Air Power Series>1:72 die-cast display model>F-104>HA1027

General Background

The F-104 Starfighter was an military aircraft with revolutionary designs. It had short razor-sharp wings and was the first aircraft to be able to maintain Mach 2 not just in short bursts. 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.

The Aircraft

F-104C b/n 0-60914 "Snoopy Sniper" was piloted by Major Herb Drisco of the 435 TFS and wore this nose art in 1966 and 67. Early on in 1966 the supersonic Mig-21 started to appear over North Vietnam. The U.S. solution was to deploy the F-104s, so in June 1966 F-104Cs from the 435th TFS "Screaming Eagles" started to arrive at Udorn RTAFB in Thailand. All the aircraft wore the 3 tones SEA (South East Asia) camouflage soon to be referred to as "Vietnamese Camouflage".

Specifications :

Span:	21 ft. 11 in.
Length:	54 ft. 10 in
Height:	13 ft. 6 in.
Weight:	27,853 lbs. max
Armament:	One M-61 20mm cannon, two air-to-air missiles: nuclear or conventional bombs
Empty:	One General Electric J-79 of 15,800 lbs. thrust with afterburner
Crew:	One
Cost:	$1,471,000 (1950 & early 60's dollars)
Normal Performance:
Maxium Speed:	1,320 mph.
Cruising Speed:	576 mph.
Range:	1,250 miles
Service Ceiling:	58 000 ft