Lockheed F-104 Starfighter

The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter is an American single-engine, supersonic interceptor, created by Lockheed as a Century Series day fighter for the United States Air Force and later developed into an all-weather multirole aircraft. After talking with Korean War fighter pilots in 1951, lead designer Kelly Johnson chose a simple, lightweight aircraft built around a General Electric J79 turbojet. The XF-104 first flew on 4 March 1954 and the production fighter entered USAF service on 26 February 1958. Its thin, stubby wings gave excellent high-speed performance but poor turning ability. It was the first production aircraft to reach Mach 2 and the first to carry the M61 Vulcan autocannon. Fifteen NATO and allied air forces flew it, and a European consortium built it in the largest international manufacturing programme to that date. Its safety record in West German service was poor, with 292 of 916 aircraft lost, and the German public called it the widowmaker.