Aeritalia F-104S Starfighter

what is it?

The Aeritalia F-104S Starfighter is a licensed production Italian version of the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, which served in the Italian Air Force, and was its mainstay from the late 1960s until the beginning of the 21st century. The F-104S also served in the Turkish Air Force until the mid-1990s. The F-104S was the final development of the Starfighter line.

🔎How to recognise it: 1 jet engine · 6.7 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 2,330 km/htop speed
• size 14.1 tmax take-off weight
• built 246made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 60 years ago, in 1966.
• 🏎️Top speed is 17.9× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 💥Faster than sound: up to Mach 1.9 (sea-level speed of sound ≈ 1,235 km/h).
• 🐘Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 2 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 🏔️Can fly 2.0× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

jet: Gas turbine pushing air out the back (turbofan or turbojet): fast and high-flying.

spec sheet

first flight

1966

introduced

1969

retired

2004

status

retired

number built

246

role

interceptor aircraft

origin

🇺🇸 United States

makers

Aeritalia

engines

1× General Electric J79-GE-19

crew

1

length

16.7 m

wingspan

6.7 m

height

4.1 m

max take-off weight

14.1 t

top speed

2,330 km/h

cruise speed

981 km/h

range

—

ceiling

17,678 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.

family