Lockheed F-104C Starfighter - Seattle, WA
N 47° 31.070 W 122° 17.791
10T E 552963 N 5262951
One of many static aircraft displays located at the Museum of Flight at King County International Airport. Admission fees apply.
Waymark Code: WMVGTE
Location: Washington, United States
Date Posted: 04/17/2017
Views: 5
Located at the Museum of Flight are a large number of static aircraft on display. One of them is a Lockheed F-104C Starfighter. The Museum of Flight website contains a page devoted to this aircraft and it reads:
The F-104, America's first operational Mach 2 fighter, was built to counter the agile Soviet-built MiGs of the Korean War. The Starfighter, with its short wings and powerful General Electric J79-GE-7A engine, entered service with the U.S. Air Force in 1958 as an interceptor. By the Vietnam War, it had moved into a fighter-bomber role. Although phased out of U.S. front line service by 1969, the F-104 was immensely popular overseas. Throughout its long career, 2,578 Starfighters were produced, with well over half built under license in Canada, Europe, and Japan.
The Museum's F-104C was delivered to the U.S. Air Force in 1959. It flew from George Air Force Base in California, Moron Air Base in Spain, and the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base. This Starfighter is painted to represent a NASA F-104.
This aircraft is on loan from the National Museum of the United States Air Force.
A nearby placard highlights this F-104C Starfighter in more detail and reads:
The Missile with a Man in It The Starfighter's design was quite radical. In fact, the F-104 program, led by the airframe design of Lockheed's Clarence "Kelly" Johnson, won the 1958 Collier Trophy for the year's outstanding aeronautical achievement. Johnson mated extremely small, thin wings to a powerful engine, producing a plane that was dubbed "The Missile with a Man in It." The design proved sound--the Starfighter was the first aircraft to simultaneously hold both the world's speed and altitude records.
Type of Aircraft: (make/model): Lockheed F-104C Starfighter
Tail Number: (S/N): N56-934
Construction:: original aircraft
Location (park, airport, museum, etc.): Museum of Flight
inside / outside: inside
Other Information:: Not listed
Access restrictions: Not listed
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Visit Instructions: Photo of aircraft (required - will be interesting to see if the aircraft is ever repainted or progress if being restored) Photo of serial number (required unless there is not one or it is a replica) Photo(s) of any artwork on the aircraft (optional but interesting)
Tell why you are visiting this waymark along with any other interesting facts or personal experiences about the aircraft not already mentioned.
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