F-104 Starfighter in Action

Squadron/Signal Aircraft in Action #1027

by Lou Drendel

In the tradition of the "In Action Series" these titles provide outstanding photographic coverage over a wide range of aircraft types. Images are drawn from many private collections and archives to depict the title feature in its historical surroundings. In addition, each volume features original cover art, full color profiles, detailed scale drawings, scrap art and essential descriptive text to bring these histories to life. This book tells the story of the the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter which was a single-engine, high-performance, supersonic interceptor aircraft originally developed for the United States Air Force by Lockheed at their famous Skunk Works. One of the Century Series of aircraft, it served with the USAF from 1958 until 1969, and continued with Air National Guard units until it was phased out in 1975. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) flew a small mixed fleet of F-104 types in supersonic flight tests and spaceflight programs until they were retired

Genres: History

50 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1984

About the author

Lou Drendel is a world-renowned aviation artist. His paintings have appeared in the Chicago Tribune, Time-Life Publications, Berkely Books, The Journal of the American Aviation Historical Society, EAA Warbirds Magazine, and in the 60+ books he has authored on military aviation for Squadron/Signal Publications and for ARCO Publishers. He has also authored and published “The Lima Lima Flight Team: The Life and Times of the World’s First Civilian six-Ship Formation Aerobatic Team”, and several eBooks in "The Illustrated Series" on military aircraft. Lou is a founding member of the famous Lima Lima Flight Team, where he flew both leadership positions. (Team Lead and Solo Lead.) He has logged over 3,900 hours in the T-34 Mentor and served as president of the national T-34 Association. He is a Life Member of EAA and a former director of the EAA Warbirds of America. His “Flyers Series” of paintings for American Flyers website celebrates famous aviators and famous aircraft. He is the current historian of the Red River Valley Fighter Pilots Association aka: "River Rats". His own website www.aviation-art.net features a wide variety of aircraft paintings, reflecting almost 50 years of work. Lou and wife Carol live in Venice, Florida.

Reviews

[Steven Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Back when I was starting high school--for reasons that I cannot remember--I found the F-104 Starfighter my favorite military aircraft. Those stubby wings, the speed and height of its flight. . . It looked like a rocket as much as a jet plane to a kid. This book does a nice job of reminding me of that time and providing more information than I had then.

First, this was a phenomenal performer. It flew at as much as Mach 2.2 (over twice the speed of sound); it reached over 100,000 feet in some test flights. Lockheed's "skunk works" worked on this plane, beginning design work in 1952--with the fighter becoming operational in 1958. It was smallish for a fighter, but its performance was outsized. Flying the plane was a challenge. While it had some amazing performance potential, it could be hard to handle in certain situations. In another work, it was noted that Germans referred to the F-104 as the "widowmaker," because of the number of crashes. This book addresses that and observes that that was not the norm--although if a pilot was not careful in certain situations, the plane could "misbehave."

The book provides technical details (how to fly the planer, its weaponry, and so on), its deployment by air forces from many countries, its evolution from series to series. The fighter was widely used (e.g., see the number of European squadrons in 1975, as depicted on page 34--10 counties). Many photos are included in this brief volume, giving a good sense of what the plane looked like.

In the end, I really enjoyed this volume, as it took me way back in time. . . .