@ Colorado Springs, CO
August 2013
This Starfighter is one of many static aircraft on display at Peterson AFB. This F-104 was manufactured by Lockheed at Burbank, California, and was delivered to the USAF in March 1959 until retirement in 1975 when it was flown to Peterson AFB in August 1975 to be placed on static display. To depict heritage of the F-104 with the Air Defense Command (ADC), the aircraft was repainted in the mid 1970s as an F-104A. 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. While the USAF only purchased 296 F-104s, improved F-104s sold very well overseas, serving as late as 2004. Sony RX-100 photo.
