I'm on a roll! 3rd aircraft this week!

Imagine a 1960s rocket from those sci-fi series. Do you imagine it? Now add tiny wings. Yes? That's the F-104!
Personally, I'm not a very big fan of the F-104. In my point of view, all it could do was fly really really fast and it wasn't even good in doing that. The aircraft was also subject to the Lockheed bribery scandal, where Lockheed bribed officials in order to influence their judgement about the plane. The F-104 also had a poor safety record and had major problems in the Luftwaffe, where the pilots weren't trained to handle such a new jet, the weather conditions were poor and it was used as a fighter-bomber instead of its original purpose as a high-altitude interceptor. 110 German pilots were killed due to the F-104. The Germans gave it nicknames such as Witwenmacher (widow maker) and Erdnagel (ground nail). So, do I like this plane? Not really. Was it nice to build? Yes!!!

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General characteristics

• Crew: 1
  
• Length: 54 ft 8 in (16.66 m)
  
• Wingspan: 21 ft 9 in (6.63 m)
  
• Height: 13 ft 6 in (4.11 m)
  
• Wing area: 196.1 sq ft (18.22 m²)
  
• Airfoil: Biconvex 3.36% root and tip
  
• Empty weight: 14,000 lb (6,350 kg)
  
• Max takeoff weight: 29,027 lb (13,166 kg)
  
• Powerplant: 1 × General Electric J79 afterburning turbojet, 10,000 lbf (44 kN) thrust dry, 15,600 lbf (69 kN) with afterburner
  

Performance

• Maximum speed: 1,528 mph; 2,459 km/h (1,328 kn)
  
• Maximum speed: Mach 2
  
• Combat range: 420 mi (365 nmi; 676 km)
  
• Ferry range: 1,630 mi (1,416 nmi; 2,623 km)
  
• Service ceiling: 50,000 ft (15,000 m)
  
• Rate of climb: 48,000 ft/min (240 m/s) Initially
  
• Lift-to-drag: 9.2
  
• Wing loading: 105 lb/sq ft (510 kg/m²)
  
• Thrust/weight: 0.54 with max. takeoff weight (0.76 loaded)
  

Renders: Mr. Meep's