The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter was extensively deployed as a fighter-bomber during the Cold War. 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 produced by several other nations, seeing widespread service outside the United States. Problems with the General Electric J79 engine and a preference for fighters with longer ranges and heavier payloads meant its service with the USAF was short lived, though it was reactivated for service during the Berlin Crisis of 1961 and the Vietnam War, when it flew over 5,000 combat sorties. While its time with the USAF was brief, the Starfighter found much more lasting success with other NATO and allied nations. In October 1958, West Germany selected the F-104 as its primary fighter aircraft. Canada soon followed, along with 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. The Starfighter's airframe was all-metal, primarily duralumin with some stainless steel and titanium.[34] The fuselage was approximately two and a half times longer than the airplane's wingspan. The wings themselves were centered on the horizontal reference plane, or along the longitudinal centerline of the fuselage, and were located substantially farther back on the fuselage than most contemporary designs. The new wing design was extremely thin, with a thickness-to-chord ratio of only 3.36% and an aspect ratio of 2.45.[38] The wing's leading edges were so thin (.016 in, 0.41 mm)[38] that they presented a cut hazard to ground crews: protective guards had to be installed on the edges during ground operations maintenance. For more information on the development, design, operational history and variants of the F-104, click here. Specifications below are for the F-104G variant.
