The extreme shape of the Starfighter earned it the first nickname of "The Missile With a
Man in it" and some USAF pilots also called it “Zipper” or “Zipper 104” because of it’s
tremendous speed. After it proved to be challenging to fly, with high fatal accident rates,
particularly in German service the plane was given many more nicknames because of its
high speed and ability to occassionally fly itself into the ground. In Germany they referred
to it as Witwenmacher ("widowmaker"), fliegender Sarg ("flying coffin") or Erdnagel
("ground nail", the official military term for a tent peg). Others were, Pakistan Badmash
“Hooligan”, Italy because of it’s spiked nose Spillone “Hatpin” and bara volante “Flying
Coffin”, Canada “Lawn Dart”.
Primarily powered by a single 15 800 lb thrust General Electric J79-GE11A turbojet
engine, equipped with afterburner, it was capable of high speeds (just under 1300 mph)
and high rates of climb. On December 14, 1959, an F-104C set a world altitude record of
103,395 ft (31.5 km). The Starfighter was the first aircraft to hold simultaneous official
world records for speed, altitude, and time-to-climb.

Lockheed F-104A coded 4201 was manufactured as c/n 183-1127 with a serial of 56-0893. In
1958 the USAF 83rd FIS deployed to Formosa (now Taiwan) in response to the second Taiwan
Strait Crisis. It is believed that in 1960 and 1961 25 F-104As and 2 F-104Bs now coded 4201 -
4225 and 4101 – 4102 respectively were transferred to the RoCAF. In 1969 18 of the F-104As
were transferred to Jordan including 4201 that now became 914L with 9 Squadron. The aircraft
was wfu (withdrawn from use) in September 1969.

Lockheed F-104A specifications

Crew – 1 (Pilot)

Dimensions
Length – 54 ft 8 in
Height – 13 ft 5 in
Wingspan – 21 ft 9 in

Weight
Empty – 13,384 lb
Gross – 17,988 lb
Maximum – 25,840 lb

Performance
Engine – 1 X General Electric J79-GE-3B (thrust 9,600 )
Range – 730 miles
Cruise Speed – 519 mph
Climb Rate – 60,395 ft/min
Service Ceiling – 64,795 ft

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