The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter — the first serially produced aircraft to exceed twice the speed of sound — was created in the first half of the 1950s as the brainchild of Clarence “Kelly” Johnson. It was intended to be an air defence fighter, and due to the development of guided missiles, manoeuvrability was sacrificed in favour of the highest possible speed.
The streamlined fuselage ending in a long Pitot tube probe, with a T-shaped tail, housing the powerful GE J79 engine, and miniature trapezoidal wings with negative dihedral and very sharp leading edges earned the Starfighter the nickname “a missile with a man inside.” The first version to be developed was the F-104A, followed by the improved F-104C.
Although its career in its homeland was rather short and insignificant, the Starfighter became one of the most widely used combat aircraft in the world — 2,580 specimens were operated by the air forces of 14 countries on 3 continents, and it was produced under licence in 6 countries. It remained in service for over 40 years. In the 1960s.
The Starfighter in the F-104G version, with expanded ground attack capabilities, became the primary strike aircraft — adapted for carrying tactical nuclear weapons — as well as a fighter and reconnaissance aircraft for Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Spain, Greece and Turkey, as well as Canada and Japan. It was produced under licence at MBB in Germany, Fokker in the Netherlands, SABCA in Belgium, Fiat in Italy, Canadair in Canada and Mitsubishi in Japan.
In the late 1980s, most Italian F-104S aircraft underwent the ASA avionics upgrade programme, adapting the aircraft to carry the Aspide 1A missile, which was an Italian improvement of the Sparrow missile, and Sidewinder missiles in the upgraded AIM-9L version.
In the 1990s, the Italian Air Force planned to replace the Starfighters with the Eurofighter Typhoon multirole aircraft, but the programme to build this aircraft was delayed, forcing another avionics upgrade, designated ASA-M, which involved installing navigation and radio equipment from the AMX aircraft.
The country that operated the Starfighter the longest — until 2004 — was Italy. The Fiat works began production of the F-104G version in 1962. Since the Italian Air Force used Starfighters mainly as interceptors, in 1965–66 the F-104S version was developed, with a modernised engine and avionics, adapted to carry radar-guided AIM-7 Sparrow air-to-air missiles. Deliveries of this version lasted from 1969 to 1979. A total of 246 specimens were built, including 40 for Turkey.
The museum specimen serial number MM 6876 was donated by the Italian Air Force. It served with the 9th Fighter Wing (9o Stormo) “Francesco Baracca” at the Grazzanise base near Naples. During its service, it underwent both avionics upgrades.
| Wingspan | 6.68 m |
| Length | 16.69 m |
| Takeoff weight | 13 054 kg |
| Maximum speed | Ma 2.2 |
| Ceiling | 17 680 m |
| Range | – |
| Armament | AIM-9L Sidewinder, AIM-7 Sparrow and Aspide 1A air-to-air guided missiles on pylons under the fuselage, under the wings and on wingtips. |
| Engine | General Electric J79-GE-19 single-spool turbojet engine with 79.63 kN thrust with afterburner |
