Lockheed F-104C Starfighter
Tactical Air Command's fighter-bomber Starfighter — refuelling probe, five pylons and a nuclear centreline · First flight 1958 · In service 1958
The F-104C turned the Starfighter into a fighter-bomber for Tactical Air Command. It added an improved AN/ASG-14T-2 radar, a centreline pylon and underwing pylons for five stores stations in all, the ability to carry a Mk 28 or Mk 43 nuclear weapon, and an in-flight refuelling probe. It was also the first version with the linkless-feed M61A1 cannon, which cured the misfeeds of the original M61. The 479th Tactical Fighter Wing at George AFB, California, was the first unit to receive it, in 1958.
On 14 December 1959 Captain Joe Jordan flew F-104C 56-0885 to a world altitude record of 31,513 m, the first aircraft to take off under its own power and pass 100,000 ft. Only 77 F-104Cs were built, plus 21 two-seat F-104Ds.
The 479th TFW's squadrons took the F-104C to Southeast Asia in 1965 and again in 1966–67, flying escort for F-105 strike packages and barrier patrols for EC-121D radar aircraft. They flew 5,206 combat sorties without an air-to-air kill and lost 14 aircraft to all causes. In 1967 the wing converted to the F-4 Phantom II and its Starfighters went to the Puerto Rico Air National Guard, which flew them until 1975.
