vice-president. With the help of Jack assets. Just three months later the Wall
fornia, with the help oftheir halfbrother, Northrop, now hief Engineer, Lockheed Streetcrash plunged the S into the Great
Victor, started outon the road that was to designed and built the trend-setting Vega Depression and manycompanies went into
lead twoofthem toform oneofthebiggest cantilevermonoplane, which wassold (ata liquidationl
aviation corporations in the world. Allan loss) to George HearstJr., the wealthy an The Lockheed AircraftCompany was a
Loughead, a fine engineer, aircraftdesign Francisconewspapermagnate.Thecompa Division ofthe Detroit Aircraft Corpora
er and pilot, and newly married, returned ny though, is best remembered for building tion for two years until it too went into
to an Francisco early in 1912 where he what were arguably the faste t, finest and receivership. During this sojourn, Lock
resumed workas a me hanic. He managed mostsought-aftermonoplane oftheperiod heed carried on producing Vegas, Air
to convince Malcolm, who for the past from 1927 to 1934. Their unique single Expressesami Explorers,aswellasbuilding
eight years had worked as an automobile shell wooden monocoqueconstruction put newdesigns,themostfamousofwhich was
mechanic(designingthe famou hydraulic their Vega and Orion cabin planes well the irius, the first being completed for
brake in the process), that they hould ahead of their competitors' fabric-covered Charles Lindbergh in 1929. In addition, a
build their own aircraft, the Model G. In biplane de igns. The speedy high-winged number of Altair and Orion aircraft were
1912 they set up the Alco Hydro-Aero Vegas in the hand ofaccomplished trail built. On 2l June 19 2 at a bankruptcy
plane Company from a garage at Pacific blazers like Amelia Earhart, Ruth Nichols courtagroupofinvestors led by Robert E.
and Polk Streets in an Francisco. At the and Wiley Post, completed many long- lis Gross, aSan Francisco investment broker,
sametime theycontinued to workasau[{) tance flight and set new speed records, bid 40,000 for the assets of the defunct
mobilemechanics[()helpfinance thecon whilethemostfamousownerofaLockheecl company.Therebeingnootherbids,Judge
struction ofthe Model G. iriu was Charles Lindbergh, who com Harry Holzer accepted their offer, adding,
Duringthesummerof1913 the ModelG pletedanumberofsurveyflightsaroundthe 'I sure hope you fellows know what you're
made four flights before it was damaged in world for Pan American Airways in 1930 doingl'. Gross became chairman and trea
an accident at San Mateo. Allan and Mal and 1933. A Lockheed 3 Air Express won surer of the new Lockheed Aircraft Cor
colm boughtoutthe interestsoftheirfellow the 1929NationalAirRaceandayearlater poration, while Lloyd C. Stearman was
investors and acquired the Model G out the same aircraft, in the hands of Roscoe elected president and general manager.
right. In 1913 they wereforced to 'eektheir Turner, set a numberofnew speed records. The new regime saw Lockheed move
fortune by pro pecting, followed by everal In March 192 , meanwhile, the Lock away from single-engined to twin-engined
exciting adventure at home and abroad, heed company had moved its offices to the designs, the firstofwhich wasthesucce sful
MalcolmandAllanmovedto anta Barbara Mi sion Glass Works in Burbank, where Model 1 Electra transport, followed indue
in 1916,and together with other investor, four Vegas, an Air Expressand an Explorer course, by the Model 12 ElectraJunior fast
they created the Loughead Aircraft Manu were built. (The Explorer, which was executive transport. In 1936, Lockheed
facturing company. With the help of an designed for long-distance record attempts, delivered itsfirst militaryaircraft, tothe US
architectural draughtsman by the name of was the lea t suc essful of the early Lo k avy, Coast Guard and AAC, and plant
John K. 'Jack' orthrop, the Lougheads heed aeroplane. Just four were built and facilitie were increased to build the Moclel
built an FI flying boat and produced two threecrashed.Thefourth wasdamaged and l4SuperElectra,whichwouldflyon24July
Curtiss H -2L single-engined flying boats. parts from this aircraft were mated to an 1937.Alsocon eiveJataboutthistimewas
Unfortunately, both the Curtiss boats were Orion fuselage to produce the Orion the XP-3 (Model 22) twin-engined inter
builtataloss,asmall -1sportbiplanefailed Explorer in whi h Wiley Post and Will ceptor, whi h wassubmitted to meet AAC
topenetrateamarketdominateclbywar-sur Rogers were killed in Alaska on 15 August requirement X-60S, in February 1937. Des
plus Jennies, and a Navy contract for fifty 1935.) Jack Northrop left the company tined tobecomefamousastheLightning,its
scouts was ancellecl before the first aircraft threemonthslater. Hewasreplaced byGer clesignerswhere Hall Hibbard,and 27-year
wascompleted. In 1921,thecompanywent ald F 'Jerry' Vultee as chief engineer. By old Clarence L. 'Kelly' Johnson. Johnson
into liquidation andJack orthrop went[() mid-I929, well over seventy Vegas, seven had advised the company about potential
workfor Douglas. Air Expresses and the Explorer, had either instability and control problems on the
On 13 December 1926 the Loughead been built or were under construction. Model 10 and had joined the company as
brothers and other investors formed the Keeler realized that this was the time to a tool designer in 1933. Model 22
6
7
INTRODUCTIO
INTRODUCTION
development was protracted with the revo Between 1July 1940-31 August 1945Lock Lockheed and the
lutionary turbosuperchargers causing the heed turned out 19,077 aircraft to become Post-war Market
mostdelays, and theXP-38did notfly until the fifth largest USaircraft producer. Byfar
27 January 1939. [n the meantime, Lock thelarge tproportionofLockheed-builtair Post-war, Lockheed oughtother markets,
heed triedhard tocarveanicheinthehigh craft were P-3 Lightnings, Hudsons, and notably in the field of civil and military
ly competitive rransport market with the Lodestars,although500B-[7Fand 2,250G propeller-turbine and jet transports. In
Model 10, [2, [4and laterModel 18, trans Fortresses, and B-34/37 and PV-l/-2s were 1955 the Model 188 Electra·turbine-pow
port. There then came a breakthrough on produced at Burbank by the VegaCorpora ered airlinerentered the design stage after
23June 193 ,whenBritain placedan order tion (formerly AiRover ompany), which American Airlineshad hown theirdis at
for 200-250Hudsonaircraft. was absorbed on 30 ovember 1943. Just isfaction with Douglas and the pricing of
The Second World War saw Lockheed over 94,300 personnel, thousands of them their DC-7 airliner by announcing that it
grow enormously. On [March [940, the women engaged in building aircraft on the was ready to receive bids for alternative
workforcestood at 7,000employees, and in production line,wereworkingatLockheed aircraft for its hitherto Douglas-equipped
1941 it had risen to 16, 9 personnel. at this time. fleet. On June 1955, American Airlines
ordered 35 Elecrras and on 27 eptember,
Eastern Airlines ordered forty.
By the end of 1955 Lockheed had
received order for another ixty-one Elec
tras. The Model I 8 was completed in 26
months and flew, eight weeks ahead of
schedule, on 6 December 1957. At this
time the Electra was the sacred cow at
Lockheed. The company in 1957 had suf
fered heavily from the utbacks in defence
spending in American whi h lost them
150 million in cancelled contracts in five
months.'Deliverie oftheElectratoairline
began early in 1959 to merican but three
Elecn'aswere lost in fatal accidents in four
teen months, from 3 February 1959, and
Lockheed was forced to ground all 165
(Above)Whenitcametofighters,Lockheedwere
remaining Elecrras for a whole year while
extremelysuccessfulpost-war.XP-80-LD44-85004
an expensive modification programme was
LuluBelle,poweredbyadeHavillandHalfordH.1B
carriedout.Weaknessoftheenginemount turbojet,flewforthefirsttimeon8January1944,and
ings,which inturncausednacellevibration theP-80ShootingStarwentontobecomeundoubtedly
and then wing flexing, and final failure at themostsuccessfulofalltheimmediatepost-warjet
the root, was deemed to be the cause ofat fighterstooriginateduringWW2,andthefirstto
enteroperationalservice.Altogether,917P-80As.
240P-80Bs,and748P-80CswerebuiltfortheUSAF.
Designedforshortandmediumroutes,170Electra188prop-jetaircraftwerebuilt,thefirstflyingon6 (Below)Postwar,Lockheedweresuccessfulwith Lockheed
December1957.DeliveriesoftheElectratoairlinesbeganearlyin1959toAmericanbutthreeElectras theirfour-engined Constellationfamilyofairliners,
werelostinfatal accidentsinfourteen months,from3February1959,andLockheedwasforcedtoground 856modelsofwhichwerebuilt,butwhenitcame N1649,theprototypeStarliner,whichflewon10
all165remainingElectrasforawholeyearwhileanexpensivemodificationprogrammewascarried out. tothepure-jetairlinermarketthecompanyfailedto October1956.Thetypecouldflynon-stopfrom New
TheElectrawasquicklyovertakenbythejetairlinerrevolutionandwasafinancial disasterwhichpre challengethedominationgainedbytheBoeing707 YorktoanyEuropeancapital andwentintoservice
ventedLockheedfromre-enteringthecommercial airlinermarketfortenyears. Lockheed andDouglasDC-8. Lockheed withTWAontheNewYorktoParisrouteon1June
1957.AttemptsbyLockheedtodeveloptheModel
1649StarlinertorivaltheDouglasDC-7failed(only
43Starlinerswerebuilt)andthecompanyurgently
neededafightermarketifits15,000workerswere
nottobelaidoff. Lockheed
least twO of the accidents. Although the [nJanuary 1951 Lockheed had reopened estimated to be roughly in the region of
problem was finally overcome, public con agovernment-builtplantatMarietta,Geor 300 million, while the Jenar would con
fidence in the Electra signalleJ its demise. gia, and the complex was used to build 394 tinue in proJuction until 19 O. Other suc
The Electra was a financial disaster. Its BoeingB-47Stratojet, -130Hercule anJ cesses included the Constellation family of
repercussions prevented LockheeJ from re JetStar aircraft. The YC-130 prototype, turbo-prop transports, 856 of which were
enteringthe ommercialairlinermarketfor which was to become famous as the Her turned out, anJ a further 1,051 P2V Nep
- tenyears,althoughamilitarydevelopment, cule ,fir tflewon23August 1954.Thetype tunes. (In 1961, the LockheeJ-Georgia
the P-3 (P3V) Orion long-range patrol air was to becoll,e hugely successful, with an Divi ion was reorganizeJ as the Lockheed
eventual profit to Lockheed conservatively Georgia ompany.)
craft, wenton to achievegreatsu cess.
9
8
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
TheModel83owedmuchtothe1940s'design
conceptofthesingleDouglasX-3Stiletto(49-2892)
whichmadeitsfirstflighton20October1952and
whichwasbuilttoinvestigatethedesignfeatures
ofanaircraftsuitableforsustainedsupersonic
speeds.AsecondarypurposeoftheX-3wasto
testnewmaterialssuchasTitanium.Particular
attentionwasgiventotheproblemof·pitch-up'.
aphenomenonoftenencounteredwithswept-wing
configuredaircraft.TheX-3waspoweredbytwo
WestinghouseXJ-34-WE-17turbojetsandwas
capableoftake-offandlandingunderitsown
power.FailureoftheJ46enginedevelopment
programme.however.wasresponsiblefortheX-3's
inabilitytoreachitsMach2designobjective.
IthadatopspeedofjustoverMach1and
reachedanaltitudeof41.318ft(12,594m).Itis
currentlydisplayedattheUSAFMuseumat
Wright-Patterson,Dayton,Ohio. Douglas
(Above)Fourgenerationsoflockheedfour-engined
aircraftgatheredatHarrisburgInternationalAirport,
hometothePennsylvaniaAirGuard's193rdTactical
ElectronicWarfareGroup'sEC-121S-l0electronic
reconnaissance/countermeasures'SuperConnies',
andC-130s.Thesetwoaircraftwerejoinedbya
C-141 andtheC-5Galaxy. Lockheed
(Left)RespondingtoanAirForcerequestforatwo
man.all-weatherfighter,lockheedstrengthenedthe
T-33fuselageandinsertedanAllisonJ-33Aturbojet
withafterburnertocreatetheYF-94.Thefirstoftwo
YF94prototypesflewon1July1949.andproduction
F-94AsfirstenteredserviceinJune1950.The109
F-94Aswerefollowedby355F-94Bs(F-94B-l-l0
50-882.pictured).Some279F-94Csfollowed.Alltold.
lockheedbuilt854Starfires,1949-54. Lockheed
The Skunk Works' 'Skunk Works', after the foul-smelling fac Enter the Starfighter
tory in AI Capp's 'Lil bner' comic strip.
Finest Hour?
The namestuck. (TheAdvanced Develop Johnson and hi design group then rumed
Work on jet propulsion had tarted at the ment Projects Section later became the their thoughts to other military jets.
outbreak of war and Lockheed's first jet Lockheed Advanced Development Com Amongthede ignsconsideredwasthe -2
TWheesetixnpgehroiumseenXtaJl3X4F-W-9E0-(1416-t6u8r7blo.jpeotsw.ewraedsdbyestiwgnoed fighter, the XP- ,was contracted by the pany, or LADe, and in the 1990s was spyplane, and the Model 83, created in
asalong-rangepenetrationaircraftandfirstflew U AF in Jun 1943. At the beginning of responsibleforbuildingtheF-Il?AStealth November 1952, and which finally
on3June1949.Theneedle-nosedjetlostouttothe the programme, Kelly Johnson, named fighter.) Completed in just 143 days, the emerged as the F-I04 tarfighter. Unfortu
McDonnellXF-88inJune1950andthereforedidnot chief engineer at Burbank in 1952, orga XP-80 project exemplifiedJohnson's credo nately for Lockheed, as will become evi
enterproduction.TheXF-90,andtheXFV-l (which nized his famous Advanced Development - 'bequick; bequiet; beon time'. The P- 0 dent,although itpromisedmuch,theF-I04
wasdesignedtorisevertically),andVZ-10(XV-4) ProjectsSection,which washou ed in tem becameAmerica'sfirstproductionjetfight tarfighter was built in only limited num
HummingbirdVTOlaircraftfighterconceptsnever porary accommodation next to a plastic er, and by 195 no Ie s than ,507 related bersfor the U FThefirst ofthe twoXF
enteredproductionbuttheXF-104programmemore factory. Its location earned the nickname models had been produced. 104 prototypes flew for the first time on 4
thancompensatedforthese. Lockheed
77
70
lNTROD CTION
INTRODUCTION
March 1954. Seventeen YF-104As fol The Sale of the Century time an unproven multi-mission aircraft could never match the Lightning's rate of
low d but service deliveries ofthe F-104A provided the momentum for what was to turn at anyspeed. It was not until the F-15,
were not finally begun until January]958. alvation for both Lockheed and the become known as the 'sale ofthe century'. 15 years later, that the Lightning had any
Then theyweregrounded for three month· tarfighter was provided by the German The tarfighter would notonly replace the real competitor. In a case of what might
while problemswith the engine were recti Federal Republic where re-equipment of F- 4F Thunder neak, F- 6 abre and RF- havebeen,theonlyLightningsevertooper
fied. By December 195 the U AFhadcut the Luftwaffe was needed to help counter 4F Thunderflash in Luftwaffe service, it ate from Germansoil were two RAF light
back its F-104ordersfrom 722 toonly 296. thegrowing ommunistthreat in the east. wouldalsoreplacethe HawkerSeaHawkin ning interceptorsquadrons.
Air Defense Command (later Aero Equally importantly, WestGermany want the Marinej1ieger, even though the German
space Defen e ommand) accepted only ed tobecomeafully paid-upmemberofthe avyhadpreferredthe British HawkerSid
179 F-104A/-B Starfighters and fairly 'nuclear club'. The Defence Committee dcley Buccaneer, which was considered a More Starfighter Orders
quickly phased out the aircraft to make had, ince late 195 , been evaluating superior aircraft in this role, especially for Follow
way for the more heavily armed McDon designs for a primary all-weather fighter low-level offhore orties. It was tanta
nell F-I01B Voodoo an~ onvair F-I06A interceptor, fighter-bomber and photo mount to a double body blow for the Apartfrom thelucrativesaleoftheaircraft,
Delta Dart all-weather fighters. The only graphic reconnaissance aircraft. With no British, who earlier had lost any chance of a complete re-design involving an almost
other tarfightel' versions to serve in the aircraft industry of its own, Germany success when the government, in its wis indeterminate number of costly ECPs
USAF were seventy-seven F-104 sand looked to France, Britain and the USA for dom, decided to relegate the superlative (equipmentchange proposals) would have
twenty-one two-seat F-104D Starfightel'S, possible fighter designs to replace the English Electric Lightning Mach 2+ inter to be carried out if the Starfighter was to
which wereaccepted byTacticalAirCom RepubliC F-84F Thunderstreak in the ceptor to the background and instead tried comeanywhereneartoachievingit multi
mand during 195 -59. ~nikerole, the orthAmerican F- 6 abre to promote the aunders Roe R.]77. mi sion role. Better still, these would be
A spate of losse in U service did not in the air defence role, and the Republic At first, We t Germany showed a very carriedoutbyLockheedorit licensee and
helpthe tarfighter'scause. Bythetimethe RF-84FThunderflash in photo-reconnais keen interest in the R.l77 (anoperational paidforbythecustomer(s). Lockheed were
F-104 had logged its 100,000th flight hour, sance. All of these aircraft were obsoles development ofthe SR.53 research aircraft also well aware that where West Germany
in April 1961, 49 out of 296 tarfighters cent when they were first purchased and powered by a Gyron turbojetand aSpectre led, the other European nations - The
operated bythe USAFhad beenlostand 18 the Luftwaffe had looked to replace them rocket motorfor high-altirude boost), but it etherlands, Belgium, and Italy - would
Europeinthelate1950sofferedAmericanaircraftmanufacturersendlessopportunities pilot killed - none ofthem in combat. In even before the last of the American was cancelled in Britain's infamous 1957 follow. Firstofthesetoputpentopaperwas
tobuildonthesalespotentialgainedduringthelate1940swhencompaniessuch Vietnam, 1965-67,eightF-104C tarfight equipped geschwaders had been activated. DefenceWhite Paper. The English Electric Holland, which badly needed a replace
asRepublicstoleeveryone'sthunderandsuccessfullysoldaircrafttothewestern ers were lost in actionand anothersix were On I March 1959 Herr Franz Josef Lightning wa a more capable aircraft and mentforit ageingKaasjagers(cheesefight
Europeandemocraciesinlargenumbers,PicturedareRepublicF-84GThunderjets destroyed in operational accident. The F nauss, who since 1956 had been Federal did not have the very severe operational ers) as their F- 4 RepublicThunderstreaks
(whichtheRCAFreferredtoderisivelyas'leadSleds')oftheKoninklijkeluchtmacht 104 too wassoondispensed with. German defence minister, announced that limitations ofthe Lockheed machine. The were known.
IKlu,RoyalNetherlandsAirForce). KLu The Starfighter' failure to enter wide 'after evaluating nearly two dozen of the Lightning's ability to manoeuvre with the fter rejecting theNorthrop N-156F (F
scale production was tantamount to world's top fighter aircraft', he hadsigned a bestand outclimball ofthem gave its pilots 5Tiger),ConvairF-106and Republic F-I05
another disaster for Lockheed, certainly contract for 96 Stalfighters [32 two-seat F an advantage which set them apart from Thunderchiefin September 1959 (because
oneon thesamescaleas thatofthe failure I 4F trainers and 66 single-seat F-I04Gs]. others. The F-I04 talfighter had, eventu they were considered too heavy and too
of the Electra. Lockheed needed to sell His deci ion to buy the F-104G - at that ally, the same straightline top speed but it expensive) and after the elimination ofthe
between 2,500 and 3, 00 F-I04s to main
tain profitabilityami unlike the P-3 Orion
spin-off, thereseemed little likelihoodofa
spin-off this time, for the F-I04. Yet,
unlike the situation with the Electra,
where Lockheed had borne not only the
enormouscosts ofthe re earch and devel
opment programme, but had also funded
the expensive LEAP (Lockheed Electra
Action Program), the governmenthad
funded the greater part of the multi-mil
lion dollar F-I04 programme. However,
previousattempts by Lockheed todevelop
a ucce sful commercial aircraft ( tarlin
er) to rival the Douglas D -7, and a pure
jet airliner to rival the Boeing 7 7 and
Dougla DC- ,had both ended in failure,
so the company urgently needed a fighter
market ifits 15,000workers were not to be (Above)Britain'soncepowerfulaviationindustryfared disastrouslyintheracetore-equiptheLuftwaffeandtheMarineflieger,losingoutrightacrosstheboard
laid off. Almostas importantly,an alterna totheStarfighterin Luftwaffeservice,andinMarinefliegerservice,wherethoughtheGermanNavypreferredtheHawkerSiddeleyBuccaneer,replacementofthe
tive market had to be found ifthe compa HawkerSeaHawkwentalsototheF-104G.BritainlostanychanceofsuccesswiththeEnglishElectriclightningMach.2+interceptorwhentheGovernment
Nolessthan5,641T-33Adual-seatversionsoftheF-80werebuiltbetween1948and
1959and90percentofthefreeworld'sjetpilotsweretrainedintheT-33.Itequipped ny was to remain part of the 'Big Three' insteadchampionedtheSaundersRoeSR.l77(pictured).Thisneverleftthedrawingboard,anditwasoneofseveralpromisingdesignswhich
23friendlypowers(about1,058aircraft),includingseveralairforcesinNATO. with rivals Boeingand Douglas. All hope werecancelledinBritain'sinfamous1957DefenceWhitePaperthatdeclaredallmannedaircraftobsolete! SARO
T-33A-1-l0(FT-05)ofthe11erneEscadrille(11 Smaldeell,theInstrumentSquadron therefore rested on marketing and elling
(AboveRight)HerrFranzJosefStrauss(left).FederalGermandefenceminister,themanresponsibleforsigningthe'saleofthecentury'on18March1959,when
oftheForceAerienneBeige(FAe)/Belgischeluchtmacht(Blu)pictured).Salesof the Lockheed militarydesign tocustomers
hesignedacontracttobeginlicenceproductionoftheF-104GStarfighter,andInspekteurdeLuftwaffe,GenJosefKammhuber(right)duringtheceremony,in
thisaircraftweretohelpopenthemarketfortheStarfighterinEurope. Lockheed overseas.
August1961,onthe occasionofthedeliveryofthefirstF-104GsbuiltbylockheedfortheBundeswehr. ViaFairchild·Oornier
12
13
INTRODUCTION
-
"''''''''''-''iiiiiijj;:;=::--'':::~L!~~_,
. 'J!'l"mUJJJlJlJJJJJlJ)
(Above)TheStarfightersuccessstorybegan
withtwoXF-104-l0s(Model083-92-01)(53-7786,
picturedand53-7787).thedesignationappliedto
thetwosingle-seattacticalfighterprototypes,
orderedon12March1953.Thefirstflight,with
non-afterburningengine,tookplaceon4March
1954. Lockheed
(Left)lockheed'schiefengineeringtestpilot,
HermanR.'Fish'Salmonpreparestotakethe
XF-104aloft. Lockheed
(OPPOSITEPAGE)
(Top)TheXF-104swerefollowed byabatchof
seventeenYF-104As(Model183-93-02)55-2955/55
2971)builtforservicetrialswiththeGeneral
ElectricJ79-GE-3engine.Mach2wasachieved
inaYF-104on27April1955. Lockheed
(Middle)F-104A-5-l0(Model183-93-02)56-737ofAir
DefenseCommandinflight. DeliveriesoftheF-104A
tothe83rdFighter-InterceptorSquadronatHamilton
AFB,California,beganon26January1958.Initsfirst
yearofservicewiththeUSAFtheF-104AStarfighter
becamethefirstoperationalinterceptorcapableof
sustainedMach2+speeds.USAF
(Bottom)ThesingleseatF-104Ctacticalstrike
versionandtwo-seatF-104D,weredevelopedfor
usebyTacticalAirCommandanddeliveriesof77
F-104C(F-104C-5-LO56-904,pictured)weremade,
16October1958(tothe831stAirDivisionatGeorge
AFB,California)- June1959.On14December1959
anF-104Ctooktheworldaltituderecordto103,389ft
(31,513m). Lockheed
14 15
INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION
Da sault Mirage III, on 20 April 1960 the However,when theU governmentrefused orderfor MAPF-I04Gs. (Injune 1962the Sralfighter, made much of the aircraft's
Netherlandsplacedan initialorderfor 100 to improvethe numberofMAP-fundedair Air Force ordered additional MAP F 1958 and 1959 world altitude and speed
tarfighters, twenty-five of which would craft, and then decreed that the offer was 104G .) In a move which committed vir records and lobbied hard for F-I04 accep
comefree from theU MilitaryA si tance conditionalon Italybeingco-optedintothe tually all the resource ofthe Italian avia rance. Ironically, one of the Lockheed
Program (MAP) budget.The etherland F-104consortium,the etherlandsreduced tion industry, on 2 March 1961 Italy ,'rarfighter' greatest supporters was Gen
had hoped to receive 100 aircraft a part their purchase from LOO to 95 tarfighters.! signed a licence production contract to eral Minoru Genda, who in july 1959
of MAP, to which they proposed to buy Belgium followed on 20 june 1960. In build the F-I04G. Some 916 tarfighters hecame the new chiefofair taff. Genda
a further 100 aircraft by direct purchase. February 1961 the U AirForce igned the wereeventuallyacquired for the Luftwaffe was the man who eighteen years earlier
and Marineflieger, 652 of them licence had planned and executed the surprise
built in Europe. Altogether, the ether atrack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, on 7
lands ordered 144 Starfighters, Italy, 155, December 19411Genda visited Lockheed
and Belgium, 100. inCaliforniaand,atthisown reque t, flew
Meanwhile,on 17September 1959Lock aStmfighter. Hedeclared it to be the best
heed concluded a contract with anadair fighter the world hadeverseen. Itwasnow
forthe anadiancompanytobuild200 F clearto Lockheed thatthejapanesewould
104 rarfighters to equip its eight R AF huy the F-104 and not the F-l1 Super
squadrons in NATO (in 1962 another 140 Tiger. A few months later Genda was
F-104Gs were for re-export under the US awarded the LegionofMeritby the US F. RepublicRF-84F-21REThunderflashphoto-reconnaissanceaircraftoftheKoninklijke
Military Assistance Program). On 29 January 1960 Japan signed a Luchtmacht(KLu.RoyalNetherlandsAirForce!. RNLAF
In 1959 it looked as if]apan would buy licensed production contract. In ovem
merican too, but its service chief were her Japan announced plans to equip its
known to favour the Grumman F-l IA new Japan Air Self-Defence Force with
uper Tiger. However, before the ation 230 F-l 4Js in the air-superiority role.
al Defence council formally approved the
choice, Lockheed, and some influential
japane e politicians who favoured the The Multinational Programme
AII told, tarfighters were produced by
manufacturers in seven countries. In
RepublicF-84F-5IREThunderstreaksoftheKLu.
Europea multinational programmecarried
AfterGermanyhadoptedfortheStarfighterto
(Jut the manufacture of 996 F-104G/RF
replace itsageingRepublicF-84FThunderstreaks
inthestrikerole.theNorthAmericanF-86Sabrein 104G Starfighters, led by Messerschmitt,
theairdefencerole.andtheRepublicRF-84F whoweretobethemajorcorporatepartner
Thunderflashinthephoto-reconnaissancerole.The for Lockheed untiI the F-I04 was phased
Netherlands.Belgium.andItalyfollowedsuit.The (Jut in both the German Air Force (Luft
RoyalNetherlandsAirForce.likeGermany.badly waffe) and Navy (Marineflieger). The
neededareplacementforitsageing Kaasjager SrarfighterIicence production was the first
(cheesefighters)astheirF-84FThunderstreaks
majororder for the German aircraft indus
wereknown. RNLAF
trysincetheSecondWorldWar.TheEuro
pean consortium employed up to 100,000
(Below)RepublicF-84EThunderjetoftheKongelige
staffwhoworked inStarfighterproduction.
Norske Luftforsvaret(KNL.RoyalNorwegianAir
Force!. KNL ARGE(Arbeitsgemeinschaft)-Sud (Work
Group South), near Munich in Germany,
which was made up of Messerschmitt
at Augsburg; Heinkel at peyer; Dornier
at Munich; ami iebel at Donauwurth,
buiIt 21 F-I04Gs for the Luftwaffe and
Marineflieger. (Later, toreplacelosses, MBB F-84FThunderstreaksandRF-84FThunderflashphoto-reconnaissanceaircraftofthe
(Me~~erschmitt-BolkO\v-Blohm), built a AMI(ItalianAirForce!. AMI
further fifty F-I04Gs for the German
force~).
Stmfighter production commenced at
the German plants on 1 December 1960. cover, the escape hatch, the nose landing nose landing gear. Heinkel were initially
Messerschmittwas responsible for produc gear doors, the fuel rank cover and the responsible for the main landing gearand
tion flight testingand final assembly (car hydraulic access door, and were respon'i the droppable fuel tank, and manufac
ried outat Manching), painting,construc ble for the fuselage nose, the radome nose tured the main landing gear doors, dive
tion of the pilot scat, the fuselage, assembly, air scoops and the rear fuselage. brakes, wings, fins, rudders, horizontal
empennage and the installation of the Dornier constructed the mid-fuselage stabiliz'rs and other minor equipment.
powerplant. Siebel initially manufactured panels,upperpanelassembliesforthefuse As production intensified other manu
the canopy, the electronics bay hatch lage, the mid-fuselage side panels and the facturers in Belgium, Germany and The
76 77
