Lockheed CF-104D Starfighter

General Description

The F-104 Starfighter was the brainchild of Kelly Johnson, the head designer of Lockheed’s “Skunk Works” who was also responsible for designing the P-38 Lightning, the U-2 Dragon Lady, and the SR- 71 Blackbird, amongst others. Originally designed as an air superiority fighter drawn up in the wake of the Korean War, the Starfighter was a unique and versatile aircraft. Due to the incredible speeds it could achieve, it was referred to as the “Missile with a man in it.” Originally envisioned as a high-speed, high-altitude interceptor it was built to combat the soviet bomber threat that existed in the early 1950’s. In 1958 the Starfighter became the first aircraft capable of sustained flight at Mach 2, which to this day is still a challenging feat. In that same year, the Starfighter also broke the world-record for time to climb, and the world record for maximum altitude when it reached 103,395 feet (31,515 meters).

Because the design focus was almost solely on making it go fast, the Starfighter’s design came at the cost of maneuverability, endurance, and payload capacity, limiting the aircraft’s effectiveness in roles such as close air support, sustained dogfighting, and long-range missions. Early models had an extremely short endurance due to its small internal fuel tanks and no provision for external fuel tanks. Later models increased the internal fuel tank size and allowed for external fuel tanks. This resulted in an airplane with more than twice the range as the original model.

Early in the Starfighter’s operational use, it had a high rate of fatal accidents that eventually led to it receiving the unofficial nickname the “Widowmaker.” One issue was that due to Starfighter’s speed, early ejection seats were not powerful enough to launch the pilot up and over the tail of the airplane, and therefore, early models fired the ejection seats through the floor of the cockpit, requiring the pilot to roll the airplane upside-down prior to ejecting. Eventually ejection seats were made powerful enough to launch the pilot clear over the tail and the ejection procedures were amended to take this into account. Sadly, some accidents did occur where pilots flying the newer version of the Starfighter reverted to “muscle memory” and their original training, accidently choosing to roll the airplane upside down at low altitude and ejected downwards towards the earth instead of upwards. All Starfighters that served in the RCAF were later models that had the upward firing ejection seats, and these types of accidents did not happen.

In need of a new front-line fighter aircraft to replace the F-86 Sabre, the Royal Canadian Air Force selected the F-104 platform for it’s new fighter. Designated the CF-104 by the RCAF, Canadair, of Cartierville, Quebec, built 200 single-seat CF-104s under contract by Lockheed, with the first of these making its first fight in May 1961. In addition to these 200 airframes, the RCAF purchased 22 Lockheed-built two-seater CF-104D’s to serve as trainers. After Canadair’s RCAF production order was filled in June 1963, they went on to produce another 140 CF-104’s for partner NATO countries such as Italy, Belgium, Norway, and Denmark, among others.

The Starfighter provided a measure of unparalleled stability in the low-level, high-speed environment until phased out in 1987 when they were replaced by the CF-18 Hornet. After their retirement the majority of the Canadian Starfighters were transferred to the Turkish Air Force which used them up until 1995.

From it’s first flight in 1954, the Starfighter had a long career with air forces around the world. The last military to use the F-104 was the Italian Air Force who retired their fleet in 2004, over 50 years after the Starfighter’s first flight. A company called Starfighters Inc. in Florida was still operating several Starfighters in 2025, using them for airshow performances, joy flights, and contract work.

Our Lockheed CF-104D Starfighter

The Museum’s Starfighter was not one of the Canadian-built examples but was one of the 22 two-seat trainer versions of the CF-104 built for the RCAF by Lockheed, in Palmdale California. Our Starfighter was brought on strength by the RCAF on 06 March 1963 and designated RCAF 12645. It spent the entirety of its flying career at Canadian Forces Base Cold Lake, Alberta with No. 6 Strike and Reconnaissance OTU (Operational Training Unit) and No. 417 OTS (Operation Training Squadron). The purpose of these units was to train new pilots on the complexities of the CF-104 and prepare them for their operations with the RCAF’s CF-104 squadrons in Europe. By 1987, RCAF 12645 was retired from operational use and sent to Mountain View, Ontario where it was used as a battle-damage repair airframe. After its retirement from this use, it made its way into the collection of the CFB Comox Air Force Museum.

in 1995, the Canadian Museum of Flight acquired Starfighter RCAF 12645 in a trade for a Piasecki H-21 with the Comox Air Force Museum. At the time the CMF had two Piasecki H-21 helicopters, and the Comox Air Force Museum had two CF-104 Starfighters; it was a perfect trade with both organizations acquiring aircraft they didn’t have for their collections.

At least 3 museum members have flown 645; Al French, George Miller, and George Kirbyson, and could possibly be others.

Our CF-104 appeared in the movie Night at the Museum 2. Also appearing in the film were our DC-9 nose-cone and our two DC-10 engine cowls.

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Photos of 104645 while still in service, including from the back seat (in-flight)