@ The Museum of Flight, Seattle, WA
May 2013
This 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. The Starfighter entered service with the U.S. Air Force in 1958 as an interceptor. By the Vietnam War, it had moved into a fighter-bomber role. While the USAF only purchased 296 F-104s, improved F-104s sold very well overseas, serving as late as 2004. This museum example is painted in NASA colors. 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. Nikon D7000 w/Tokina 11-16mm.
