d/d 27oct56, AFSC (1956-feb57) w/o 15feb57

Note:
On February 8th, 1957 this aircraft was officially modified to JF-104A by Lockheed AF Plant 14 and seven days later it crashed still as JF.

Accident Reports:

15 February 1957 (YF-104A)
This day it was written off after an accident at Palmdale, California. Pilot (Lockheed testpilot) Joe Ozier was killed. It was Lockheed owned. It pitched up and crashed during flare on landing at Palmdale AF Plant 42, Joseph “Joe” Ozier, a civilian engineering test pilot, died later that night from the internal injuries and burns caused by the impact. Jack Simpson, a pilot who was mentored by Joe, wrote inside his book: Per Jack "Suitcase Simpson" and his book “Socrates ‘n’ Suits - Book II”, he witnessed the crash of 55-2958, Joseph Ozier had been his mentor, Simpson was one of the first on scene at the crash. Simpson was pre-flighting another F-104 for a camera shoot when he saw Ozier’s crash.  Simpson rushed to the crash scene in a Lockheed car with Ozier’s crew chief. “Joe’s (Ozier's) F-104 had left the runway, plowed through the wild grass and muddy ridges and ended up on its right side, the left wing and landing gear sticking out grotesquely. 
“To this day no one really knows what happened. The tower operator said it seemed like a normal approach but over the threshold of the runway, the nose of the 104 pitched up, staggered, rolled right hitting the wing and nose about twenty five yards from the edge of the runway and exploded.  It didn’t slide very far – just dug in.  It was the impact that threw Joe and the ejection seat through the canopy.  We determined the engine was ‘probably’ running, the main fuel regulator was OK, the nozzles were in the proper position, the throttle near idle.  Did Joe try a short field approach and get his nose too high therefore causing the plane to pitch up?  Was he distracted – hit too hard and bounced?  Had he flamed out inducing sudden, shocking, sink rate that Joe tried to soften by pulling the stick back?  The tail section of this 55-2958 was found once in an abandoned dump at the NE corner of Plant 42 in Palmdale. 
The accident report revealed: Aircraft was bailed to Lockheed Aircraft Corporation (LAC) at time of the crash. The aircraft pitched up and crashed during flare on landing at Palmdale AF Plant 42, California on February 15, 1957 at 1321 PST. Joseph “Joe” Watson Ozier, a civilian engineering test pilot, was on a local test flight with empty tip tanks testing landings with land flaps but without the use of BLC (Boundary Layer Control). On final for the full stop landing the airspeed bled off to a minimum of 143 knots. The aircraft rolled uncontrolled to a right bank angle of 56° bank before dragging the right tip tank. The aircraft struck the ground and exploded. The pilot was thrown out of the cockpit, strapped in his seat, about 25 yards clear. He died later that night from the internal injuries and burns caused by the impact, written off".