How many F-104 Starfighters were built?

About 2,578 across all variants, most built under licence in Europe, Canada and Japan.

Aircraft Museum › Interceptor › F-104 Starfighter

Lockheed F-104
“Starfighter”

Q: Can I fly in an F-104 Starfighter?

Yes - via MiGFlug. The F-104 is one of the rarest and most legendary jets a civilian can still fly, and MiGFlug offers supersonic Starfighter flights over Florida from NASA's Shuttle Landing Facility, flown with Starfighters Inc.

Q: How fast is the F-104?

The F-104G tops out around Mach 2.2 (about 2,400 km/h) at altitude. It was the first production fighter designed for sustained Mach 2 flight.

Q: Is the F-104 still flyable anywhere?

Yes. A small number remain airworthy as warbirds, notably with Starfighters Inc. at Kennedy Space Center, the operation behind MiGFlug's F-104 rides.

The “missile with a man in it” — a needle-nosed Cold War dart with razor-thin wings, born to out-climb and out-run everything in the sky. It held the world speed, altitude and climb records at once, wore a fearsome “Widowmaker” reputation in German service, and remains one of the rarest jets a civilian can still fly supersonic.

~2,578Built — across NATO & allies

Mach 2.2Top speed

100,000+ ftFirst to exceed under own power

1958–2004Years in frontline service

Photo: Kurgus · CC BY-SA 3.0

RoleInterceptor & multirole strike fighterEraCold War · 1958–2004EngineGeneral Electric J79OriginUSA · Lockheed (Kelly Johnson)StatusFlyable with MiGFlugFly a real F-104 yourself

The Story

The missile with a man in it

The F-104 was born from frustration. In late 1952 Lockheed’s legendary chief designer Clarence “Kelly” Johnson toured Korean War fighter squadrons and heard the same complaint again and again: pilots flying the F-86 Sabre against the MiG-15 wanted more speed, more altitude and faster climb — even at the cost of range, armament and manoeuvrability. Johnson returned to the Skunk Works and wrapped the smallest possible airframe around the most powerful engine available: one pilot, minimum fuel, a needle fuselage and a stubby, knife-thin wing.

The prototype XF-104 first flew on 4 March 1954, and the type entered USAF service in early 1958. For a few dazzling years it was the fastest, highest-climbing thing in the sky — the first aircraft ever to hold the world speed, altitude and time-to-climb records simultaneously, and the first to take off under its own power and exceed 100,000 feet. It looked like the future: a manned rocket with tiny razor wings and a thunderous J79 howl.

Then came the reckoning. West Germany, flying the heavier F-104G in punishing low-level, all-weather strike roles it was never designed for, lost roughly a third of its fleet, and the tabloids christened it the “Widowmaker.” Yet the aviators who flew it adored it — and today, flown as designed at altitude in clear skies, the Starfighter is still one of the most thrilling machines a civilian can ride. You can fly one with MiGFlug.

The smallest airframe wrapped around the biggest engine — raw speed and climb over everything else.The Missile With a Man In It — Kelly Johnson’s single-minded dart

01The F-104 Starfighter’s two lives: American record-breaker, European workhorse

Early USAF interest in the Starfighter cooled quickly — the short-legged interceptor did not suit America’s needs, and only a few hundred A/C-models were built. The type found its real career abroad. The multirole F-104G became the backbone of a vast NATO and allied licence-production programme across West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada and Japan, with around 2,578 built in total across all variants.

The family runs from the F-104A/B early US interceptor and trainer, through the F-104C/D USAF fighter-bomber, to the definitive European F-104G (more than a thousand of the total), the Japanese F-104J, and the ultimate F-104S — the all-weather Italian interceptor that soldiered on until 2004. One airframe, two utterly different reputations.

Design & Engineering

What makes the F-104 special

The razor wing

The Starfighter’s trapezoidal wing spanned barely 6.7 m — shorter than the fuselage is long — with only ~18 m² of area and an ultra-thin ~3.4% thickness ratio. The leading edge was so sharp it was covered on the ground to protect crews. It gave phenomenal low-drag, high-Mach performance; the trade-off was very high landing speeds and unforgiving low-speed handling, tamed by blown flaps (boundary-layer control).

The General Electric J79

A single afterburning turbojet producing roughly 15,600–15,800 lbf in reheat — enormous thrust for so light an airframe, giving a near 1:1 thrust-to-weight ratio and sustained Mach 2+ capability. Its distinctive howl is unmistakable, and it powered a blistering climb of around 48,000 ft/min.

T-tail & the downward-firing seat

A high-mounted stabilator kept the tailplane clear of the wing wake at speed. Because engineers feared a pilot could not clear the tall T-tail, early Starfighters used a downward-firing ejection seat — lethal at low altitude on take-off and landing. It was later replaced by upward-firing Martin-Baker seats.

02The F-104’s wing: brilliant fast, brutal slow

Everything about the Starfighter was optimised for high-Mach flight. The tiny, razor-edged wing produced almost no drag at speed and let the jet punch to Mach 2 and zoom toward the edge of space — but it generated little lift at low speed, forcing fast, nose-high approaches. To make it landable at all, Lockheed fitted a boundary-layer control system that blew engine bleed air over the flaps, cutting approach speed. It was a Mach-2 airframe that demanded respect every time it came home.

03The F-104’s record climb: a manned rocket

With its light airframe and thunderous J79, the Starfighter climbed like almost nothing before it — roughly 48,000 ft/min. That energy is what let it set the time-to-climb records of 1958 and, in December 1959, zoom past 100,000 ft under its own power. Three examples were even fitted with a Rocketdyne rocket in the tail (the NF-104) to train astronauts in space-edge handling, briefly turning the fighter into a part-time spacecraft.

Technical Data

Full specifications (F-104G)

Airframe & Performance

Origin: United States (Lockheed)
Crew: 1
Length: ~16.7 m (54 ft 8 in)
Wingspan: ~6.7 m — tiny, shorter than the fuselage
Height: ~4.1 m
Max takeoff weight: ~13,000 kg (~29,000 lb)
Max speed: Mach ~2.2 · ~2,400 km/h at altitude
Service ceiling: ~15,000 m (zoom-climbs far higher)
Rate of climb: ~244 m/s (~48,000 ft/min)

Propulsion & Systems

Engine: 1 × GE J79-GE-11A afterburning turbojet
Thrust: ~15,800 lbf with reheat
Cannon: 1 × M61 Vulcan 20 mm
Missiles: AIM-9 Sidewinder; up to ~1,800 kg stores
Combat radius: ~675 km
First flight: 4 March 1954 (XF-104)
Built: ~2,578 (all variants)
Unit cost: ~US$1.4–1.7 million (F-104G, early 1960s)

04The F-104’s cost: a bargain built by the thousand

Because most Starfighters were built under licence across Europe, Canada and Japan, unit prices varied widely by variant, year and country. Period figures for the F-104G cluster around US$1.4–1.7 million in early-1960s money — treat these as approximate. The bigger cost was political: the vast multinational F-104G programme, and the sales practices behind it, became one of the era’s notorious procurement scandals. No reliable modern cost-per-flight-hour figure exists in open sources for the handful of airworthy warbirds flying today.

Timeline

Half a century of the Starfighter

1952

The idea

Kelly Johnson tours Korean War squadrons and conceives a minimalist, high-speed interceptor — speed and climb above all else.

4 Mar 1954

First flight

The XF-104 prototype flies; a YF-104A exceeds 1,000 mph the following year.

1958

Enters USAF service

The Starfighter joins the 83rd Fighter-Interceptor Squadron in January/February 1958.

1958

Owning the sky

The F-104 holds the world speed, altitude and time-to-climb records simultaneously — the first aircraft ever to do so.

14 Dec 1959

Past 100,000 ft

Capt. Joe Jordan zoom-climbs an F-104C beyond 100,000 ft — the first aircraft to do so under its own power.

1960 on

The F-104G era

Licence production ramps across NATO and allied nations; West Germany alone takes more than 900.

10 Dec 1963

Yeager’s NF-104 fall

Chuck Yeager loses control of a rocket-boosted NF-104A at ~104,000 ft and ejects — later dramatised in The Right Stuff.

1965 / 1971

Combat over the subcontinent

Pakistan Air Force F-104s see combat against India — an early supersonic night kill in 1965, tougher going by 1971.

2004

Italy retires the last

Italy withdraws the F-104S/ASA-M after ~46 years; the type lives on as warbirds — and MiGFlug rides.

Stories & Eyewitnesses

From the flight line: twelve Starfighter stories

Origin

“The Missile With a Man in It”

Kelly Johnson built exactly what Korea’s pilots asked for: raw speed and climb over all else.

Read the full story

Kelly Johnson listened to the fighter pilots of Korea and built precisely what they demanded — a jet that traded range, weapons and agility for sheer speed and climb. The needle fuselage and knife-thin wing looked more like an anti-aircraft missile than a fighter, and earned the nickname that still defines it. Pure, single-minded engineering.

Records

Owning the sky in 1958

For one giddy stretch the F-104 held the world speed, altitude and climb records at once.

Read the full story

In 1958–59 the Starfighter simultaneously held the world records for speed, altitude and time-to-climb — the first aircraft ever to do so. In December 1959 Capt. Joe Jordan took one past 100,000 feet under its own power. For a few years, nothing manned climbed higher or faster; it was a genuine record-breaking rocketship.

Scandal

The German “Widowmaker”

West Germany lost roughly a third of its fleet — but the truth was more complex than a “bad jet.”

Read the full story

West Germany’s Starfighter affair became one of the Cold War’s great aviation scandals: roughly 292 of 916 aircraft lost and about 116 pilots killed. The press called it the “Widowmaker” and “Lawn Dart.” But the jet was pushed into a low-level, all-weather strike role it was never designed for, with early downward-firing seats and pilots trained in sunny Arizona — the aeroplane was as much victim as culprit.

Warbird

Starfighters Inc. — rockets & runways

At Kennedy Space Center, a private fleet keeps the F-104 flying for airshows and aerospace research.

Read the full story

At Kennedy Space Center’s Shuttle Landing Facility, Starfighters Inc. keeps a fleet of F-104s airworthy for airshows, high-altitude research and aerospace test work — even pursuing air-launch-to-space concepts. It is living proof that the Starfighter still has a job to do, more than half a century after it first flew.

Fly Today

Ride a Starfighter with MiGFlug

A real supersonic F-104 flight over Florida, from the historic Shuttle Landing Facility.

Read the full story

MiGFlug offers what almost nowhere else on Earth does: a supersonic flight in a genuine F-104 Starfighter, over Florida from NASA’s historic Shuttle Landing Facility. Feel Mach in a Cold War legend, flown as it was designed to be — at altitude, in clear skies, with an expert pilot. It is one of the great bucket-list rides in all of aviation.

Astronauts

The NF-104 & Yeager’s fall

Three F-104s got a rocket in the tail to train astronauts — and nearly killed Chuck Yeager.

Read the full story

Three Starfighters were fitted with a Rocketdyne rocket in the tail to zoom past 100,000 ft and train pilots in space-edge handling. On 10 December 1963 Chuck Yeager lost control of one at around 104,000 ft, spun down and ejected — his seat striking his helmet and burning his face. The scene became one of the most memorable moments of The Right Stuff.

Combat

Pakistan’s supersonic duels

Among the first supersonic fighters in combat — a contested legacy still argued over today.

Read the full story

The Pakistan Air Force’s F-104As were among the first supersonic fighters to see combat, credited with an early Mach-2 night kill in 1965. By the 1971 war, though, the type was increasingly outclassed by nimbler MiG-21s and several were lost. It is a short, fiercely contested combat legacy — the kill and loss tallies still disputed between Indian and Pakistani sources.

Combat

The Taiwan Strait clash

In 1967 ROCAF Starfighters tangled with mainland MiG-19s, each side claiming a kill.

Read the full story

In 1967, Republic of China (Taiwan) F-104Gs clashed with mainland Chinese MiG-19s over the Taiwan Strait, and both sides claimed a victory. It was one of the very few times the Starfighter met an enemy fighter in the air — a fleeting, inconclusive high-speed encounter that added little to the jet’s modest dogfighting record.

Engineering

The wing you could cut yourself on

The leading edge was so sharp that ground crews fitted guards to avoid injury.

Read the full story

The F-104’s wing leading edge was genuinely so sharp that protective guards were fitted on the ground to stop crews cutting themselves. That razor wing was pure high-Mach optimisation — brilliant fast, brutal slow — and the direct source of both the jet’s records and its fearsome reputation. Few aircraft have ever worn their design philosophy so visibly.

Records

The missile with a woman in it

Jacqueline Cochran borrowed an F-104 and became the first woman to fly Mach 2.

Read the full story

Aviation pioneer Jacqueline Cochran borrowed an F-104 in 1963–64 and set a string of women’s speed records, becoming the first woman to fly faster than Mach 2. The Starfighter briefly made her one of the fastest human beings alive — another entry in a record book few aircraft can rival.

Longevity

Italy’s 46-year Starfighter

While others retired the jet in the 1980s, Italy flew the F-104S on QRA until 2004.

Read the full story

While most operators retired the Starfighter in the 1980s, Italy kept refining it — the F-104S with radar and Sparrow missiles, later the ASA-M — flying front-line quick-reaction intercepts until 2004. No one loved, or trusted, the Starfighter longer; it served Italy for some 46 years after entering service.

Legacy

Cult of the Zipper

“Zipper,” “Zip-104,” the “Widowmaker” — few jets inspire such fierce affection.

Read the full story

“Zipper,” “Zip-104,” the “Widowmaker”: few aircraft inspire such fierce devotion. Its brutal beauty, its record book and its hard reputation made the Starfighter a Cold War icon — a jet enthusiasts still line airshow fences to see, and now one of the very few that a civilian can actually climb into and fly.

Gallery

The Starfighter in pictures

A Lockheed F-104G Starfighter in flight near Luke AFB the tiny knife-edge wings on full display. — A Lockheed F-104G Starfighter in flight near Luke AFB — the tiny knife-edge wings on full display.Photo: Ken Hackman, USAF · Public domain

Rear view of an F-104 showing the high T-tail and the J79 engine exhaust.Photo: Fletcher6 · CC BY-SA 3.0

An Italian Air Force F-104S the ultimate all-weather interceptor, flown until 2004. — An Italian Air Force F-104S — the ultimate all-weather interceptor, flown until 2004.Photo: MSgt Patrick Nugent, U.S. Air Force · Public domain

Inside the cockpit of a German Luftwaffe Starfighter.Photo: AlfvanBeem · CC0

The Lockheed XF-104 prototype of 1954 where the legend began. — The Lockheed XF-104 prototype of 1954 — where the legend began.Photo: Lockheed / USAF · Public domain

A preserved F-104G in colour the Starfighter lives on as a warbird. — A preserved F-104G in colour — the Starfighter lives on as a warbird.Photo: Clemens Vasters · CC BY 2.0

Operations

Where the Starfighter flew

Combat Record

Records first, dogfights second

The Starfighter’s fame rests on speed and records, not air-to-air kills. Its combat career was modest and its tallies contested: Pakistan flew it against India in 1965 and 1971, Taiwan clashed with mainland MiG-19s in 1967, and USAF F-104Cs flew MiG-deterrent patrols over Vietnam without scoring an air-to-air victory. Always cite the 1965/71 and Taiwan Strait figures as claims, not settled scores.

3-in-1World records held at once, 1958

100,000+ ftFirst to exceed under own power

~2,578Built across NATO & allies

Compare the combat record of every military aircraft. Figures as of July 2026.

Questions & Answers

Everything people ask about the F-104

Can I fly in an F-104 Starfighter?

Yes — via MiGFlug. The F-104 is one of the rarest and most legendary jets a civilian can still fly, and MiGFlug offers supersonic Starfighter flights over Florida from NASA’s Shuttle Landing Facility, flown with Starfighters Inc. Learn more at the MiGFlug F-104 page.

How fast is the F-104?

The F-104G tops out around Mach 2.2 (~2,400 km/h) at altitude — it was the first production fighter designed for sustained Mach 2 flight.

Did it really break world records?

Yes. In 1958–59 it held the world speed, altitude and time-to-climb records at the same time, and in December 1959 it became the first aircraft to exceed 100,000 ft under its own power.

Was the “Widowmaker” reputation fair?

Only partly. West Germany did lose about a third of its fleet, but much of that came from operating a high-altitude interceptor in a low-level, all-weather strike role, with early downward-firing ejection seats and weather-mismatched training — not simply a “bad” aeroplane.

Is it still flyable anywhere?

Yes — a small number remain airworthy as warbirds, notably with Starfighters Inc. at Kennedy Space Center, the operation behind MiGFlug’s F-104 rides.

How many were built?

About 2,578 across all variants, most under licence in Europe, Canada and Japan.

What makes the F-104G different?

The F-104G was the definitive multirole export version: a strengthened airframe, better avionics and radar, the M61 cannon and external stores for strike and reconnaissance — heavier and more capable than the original A-model interceptor.

Why was it called “the missile with a man in it”?

Because Kelly Johnson wrapped the smallest possible airframe around the biggest available engine, with a needle nose and tiny wings — it looked and flew more like a manned rocket than a conventional fighter.

The part of the collection you can touch