F-104C Starfighter
A missile with a man in it: tiny wings, huge engine, and a landing speed that scared everyone.
- Razor-thin trapezoidal wing
- T-tail
- Enormous climb rate
- Very high landing speed
Specification
- Origin
- United States
- Manufacturer
- Lockheed
- Role
- Interceptor
- Generation
- 3
- Introduced
- 1958
- Combat type
- Air
- Spawn code
- f104c
On the server
The F-104C reached US Air Force squadrons in 1958 and looked like nothing before it. The wing is a thin trapezoid barely two metres long on each side, with leading edges so sharp they were covered on the ground to protect ground crew, and behind it sits a J79 engine strong enough to climb the aircraft vertically from the runway. It set world speed and altitude records and earned the description of a missile with a man in it. It also had almost no low speed lift, which made landings fast and unforgiving. On MCS the Starfighter is pure interception. It climbs and accelerates past aircraft two decades newer, but it cannot turn with any of them and it sinks alarmingly when slow. You attack in a straight line, at speed, and you leave the same way. Recommended for pilots who enjoy an airframe that punishes hesitation.