August 2018
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) flew this F-104A for 19 years as a flying test bed and a chase plane. It was used to test the reaction controls later used on the North American X-15. NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center flew F-104 Starfighter aircraft in a wide variety of missions beginning in August 1956. Over the next 38 years, 11 were operated by NASA, with the last Starfighter flight taking place in February 1994. This aircraft was the seventh F-104 built and was transferred to the Museum after its last flight on August 26, 1975. The F-104 was the first aircraft to achieve sustained Mach 2 flight and the first to hold speed and altitude records simultaneously, as well as the first to reach 100,000 feet. Fuji X-E2s w/18-55mm.