Revell Lockheed F-104G Starfighter RNAF/BAF 1:72

Ref: 03879
In-box browse with Geoff Coughlin (October 2019)

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The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter is a single-engine, supersonic interceptor air-craft which later became widely used as an attack aircraft. Initially a day fighter, it was developed into an all-weather fighter in the late 1960s. It was originally developed by Lockheed for the United States Air Force (USAF), but was later produced by several other nations, seeing widespread service outside the United States. One of the Century Series of fighter aircraft, it was operated by the air forces of more than a dozen nations from 1958 to 2004. Its design team was led by Kelly Johnson, who contributed to the development of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning, Lockheed U-2, Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, and other Lockheed aircraft.

The F-104 set numerous world records, including both airspeed and altitude rec-ords. Its success was marred by the Lockheed bribery scandals, in which Lock-heed had given bribes to a considerable number of political and military figures in various nations to influence their judgment and secure several purchase con-tracts; this caused considerable political controversy in Europe and Japan.

The poor safety record of the Starfighter also brought the aircraft into the public eye, especially in German Air Force (Luftwaffe) service. Fighter ace Erich Hart-mann was put into early retirement from the Luftwaffe due to his outspoken op-position to the selection of the F-104.

The final production version of the fighter model was the F-104S, an all-weather interceptor designed by Aeritalia for the Italian Air Force, and equipped with ra-dar-guided AIM-7 Sparrow missiles. An advanced F-104 with a high-mounted wing, known as the CL-1200 Lancer, was considered, but did not proceed past the mock-up stage. (source Wikipedia)