Lockheed F-104 Starfighter

The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter is an American single-engine, supersonic interceptor. Created as a day fighter by Lockheed as one of the "Century Series" of fighter aircraft for the United States Air Force (USAF), it was developed into an all-weather multirole aircraft in the early 1960s and extensively deployed as a fighter-bomber during the Cold War. It was also produced under license by other nations and saw widespread service outside the United States.

After interviews with Korean War fighter pilots in 1951, Lockheed lead designer Kelly Johnson chose to buck the trend of ever-larger and more complex fighters to produce a simple, lightweight aircraft with maximum altitude and climb performance. On 4 March 1954, the Lockheed XF-104 took to the skies for the first time, and on 26 February 1958, the production fighter entered service with the USAF. Just a few months later, it was pressed into action during the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis to deter the use of Chinese MiG-15 and MiG-17 fighters. Problems with the General Electric J79 engine and a preference for fighters with longer ranges and heavier payloads initially limited its service with the USAF, though it was deployed for the Berlin Crisis of 1961 and widely used during the Vietnam War, when it flew more than 5,000 combat sorties.

Fifteen NATO and allied air forces eventually flew the Starfighter, many for longer than the USAF. In October 1958, West Germany chose the F-104 as its primary fighter aircraft. Canada soon followed, then the Netherlands, Belgium, Japan, and Italy. The European nations formed a construction consortium that was the largest international manufacturing program in history to that point. In 1975, it was revealed that Lockheed had bribed many foreign military and political figures to secure purchase contracts.