The old Dutch Starfighter D-8300, which had been preserved in the garden of artist Marthe Roling for many many years... Due to new measures taken by the Ministry of Defence related to possible radioactive materials found inside J79 engines, the aircraft had to be taken away. Yesterday, September 21st it was dismantled and transported to the Soesterberg Storage facility. See photo -->

IFS member Michiel Vogelpoel has visited Stanhoe in the UK during his holiday on July 7th. On this location the two Starfighters 22+35 and 22+57 could be found. However that specific day he saw the F-104G 22+57 (which came from Bruntingthorpe earlier on) being loaded on a truck on its way to a new private location in the York area of the UK. Here it will be restaurated and sold. Aside a photo showing the aircraft being loaded.
Lateron that day Michiel saw 22+35 inside a tent at Bruntingthorpe being cleaned and in surprisingly good condition.
The man who showed Michiel around at Bruntingthorpe told that later this year he would collect the Dutch TF-104G D-5805 from Holland to bring it to a museum in the UK. Quite some news!!!

Since late 90s till at least 2005 the F-104G FX-21 could be found preserved at Evere in Belgium. However during the open house at Koksijde Air Base in July this year it was seen on the static show wearing a fresh camouflage paint and mid 60s markings. Hopefully we will find out more about the real new location of this Starfighter soon.... will stay at Koksijde???

This week we got news from IFS member Steve Alex that he had received the two Danish Starfighters R-704 and R-846. Both arrived on July 14th. The aircraft R-846 has a poor horizontal stabilizer, so Steve is anxious looking for a better one. Who can help him? Right two photos taken during the arrival.

In April 2011 the CF-104D 104662 was cut at Skrydstrup and transported to the scrapdealer at Bjerringbro where it was subsequently scrapped. Again one Starfighter disappeared from this earth.....
Next candidate in the line will be CF-104D 104664, currently found at Aalborg. It is told that this aircraft will be cut and scrapped too soon.

We got the latest news this week from the former owner of the F-104G KG-101 that Piet Smeds (current owner) is preparing his F-104G KG-101 soon for its transport to Greece to be delivered to an aircraft collector in Greece. It is also clear that this owner currently have the Belgium FX52 in his collection which means that we now also know where this aircraft went to. All together it is interesting to see that the KG-101 is joining the FX-52 again after they have been situated at Weeze Apt for lots of years. On the other hand it is sad to see this unique first build Fokker aircraft leaving the country where it was build....Holland...

A year ago a US pilot visited Cervia Air Base to inspect the MM6940 (coded 5-30) which he should have bought and it is expected to be transported to the USA later that summer. Lateron it was heard that it had been bought by the Starfighters Inc demonstration group in the USA. It was planned to go to Alenia for some inspections and overhaul. When ready it should have been brought over to the USA. It is unknown what really happened but today this MM6940 can still be found at Cervia. So it could be that the aircraft was not declared flyworthy after investigation with Alenia.

Today we received some very sad news. In May 2011 Phil Rand passed away from effects of Agent Orange.

Florida Today newspaper:

A company that performs supersonic high-altitude instrument tests in vintage jet fighters will add five more aircraft to its fleet of four F-104s that fly from the Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center.
Purchased from the Italian Air Force, the aircraft will arrive next month.
"The big thing is that these are a newer generation aircraft, vintage 1980," Starfighters Inc. President and Chief Pilot Rick Svetkoff said. "They were the last ones off the assembly line."
The company makes its home in the 10-year-old Reusable Launch Vehicle Hangar beside the 15,000-foot shuttle landing runway. The F-104 jets can fly above 70,000 feet at twice the speed of sound. NASA and commercial space companies have used the four Starfighters to test high-performance equipment used on the space shuttle, as well as telemetry equipment and a new digital camera.
The company also has made several flights to test GPS tracking equipment.
Svetkoff said Starfighters expects to become profitable this year and is on pace to fly 120 missions. The new jets will require that the number of employees increase from 10 to 20.
"We've got a number of things in play right now," said Svetkoff, who is leaving for Italy this week to oversee delivery of the aircraft.
To bring Starfighters and its jobs to KSC, the state agency Space Florida invested $1.8 million in a fire suppression system for the 50,000-square-foot hangar so the fueled jets could be stored there. However, it took Starfighters nearly three years to meet NASA requirements to do business at the space center.
The planes are grounded around the time of shuttle launches and landings. However, those conflicts arise only several days a year and will not be a problem after the shuttle stops flying.
Bringing the planes to the U.S. and preparing them for flight will cost about $1 million per plane, rivaling their price tag.
As the shuttle program ends, the commercial space industry has become more interested in testing space hardware.
"A lot of new commercial space imperatives are very much in play now," Svetkoff said. "The commercial market is actually starting to grow. The space program is not ending. I think the gap is going to be picked up by the commercial side."

Thanks to P. Peterson

IFS: there are some people having heard about not only a few but even a subsequent number of aircraft being obtained from the Italian Air Force. We will keep you all updated!

In Izmir, Turkey, near the harbour a CF-104 (serial 104786) was preserved on a pole for many years. Suddenly it disappeared (before December 2009) and nobody knew where it went. Now we know that it has been moved to the mountains near Izmir where it can be seen on the same pole and without being restored or cleaned. (The photo shows it still at the harbour area)...

On May 2nd the F-104G 21+52 (c/n 7021) was transported from the Bayerisches Armee Museum at Ingolstadt (Storage) to Neuburg where it will be preserved with the Wing. Its first appearance will be on July 9th when the Wing is celebrating its 50 years anniversary. It has been in storage in Ingolstadt for almost 14 years!!

In March 2011 it was published that the F-104G FX15 which was preserved at Tongeren for a lot of years has been transported to Beauvechain Air Base where it was dumped at the 1st Wing Museum collection building.. The location at Tongeren has been closed and so all infrastructure components have been removed now. Its future looks very dark in our opinion... probably it will be scrapped.

The last couple of years a very enthusiastic team has completely restored the F-104G 21+91 inside the museum Ailes Anciennes in Toulouse, France. The restoration can be followed on facebook. When you have an account, link yourself to: http://www.facebook.com/#!/aatlse
Currently the aircraft has been fully repainted, the inside is completely as new and soon the markings will be applied again on the fuselage.

Last month the 637 team received the costly but mandatory Martin Baker ejection seat pyros. This means another step towards making the aircraft flyworthy again. See photo...
Currently the team is busy deciding which civil registration will be registered for the aircraft. A wonderful code would have been “LN-CFD” but registration starting with a “C” are reserved for flying balloons. They will collect registration choices from members of Starfighter friends of Norway and leaving  three suggestions , and later probably in may/june 2011 members could vote for the most popular one....Future will tell...

IFS member Steve Alex told us that both F-104s R-703 and R-846 will be shipped (planned) on May 24th on its way to the USA. The have been dismantled at Aalborg Air Base. Steve will restore the aircraft to display status and likely they will be offered to museums.

It looks like a new F-104S has been put on display in Italy. It's location is the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore at Milano. We have no idea which F-104 this is so when someone is visiting this university please make lots of photos (inside cockpit, copperplates on the outside.. etc...)

The Okayama skygarden (on a hill) was closed early May 2007 and all feared that the preserved F-104J 76-8687 would possible be scrapped. However this Starfighter was seen there still until at least August 2010...
In 2010 a company called Ryoubi announced they would develop the property into a solar-powered, hi-tech, indoor farm with the name "Kyouyama Solar Green Park". This company also decided to keep the F-104 preserved. On 23 April 2011, the new park formally opened to the public. We hope to receive photos of it soon to publish.

Since 2007 the F-104F BB+374 (29+11) could be found in storage at Koln-Wahn waiting for transport to the Technik Museum in Berlin. On February 17th this year it was loaded and transported by truck to the museum "Flugwelt Altenburg-Nobitz" at Thüringen in stead. Nowadays it can be found preserved at this museum while it was told that it was on loan from the Luftwaffenmuseum der Bundeswehr Berlin-Gatow. Photo was taken at Koln Wahn ready for transport on February 17th.

Last week we found out something interesting. The F-104B currently preserved inside the Pakistan Air Force Museum in Karachi is NOT the F-104B 57-1309 but it is 57-1312 with wrongly applied serial "57-1309"!!!
It came from Karachi-Sharea Faisal, Drigh Road. It has been removed in the 90s and restored for the museum. This means that the original F-104B 57-1309 should still be found preserved at the Pakistan Air Force Academy premises at Risalpur..

In June 2010 three former H5 Air Base stored Starfighters were noticed on several location used as monuments. These are F-104A 912 "J" now preserved at Balila, F-104A 915 "M" now preserved at Ramtha and finally F-104B 925 "V" which can be found preserved at Irbid. We are anxious to see some photographs of these new monuments on their new locations!!!!

A while ago we received information that the preserved F-104S at the Palermo University has been mounted on some kind of frame since October 21st, 2010. It is now found on display on the parkingarea of the Dipartimento di Ingegneria Aerospaziale of the University. It was told that the engine of this aircraft is used for instructional purposes inside the University.
On Youtube a video can be found showing the aircraft arriving at Palermo... more a kind of series of photographs... See : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLOFr3d9X8s

The CF-104 serial 104818 has been cut in September 2010 to save the cockpit section (display). The aircraft had sustained a lot of ABDR training damage and was planned to be scrapped at Kjeller. At this location a team of three persons (Jan Kenneth Furulund, Jim Robin Bråten and Juul Furulund) has started a project to build a display cockpit section out of the aircraft. All parts inside cockpit are removed and stored. New instrument panels are been made and ready for paintwork. The team is also working on ABDR damage repairs and other damages on the cockpit skin. The team is also related to the other Kjeller based CF-104 with serial 104755, which looks like operational!!
To follow the 104818 activities you can have a look on: http://www.flykjeller.se

F-104G 7088 can be found preserved at Maleme from November 1999 (came from Agrinion). It is not exactly known when it happened but the aircraft 7088 was moved from the gateguard location (replaced by an F-5) to the Apron. It was already on its new spot in June 2005... The new position of the 7088 is at the apron, and to the Right, that takes to the Runway, see coordinates on Google Earth: 35 31’ 43,34’’ N, 23 49’ 55,75’’E.

Today we received the breaking news that the F-104G FX-52 "TIGER" has been sold to a new owner. This information came from Henk de Jongh, one of the two former owners of the aircraft together with Dirk Bellens. On Monday February 7th, the aircraft left Weeze Apt for its new home.
Henk stated that he will tell us the new owner lateron. So we are very anxious and will keep you all updated!!!

Click on the photos to getter a bigger picture..... All these have been taken on February 7th by Henk de Jongh.

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We would like to tell you all about the Canadian Starfighter Museum in in Winnipeg, Canada. It is operated by IFS member Steve Pajot. The museum has been acknowledged in between by the Canadian Starfighter Association and the RCAF Simulator Society. And now we (International F-104 Society) acknowledge this museum as well.. Along a lot of Canadian Starfighter history materials also an official CF-104 Operational Flight and Tactics Trainer can be found which became statically complete recently.
The Museum is in a new larger hangar at St. Andrew's Airport in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. When you want to visit it, please mail us and we will forward the emailaddress of Steve so you can arrange a visit together. See some photos beneath to give an impression...but this is not all....go for a visit!!

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As mentioned last year there was a plan to convert the F-104B 57-1296 (former Jordan Air Force) with the Starfighters Demo Team into a display aircraft guarding the entrance of the teams buildings at Kennedy Space Center. However Rick Svetkoff confirmed that the B can still be found stored inside the big hangar.

End of December 2010 we received the sad news that the ex F-104 pilot and IFS member Howard Wendell Kidwell, 75, retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, of Austin died Saturday 18 December 2010. Survived by wife Sylvia. We changed the Pilot Member Gallery accordingly.

The F-104G 6681 has been preserved for some years in the Army museum at Athene, Greece but was sadly damaged due to vandalism. It was brought over to Tatoi-Dekelia where it can be found in storage. It was last noted in the museum in November 2008 and was first noted in storage in October 2010.
(Thanks to Scramble magazine and Otger van der Kooij)

On Saturday 22 January 2011 the Luchtvaart Vereniging Twenthe (Aviation Group Twenthe) will organise her annual aviation fair for the 22nd time. The largest military aviation convention in Europe! The event will take place at Party Center Luttikhuis, situated on the provincial road between Hengelo (Ov.) and Oldenzaal. (Address: Hengelosestraat 250, Deurningen) parallel to highway A-1, take exit 31 ‘Hengelo Noord’. If you come from the direction of Germany: exit 32 ‘Oldenzaal Zuid’ The aviation convention will be opened between 10:30 and 17:00 hours. The entrance fee is € 5.00.
During this event the International F-104 Society is planning to have a small corner for 104 enthousiasts to talk about the F-104 and watch some video's or photos on a beamer. Already a few IFS members have stated to come over this day. See for more information the website of the Luchtvaart Vereniging Twenthe.

It has been quite for some time regarding the CF-104D 104637 project in Norway. It had its reasons, and not only technical (for example the modifications of the ejection seats to Martin Baker seats) but also political reasons.. On 25 November there was a big break trough...
That day the team officially announced the following statement via http://starfighter.no website:

To day, 25.nov. 2010, we finally received the message that we have been waiting for the last two years. USA has approved the transfer of ownership of CF-104D/104637 from the RNoAF to Friends of Starfighter Norway. With this major obstacle cleared, the road to civil registration of the aircraft lays open. A major milestone has been passed.

This week the Dutch Air Force decided to take back all the F-104s used by schools and preserved on private grounds due to found radio-active material inside the J-79 engine compartment on a school. Althought the amount of radiation is far less than the lowest acceptable values the Air Force is not taking any risks.
One of the aircraft involved is also the F-104G D-8300 currently preserved in the garden of the famous Dutch painting artist Marthe Rohling in Northern Holland. Her aircraft is planned to be taken away late 2011 so she can still enjoy it for 1 year until it will be taken back and transported to Soesterberg AB museum storage.

Next a newspaper article on 30 November 2010 in the Nieuwsblad van het Noorden newspaper, about this planned move. It shows a photo of the day that it arrived at the home of the artist which is shown also.

It was September this year that during a visit the TF-104G 5961 was seen as decoy at Tanagra Air Base for the very last time. Early November the aircraft was noticed being fully restored, with alu-dope colorscheme and original serials applied again. We are still believing that this particular Starfighter has never flown operational with the Hellenic Air Force but was only used for spare parts. Photo was taken by Micha Liever on November 6th, 2010.

In September 2010 the F-104G D-8266, preserved at Texel Airfield, was taken away by the Dutch Air Force and transported to the Military Air Force museum depot at Soesterberg. It has been put in storage now. It arrived at Soesterberg on September 27th. The photo shows the aircraft when it still was preserved on the island of Texel.

On November 11th there was a report in Denmark that CF-104 Starfighter R-855 was on its way to Krakow in Poland. This was new information. Very likely it goes to the Air Museum at Krakow. it had been preserved at Aalborg Air Base for quite some time.

The two Starfighters R-704 and R-846 meant for the US have been brought over to Aalborg early November and will be dismantled for transport. Aalborg has been choosen because there is a harbour nearby to ship them. We have contact with the new owner and will keep you updated on the status of this transport.

One of the stored Starfighters at Grazzanise was MM6800 with code 37-25. It was in a very bad shape and disappeared around late 2008. In between we know that the AMI has cut this aircraft in half and has restored the forward fuselage with cockpit into a PR demonstration cockpit mounted on a movable structure. It received serial 53-04 and still inside the cockpit the identity plate + overhaul sticker can be found. It was first noticed during the Anual Balloon Festival at Ferrara, Italy when it was on display at the AMI stand in September.

As already mentioned earlier two Dutch F-104s were shipped over to the US. Both aircraft F-104G D-8244 and TF-104G D-5810 arrived at Everett Apt. September 21st, 2010. There have been some misunderstandings about the conditions they have been transferred but in between we know that the current owner is Michael Dorn (from Star Trek). The plan was to make both aircraft flyworthy again but in between they found out that the wings have substantial corrosion damage. Future will tell.....
The photo was taken at Everett on September 21st.. by Chris Ufkes and shows the tails of both aircraft.

It is wellknown that preserved aircraft are not well treated while being on display outside and when they are in bad shape, most of the time they are scrapped and likely replaced by a more modern aircraft type. A few recent examples:

F-104J 36-8510 - Preserved at the Arboritum at Furano Town, Hokkaido Pref. Has been removed due to very bad corrosion and structural shape. It has very likely been scrapped in between but we have not received confirmation about its fate. It was dis-assembled and removed at or before 28 July 2010.

F-104J 36-8530 - Preserved without markings at the Farmer Study Centre, Nomin Kenshu Center, Shariki village, Aomori-pref. It was disassembled and removed around early December 2008 and very likely scrapped in between.

F-104J 36-8544 - Preserved with 207sq markings at Naha AB for many years. It was disassembled and removed around late March 2005 and never returned. It is possible that it has been scrapped but the aircraft did not show much structural weathering damage, so we are not sure..

F-104J 46-8655 - Preserved at Gifu AB for many years. It was disassembled and removed around September 2004. It is possible that it has been scrapped but the aircraft could also have been put on storage somewhere at Gifu Air Base.. The future will tell...

F-104DJ 46-5020 - Preserved at Komaki AFB. Has been removed in or before February 2005 and in between replaced by a T-1B aircraft. Very likely this F-104DJ has been scrapped in between.

Japanese F-104DJ 36-5014 which could be found on the roof of the Energy Research Building of the Soujou University, Japan has been removed (likely due to severe corossion) and was scrapped at Nyutabaru Air Base around early March 2010. So again an F-104 which disappeared....

Some received news the last couple of weeks:

• Belgium F-104G FX-39 has been transported from the Air Force School Saffraanberg to the museum at Kleine Brogel. The aircraft is in a wondeful condition, actually almost airworthy. It was delivered October 5th.
• Interesting old video about Dutch Starfighters was found at youtube the address is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-2Sc8FvCiM
  

Some received news the last couple of weeks:

• F-104C 56-901 is currently under restoration at the New England Air Museum (seen September).
• CF-104 R-758 was scrapped at the Bjerringbro scrapdealer where it arrived around 10-16 May this year. It was scrapped on September 28th. together with Draken AR-118. The local TV station has filmed the scrapping which can be found: http://www.tvmidtvest.dk/indhold/video-fra-jagerfly-til-skrot
• CF-104 R-704 and R-846 has been bought by an American IFS member Steve Alex and will be shipped to the US likely in October this year. He hopes to get approval in time.
• CF-104 R-855 will move to Poland. It has been exchanged by a Polish Air Museum with a Polish Mig15 fighter plane.
  

During a visit at the barracks of Germersheim on August 10th, by Mark Wassenaar the aircraft 21+00 could be found on the pole. However the location of the former gateguard aircraft (24+66) was unknown by the people at the location.

At the Germersheim Barracks (Germany) F-104G 24+66 can be found preserved on a pole since April 1987. After 23 years it was decided that this aircraft will be replaced by F-104G 21+00 which is currently stored in a hangar. They plan to dismantle the old 24+66 and temporary store it at Germersheim before it will move to an other location somewhere in Germany to be preserved again. It is not known yet where this will be.
Between the 5th and 14th of July this year, a team (8 persons) of the Luftwaffeninstandhaltungsgruppe 21 will have the task to perform the operations of installing the new monument on the pole.

Today we got very sad news from our IFS member (and ex pilot) Dick Baughn. He stated: "We lost Eddie Skelton this past Saturday.  I've included the obit from the New Braunfels, Texas paper.  I flew F-100C's and F-104's with Eddie at George AFB 57-59.  He is one of the few who survived a downward ejection from an F-104, after his engine failed at about 1500 feet shortly after takeoff".

Newspaper obit:

Colonel Eddie L. Skelton, age 87, proud member of the "Greatest Generation" passed away on Saturday, June 19, 2010, at his home in New Braunfels with family present.

Eddie was born in Pope County, Ark., on Sept. 17, 1922 to his parents Joseph E. Skelton and Artie M. Turner. After graduating college, Eddie joined the Army Air Corps as a fighter pilot. He was stationed at Iwo Jima during WWII flying the P-51 Mustang Fighter. Eddie was also the Squadron Commander of the 602nd Air Command Squadron during the Viet Nam War that was charged with the rescue of downed military personel. During his career, he received the Silver Star, Bronze Star and Distinguished Flying Cross for bravery above and beyond the call of duty. After proudly serving his country for 30 years, Eddie retired in New Braunfels with his loving wife, Martha I. (Markham) Skelton. He was also the past president of the New Braunfels Tennis Association as well as an active volunteer for Hope Hospice. He was a loyal, loving husband and father.

Today we received information from Tom Svendsen about the CF-104 104818 in Norway. It arrived today at the Kjeller located Flyhistoriske Forening which already has CF-104 104755 within its collection. The CF-104 104818 is only an airframe without wings, tail section and engine. Also all dataplates (contructionnumbers) were missing. Its wings, aft section and radome were already scrapped many years ago when it was detined to become an ABDR training fuselage at the Technical School at Kjevik. For this reason the fuselage looks very bad, lots of damages and damage repairs can be found on the skin.
On June 18th the airframe was lifted on a semi trailer and transported from Kjevik to Vestby (277km) by a company called Harlem Transport. Between 19-21st .of june it was temporary stored at Vestby, which is some 57 km south east from Kjeller . Today it was transported from Vestby to Kjeller.
It is planned to be stored, then scrapped on site after cutting off the cockpit section which will be mounted lateron on a car trailer. It is currently in open storage near one of the KFF buildings.

A bit of history of this aircraft.
On December 3rd, 1982 (almost 28 years ago!!!!) it was withdrawn from use with 3146.9 flying hours at Sola AB. It went to the Technical School at Kjevik where it was first noted in June 1989. Its tailsection or fin was already gone and could be found at Gardermoen. At the school the fuselage ended up to become an ABDR airframe. Now its in Kjeller..

Ivan Turniano checked the aircraft at Sabaudia and found proof on different areas (6 different c.n plates) inside the aircraft that this is F-104S/ASAM MM6771. It carries CFE plate of MM6881

Everyone knows that the Italians have made a bit of a mess concerning the CFE treatment of F-104 Starfighters. Lots of aircraft which were destined to become preserved somewhere got CFE plates belonging to other aircraft and this way it became very difficult to identify these aircraft. Early this month Ivan Turniano checked some F-104 Starfighters (via c.n plates on lots of locations inside the aircraft) and again found some new facts.

Beneath the latest updates!!!!:

Caserta: This aircraft has been identified as the real MM6717 carrying the CFE plate of MM6771..... Now we have a problem because what aircraft can be found at Tolmezzo? It should be MM6717 since September 2006.... now we do not know that aircrafts identity...

Grazza shelter: Ivan found back both ex Pratica MM6734 and MM54251. These two were kept flyworthy to be possibly sold to the US... and dissappeared...now we know that they have been conserved inside a shelter at Grazzanise.

Vairano Scalo: The preserved Starfighter here was securely identified as MM6737. Last month we were told that MM6737 had been erected at the Piacenze University as RS-01 although it carries the CFE-plate of MM6737. So which aircraft is it really? The MM6735 was seen at the CFE flightline also with CFE plate of MM6737 so that is very strange indeed. Maybe they have two aircraft with the same CFE plate????

It is sad that the Italian air force is soo inaccurate with adding CFE plates etc... it stays a big puzzle for us all.

Today we received information from Roger Seroo that he is no longer the owner of the KG+101 Starfighter, currently preserved in the QRA area at Niederrhein, Germany (Former Laarbruch AB). Roger changed his plans for the future and made this, for him, hard but respectfull decision.
The aircraft has been prepared today to leave Niederrhein tomorrow and it will be transported to Baarlo, Netherlands and will be the highlight of the currently created Air Museum.
See photo right side of the departure today at Niederrhein!!

The ex German Air Force F-104G 22+35, which was part of the aircraft museum collection in Lasham (UK) since August 19th, 1988 (arrived by C130K from the RAF) has been recently moved to the Bruntingthorpe based Cold War Jets Museum. The aircraft is now owned by Tony Ions and Alan Quartermaine. It is not sure what these new owners will do with the aircraft, but we hope to hear more soon. The other F-104G at Bruntingthorpe (22+57) is still for sale by Brian McLaine.

What we all expected happened indeed. Today a US pilot visited Cervia Air Base to inspect the MM6940 (coded 5-30) which he had bought and it is expected to be transported to the USA later this summer. Thanks to Paolo (regarding this news) also a photo of the aircraft taken recently on May 27th.

Today we heard that this F-104S has been bought by the Starfighters Inc demonstration group in the USA. It is planned to go to Alenia soon for some inspections and overhaul. When ready it will be flown over to the US. So it looks like this F-104S (which is 100% complete and servicable) will be a new flyworthy aircraft, the first Civil registered F-104S in the world!

Thanks to ex Dutch Air Force F-104 pilot Ferry vd Geest a wonderful video can be found at Youtube....It's regarding a trip by two TF-104G from the Leeuwarden Air Base TCA squadron from Beauvechain AB to Deci and back via Ramstein (in 1978). Enjoy!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8k9qt3BN_E

This week news arrived from Grazzanise that the The “Leonardo da Vinci” Science and Technology museum in Milano will soon receive two Italian Starfighters for their collection. Aside the F-104S/ASAM MM6787 also the famous red 9-99 will go to this museum. It already had been demilitarized, engine removed and CFE-plate applied on the fuselage. We always expected to see this red beauty one day on a pole at the entrance of the Grazzanise Air Base....the location where this bird became famous. But surprisingly it will move lateron this year to Milano.
It is unknown if the MM6787 still has serial "9-38" applied but we expect it has been completely refurbished and repainted.

We received some latest news regarding the restoration process of the F-104G FX84 from Stewart Bailey. He is Curator at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, 500 NE Captain Michael King Smith Way McMinnville, OREGON USA 97128. The aircraft has been traded to the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum where it is now being restored for static display.  Currently the plan is to paint it as NASA #812 for display in the Spaceflight building. A picture was taken by Stewart in their restoration facility.  It should be completed and on public display by the end of this summer. Note the photo of NASA Starfighters sticked on the forward fuselage.

Recently we heard that the MLM (Dutch Air Force Museum Division) had plans to exchange a TF-104G and an F-104G starfighter (MLM storage pool) with the US Air Force to obtain an F-4E Phantom and T-37 tweety-bird. This Phantom once flew with the 32th FiS at Soesterberg Air Base and the T-37 was used as one of the most important instruction aircraft at Sheppard Air Force base on which lots of Dutch Air Force pilots have been trained in the past. In between all contracts have been signed and it was told that the TF-104G D-5810 and also F-104G D-8244 have already been flown over to the United States. Both aircraft are in a wonderful condition and even could become flyworthy again after some treatment. We will see what will happen with them in the future.
Then Scramble Magazine revealed that there are plans to transport the ex Best museam preserved TF-104G D-5805 to the Ottobrun ranges at the UK. There F-104 pilot 2nd Lt Martin Sasbrink Harkema was killed inside D-8337 on April 12th, 1983 during shooting exercises. The TF-104G could likely become some kind of monument over there. We have no idea when it will be brought over.
Finally there are rumours that the local scouting group in the Utrecht Provence will get the yellow painted D-8062 aircraft lateron this year. We will keep you all updated!!!

Model company ADV (ownder Andrea De Vincentiis) has released an F-104 stick in 1/1 scale. It is a wonderful stick with high details and needs only good painting.
Beautifully moulded in resin, ADV has captured all of the fine detail of the control stick grip fitted to the F-104 Starfighter.   The detail from the bottom through to the top of the stick grip has been faithfully reproduced. The resin contains no flaws or air bubbles, which is quite a feat in a casting of this size. 

See for more information at : http://www.hyperscale.com/2010/reviews/kits/f104stickreviewme_1.htm

At Cervia this week they finalized the paintshop and preparation of a new F-104S/ASAM Starfighter which will soon be brought over to Piacenza University. On April 18th it was already seen loaded on a truck so we believe it will arrive in Piacenza late this week or early next week.

The aircraft received unreal "RS-01" serials on the fuselage and a blue RSV logo on the fin. On the fuselage the metal CFE plate of MM6737 was found. On the rights side some photos taken by Paolo Maglio this week!!!!

In April it indeed arrived at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore at Piacenza. Interesting fact is that the founder of the University, Padre Agostino Gemelli, was pilot and studied medicine of flight. His name has been painted on the canopy of this Starfighter..SEE HERE!!!

LATEST NEWS: The aircraft could not be MM6737 because that aircraft has been securely identified as the aircraft on display at Vairano Scalo

Recently a bare metal F-104G Starfighter was noticed inside the big restoration hall at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in Oregon. It looks like the F-104G FX84 which was for sale with the nearby located Classic Aircraft Museum. The museum is very busy restoring the aircraft and we cannot wait to see what the result will be ... later we got confirmation that it is indeed the F-104G FX84 which was traded from the Classic Aircraft Museum. The restoration is led by Nelson Havel, who is also one of the volunteers at the Classic Aircraft Museum....quite a cooperation together. The FX84 will be painted into a earlier NASA Starfighter!!.

Two Florida residents have become the first to complete a new commercial space flight training program at NASA's John F Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Terence Witt, founder of Witt Biomedical, and his wife Virginia trained for space in the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, the same supersonic plane used to prepare Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronauts for space travel. The husband and wife team completed their training with Starfighters, Inc, a privately-owned company operating under a formal Space Act Agreement allowing them full utilization of KSC's Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF). See more here.

On April 29, 2008, the Air Base Buchel handed over the cockpit-section (front fuselage) of F-104G 24+11 on loan to the Museum Flugsicherheit und Rettung e.V. located at Baden Airpark, Germany. Director Gerhard Neumann was very pleased with this nice addition to his museum. Among lots of different ejectionseats it now has a cockpit forward fuselage section of the mentioned 24+11 and also a MIG 21.

It is worth a visit!!! (Adres Summerside Avenue, Gebäude C 29 (Shelter) at Rheinmünster) .
The museum website shows a wonderful 360 degrees 3D motion page for the Starfighter cockpit.
To experience this wonderful look please go to this link.

The ex Karlsruhe preserved F-104G 21+00 can be found stored inside the barracks at Germersheim. Today Mark Wassenaar visited the camp and was able to make some photos. It is planned to be placed on another pole at Germersheim, where also F-104G 24+66 can be found preserved. See photo ..

The Dutch Air Force Museum authority (MLM) has ordered back TF-104G D-5805 from the museum "bevrijdende vleugels" at Best, Holland. Due to the snow the transport to the MLM storage at Soesterberg was delayed but the transport will be expected any moment in February. Hopefully the aircraft will be stored securely and not be subject of another aircraft being scrapped.

Glyn Roberts stated this week that there are new plans for the British F-104G 22+57. It will not be sold and also they will not make the aircraft running anymore. The owner is affraid that the aircraft might be damaged during high speed taxy...like recently a private British Victor bomber encountered an issue when it made a short unplanned "hop"... The Starfighter will soon be moved to an airfield called Spanhoe in North Hamtonshire. There a group of people will open a new museum where the F-104G will be star of the show. But first it needs lots of attention.

The F-104 with code "4-21" which can be found preserved at Poggio Ballone (near Grosseto AB) has been identified recently by IFS member Michiel Vogelpoel. He found out that it is the F-104G MM6611 which once was a monument at AMI-Centocelle. It had arrived at Poggio via Grosseto and so it must have been restored and repainted probably with 4 RMV. SEE PHOTO!!!
The MM6611 was erected on 1 October 1993 at Centonelle and lateron removed there (replaced by MM6916) and after refurbishing MM6611 was erected at Poggio on 1 July 1998 (Both dates are not yet 100% confirmed)

On October, 19th. 2009 an aviation enthousiast noticed a preserved Jordan F-104B and took some photos of it. It was in a town called Madaba on google earth coordinates : 31°43'19.20"N, 35°47'33.10"O. It showed to be F-104B "902/C" (c/n 5010 - 57-1298) which has been repainted in some kind of alu-silver dope scheme and newly applied serial and markings, since they are now on a different location then they were applied seen back in 2000 at H5 Air Base when it was stored outside. They also did remove the engine.The aircraft has been completely covered with light-strings which must be a spectacular sight in the dark when all these lights show the contours of the aircraft.
Also another F-104A was noticed preserved on a pole between Ibid and Jerash, in a road corner surrounded by trees. It was roughly read as possibly "916". Sadly no photos could be taken.

The 2009 movie "Night at the museum - Battle of the Smithsonian" is released. Inside this move there is a certain moment that an actor is entering the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC. At least it should give the attention but in the main hall you can clearly see a two-seater Starfighter with serial FG-294 and markings of the commander of 479TFW George AFB (late 50s). To find out more about this Starfighter Mark Wassenaar contacted the Smithsonian museum.
This week we got information from a guy named Brad. He knew the identity of the aircraft used inside the movie. He stated that it once was found preserved at Comox AB and was replaced by a CF-101 Voodoo. We know that the CF-104D 104645 was once found preserved at Comox AB and then it was transported to the Canadian Museum of Flight, Surrey British Colombia, Canada around 1990. This particular CF-104D aircraft has been borrowed for this movie.

In September 2011 a big reunion will be held for all ex- 1st Air Defence personnel at Edmonton, Alberta. This reunion is meant to include all RCAF and CAF personnel and their dependents who served at all 4 wings HQ Metz, Air Weapons Unit Sardinia, 61 AC&W Sqdn. 401 Comm Sqdn, RCAF personnel attached to 4ATAF Ramstein and all others who were there during the glory years of the RCAF. The exact day is not yet known but we will keep you updated. For more information please add yourself to the facebook group
or mail to Gary Watson.

At Agrinion AB, Greece, the F-104G 6639 can be found preserved for a number of years. Before the open house the personnell decided to refurbish the aircraft since the old paint was very much damaged due to weathering. It looks very fresh now and the people at the Air Base did a great job!!

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. (October 22, 2009) - Today, NASA and Starfighters, Inc. announced the signing of a formal Space Act Agreement enabling Starfighters, a private aerospace company that operates high performance fighter aircraft, to fully utilize the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) to conduct flight operations providing commercial space flight training, support research and development, test and engineering for the benefit of the emerging commercial space industry, and to otherwise advance aerospace and space-related technology in Florida.
Space Florida and Starfighters began initial discussions in 2007 and officially partnered in 2008, when Space Florida reached an agreement for the aerospace company to house and maintain aircraft in the State-owned and operated Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) Hangar, located adjacent to the SLF.
"Our alliance with Space Florida is a natural fit," said Rick Svetkoff, Starfighters President and Chief Pilot. "We both want to see the commercial aerospace industry grow in Florida. With Space Florida's assistance, we are making real strides toward that vision."
As part of the new agreement, Starfighters will operate its fleet of Lockheed F-104 Starfighters at Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Currently the company has four vehicles in the fleet, but anticipates adding five more in the coming months. The vehicles can simulate suborbital vehicle trajectories and provide both training and technology development for the reusable launch vehicle industry. Starfighters currently has 10 employees scattered across Florida. In the coming months, it will relocate these employees to KSC, and also expects to employ up to 20 additional highly-skilled workers to perform vehicle maintenance and other technical work at its KSC operations.
"We're thrilled for Starfighters. This agreement with NASA-KSC exemplifies the gradual shift toward commercial space industry development, and is an example of a Florida-based company we were able to keep and help expand its operation in Florida," noted Frank DiBello, Space Florida President. "While our state has always been known to excel at the launch of spacecraft, businesses like Starfighters will help prove that we have the capability to handle research and development, testing, engineering and training activities. We are delighted that it will also serve as a catalyst for additional business as well."
Space Florida and Starfighters are in negotiations to extend the original lease agreement at the RLV Hangar. As part of the alliance, Space Florida may also assist Starfighters in securing additional long-term funding to fully establish their operations and headquarters at KSC.
In a NASA press release today, KSC Director Robert Cabana stated, "This agreement with Starfighters aligns well with NASA's mission and national space policy direction to support and enable the U.S. commercial space industry."
The aerospace company is also currently in discussions with NASA and other government users to provide flight test services under Starfighters recently awarded blanket purchase agreement from NASA's Airborne Science Program from the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.
Starfighters has previously flown several operational test and evaluation flights from the SLF, which included NASA sponsored Pathfinder Trajectories for Orbital and Sub-Orbital Flight Environmental Impact Studies, Autonomous Flight Safety systemsn with INS and GPS Termination Measuring payloads and Station High Sensitivity Ocean Research Experiments.
Starfighters' landmark agreement with NASA-KSC sets the groundwork for additional commercial opportunities to come to KSC in the future.
About Starfighters: Starfighters was founded in 1995 by President and Chief Pilot Rick Svetkoff. The company operates a fleet of Lockheed F-104 Starfighters, a supersonic fighter aircraft that had a 50-year operational history with 15 countries including the U.S. and Canada.
Starfighters is currently gearing up for planned flight test work in 2010 and finalizing their Suborbital Space Flight Training syllabus and will conduct flights from the NASA Space Shuttle Landing Facility at John F. Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The 4 day training syllabus will be the most comprehensive available to the public.

Years ago the F-104G 22+92 was offered for sale (scrapping purpose) at the German federal VEBEG. Then it was withdrawn from sale and put in storage at Kiel-Holtenau with fake serial "26+72". Recently it was reported that it had been transported to Nordholz and indeed in September it was seen in the main hangar at this Naval location. The aircraft was seen without nose, tail and wings. There is no information about what will happen with this aircraft. Let's hope it will end up in a museum somewhere. Photo shows it still at Kiel-Holtenau.

A while ago people at the barracks at Duren-Gurzenich were very busy cleaning their preserved F-104F 29+14 which had become green from all the trees and bushes. However things have changed recently since the aircraft was taken away from the barracks. Since all preserved aircraft at military locations are owned by the German Defense they also belong to the Deutches Museum in Berlin. It was decided to hand this aircraft over to the museum “Sammler- und Hobbywelt“ in Alten-Buseck, near Giessen. There it is on loan. It arrived at the museum location by truck on September, 25th, 2009. There are plans to restore the aircraft completely. While dismantling the aircraft for transport they found a construction number plate with werknummer 5067 which should be wrong since that aircraft had been lost in a crash in the sixties and this 29+14 should have number 5066 in stead. It was decided to analyse all plates in the aircraft during the upcoming restoration.

We heard very sad news from the "Deutch Kandischen Luftwaffen Museum" near Sollingen. Herbert Lienhardt died recently and since he was the man who was very busy getting F-104G 21+00 to the museum these negotionations came to a hold. Now the F-104G, currently at Karlsruhe, is planned to go to the Germersheim barracks where it will be put in storage. (The photo was taken when it was still on a pole at Karlsruhe)

After a very successfull TigerMeet in Belgium the F-104G FX52 has been transported back to Weeze Apt where it arrived in the evening of September 29th. Sadly it sustained a bit of damage during the transport to and from Kleine Brogel AB but the owners will be keen to have this fixed soon again. The people at Kleine Brogel were very surprised by the beautiful appearance of this Tiger Starfighter and would like to keep the aircraft on the airbase. However the owners decided to bring the aircraft back to their shelter at Weeze Apt.

In September the F-104G 22+58, owned by Robert Dietz, has been moved from the shelter at Memmingen Air Base to the museum Meilenwerk at Böblingen, Germany. Robert Dietz will stay the owner. It arrived at the museum on August 27th. See for information of the move here and a more clear photo of 22+58 on its new location here.

On September 4th, 2009, the 156th Gruppo at Gioia del Colle was officlally transferred to Ghedi Air Base. All Tornado's were flown over that day and earlier on the Gioia gateguard MM6782 / 36-36 had already been transported to Ghedi. It can be found at the preserved Starfighters area which is really becoming a Starfighter museum on its own now... See photo of MM6782 at Ghedi AB here.

Today we got news from Tom Svendsen that CF-104 104766 has been removed from its pole at Kjeller Air Base and moved to a nearby hangar annex paintshop (200meters away) to receive an intensive treatment. This will include a corrosion inspection and also it will receive new paint. This time they choose to give it back its traditional Norwegian oliv-grey colorscheme with "766" on its tail. They will also try to get the lights working again which should be switched on during night times. The personnel stated that the work should be finished on October 5th latest and so around that time we can expect it back on its pole.
Tom has taken some photos (see right hand side) and is planning to search for construction number plates for his CF-104 mix-up investigation program. We will keep you all updated.

The 2009 movie "Night at the museum - Battle of the Smithsonian" is released. Inside this move there is a certain moment that an actor is entering the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC. At least it should give the attention but in the main hall you can clearly see a two-seater Starfighter with serial FG-294 and markings of the commander of 479TFW George AFB (late 50s). To find out more about this Starfighter Mark Wassenaar contacted the Smithsonian museum.
They told him: "The NASM collection has only one F-104.  It is currently on display near the Milestones of Flight Gallery on the second floor above the west escalators.  You can read about its history at:
http://www.nasm.si.edu/exhibitions/gal100/starfighter.cfm  
None of the "artifacts" used in the Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian were true museum artifacts, although some items were visible in the actual filming inside the buildings.  A great deal of the movie was pure fantasy, to include the two-seat F104 at the Smithsonian".
We believe that most likely this must have been NASA TF-104G N825NA which is preserved at Moffet Field and was seen a while ago inside a hangar, being prepared for a new fresh paint-job. But we still have no confirmation yet. But to be honoust it could also be just a scale model which has been reflected into the movie scene. Especially when you look carefully at the tires and the canopy area...
(See right handside a photo taken roughly from the movie)

On Wednesday September 9th,the Belgium 10 Wing based at Kleine Brogel, will officially reveal their new Tiger colored F-16 (FX87) “blackbird”. During this ceremony the F-16 will be accompanied by the F-104G FX52 TIGER as the “famous” star of the show. It will have received the currently lacking 10 Wing badges on the tail by then, applied at the Air Base.
Soon after the ceremony the NATO Tiger Meet will be held for two weeks at Kleine Brogel AB where the Starfighter will be participate in the known ceremonies as well. It will be positioned in front of a black background to give it more appearance at the VIP area, near the VIP tent.
On September 18th, a spottersevent is held (press day) which will give hundreds of people to make photos of participating aircraft including the displayed FX52 TIGER.
In spite of the wishes of the Wing, the FX52 will be transported back to Niederrhein Apt after the event

See also videoclip of its arrival here!!!!

We received information that this airport at Villa San Martino is the same location as where the Aero Club Francesco Baracca is at Lugo di Romagna (aeroporto di Lugo). So this means that we are speaking about F-104S/ASA-M MM6935 which arrived there already on May 7th, this year, had been stored on some platform and has now been officially erected at the airfield. In between it had got the Baracca horse insignia painted on the tail sections as the Grosseto aircraft had.
On August 11th 2009 an F-104S/ASA-M was erected as new monument near the aeroporto di Villa San Martino in Italy. It is meant to remember the pilots who lost their lives during wars in the past. There was a lot of commotion about this monument. Some people thought it was no good idea to put a bomber aircraft as monument since who knows how many lifes had been lost due to bombs of that aircraft. Immediately the officials explained that the F-104S was just an interceptor aircraft which has defended the country for many years. The aircraft is still in light grey livery and put on some concrete blocks. We hope to have some real photos soon of this still not identified F-104.

At a harbour on Ikaria Island in Greece an unidentified F-104G cockpit was found. Analysing this cockpit it looks like it is an old Netherlands Air Force aircraft and most likely candidate would be the aircraft 6684 or the 6697. This has been proven by the fact that inside the cockpit clearly a arrester hook release button can be found, typically used by the Dutch Starfighters only. There are some suggestions made to check the plate on the ejectionseat (now covered with dust) to find any kind of confirmation. See also the discussion on the Greece Model forum via this link. Also a Youtube video can be found regarding this cockpit which can be found here. The aircraft front section looks to have been used for a number of years in the HAF Public Relations & Information office located at the corner of University & Bucharest Street in Athens. This also would proof why there is a Greek roundel found just near the canopy.
This week the ejectionseat of this cockpit was investigated and it showed that it was the ejectionseat of the former Dutch Air Force 6680. Indeed this aircraft, now found on the dump of Corfu, lacks its ejectionseat. Now we still have no clue about the identity and have to wait for c/n plate investigations.

We received the first photos taken in August 2009 of the still unidentified F-104A at Travis Air Museum. We are curious about which serial it will receive, the original or the faulty "56-752" again.

Since July 2009 the F-104G 22+57, based at Bruntingthorpe, UK, is for sale. The team over there had big plans with this aircraft, for instance making it ready with engine to perform high speed taxi runs.. Except being fitted with a J79 engine the bird is totally complete, though it has some corrosion. Pprice will be around 12.000 British Pounds, (which is around 11.000 euros or 22.000 US Dollars). For more information please contact mr. Glyn Roberts. His emailadres is; Starmanfatboy@aol.co.uk

F-104J 4515, preserved at the Kaohsiung / National Sun Yat-Sen University Campus, has been disassembled and trucked away. It took three days, and reportedly arrived at its new home on 4 June 2009, for re-painting before display. Its previous location at the campus will become a parking lot. The new location where it will be become preserved after restoration is Chia Yang Senior High School, 1 Chung Ching Road, Ching Shui Town, Tai Chung County, Taiwan.

We already mentioned aircraft 6678 being installed on a pole at the village of Athikia in our news a week ago. Now we received the first photos, taken by Ioannis Mylonas who also participated in the restoration of this aircraft. The result is absolutely wonderful. It has also fuselage code FG-678 applied. See photo which was taken saturday afternoon July 11th. (click on for bigger photo).

We have made a few changes to the website. First of all the header banner has slightly changed, then the links page has been made more intuitive. Last but not least we have added special pages with buttons to the section F-104 USERS. Next to the AirForces who flew the 104 there is no also attention and room for the people who flew the 104 and worked on them. Just have a look and we hope you like this extension !!!

In March 2009 the Luftwaffe Insth Gruppe 21 at Jever Air Base, has officially scrapped the F-104G werknr 7413 and serial 26+67. This aircraft was seen for many years at Jever and at the end as preserved aircraft. It was last noted preserved mid 2006. Parts of the 26+67 have been used to restore the pole mounted gateguard F-104F 29+09 which has just been installed again near the gate. Another F-104G gone forever....

We received news that finally RF-104G 6678, in silver livery, was installed in her new position on June 23/24, mounted on a pylon at the village of Athikia, Corinthia some 30 kms SE from Corinth Canal coordinates are 37o 49’ 12,60” N – 22o 55’ 31,09” approximately). We expect a photo of the aircraft soon.

We never suspected that this would happen but at Cervia they took the cut MM6908 into the maintenance hangar and are building it back together again, with also lots of parts they had still on stock. Since the aircraft was roughly cut, it must be a real challenge for the people at Cervia. It is planned to become a preserved aircraft on a pole but we have not yet found out where it will go when it is ready. Pierpaolo Magglio visited Cervia a few days ago (June 29th) and had a look at the project.

F-104G (c/n 6661) 21+12 from the German Air Force which was preserved at Kazerne Neubrandenburg with its wheels in is now in restoration with LwInsthGrp 22 at Trollenhagen which is almost the same location. It is likely that it will return back on its pole when it is ready.

To increase the family feeling among the members, especially those who once flew the F-104 Starfighter, we have introduced the F-104 pilots members gallery. It has just been started and we are still trying to get more of our ex 104 pilot members on the list. So all of you please contact if you think you should be on the list.
You can go to the list from the IFS society info page but also directly via HERE.

During a dedicated tour by Michiel Vogelploel through Italy a number of preserved Starfighters have been visited and investigated as far as possible. This resulted in some new identifications. These were the ITIS preserved Starfighter at Ferentino (identified as MM6912), the new preserved Starfighter at Caserta (identified as MM6771) and a confirmation that indeed the aircraft preserved at Montegiorgio is MM6781.
More about the Italian identification puzzle on our Grazza investigation page here.

Michiel Vogelpoel visited the Scuola Perfezio-namento Specialisti in Loreto in the end of May 2009. There he found their preserved RF-104G (c/n 6632) MM6632 "3-28" and "3-32" under restoration. Michiel was told that the aircraft will not return on the pedestal again after the restoration is finished. We are anxious to see what they will do with it...

The last couple of months we again detected some strange c/n plate mix-ups in Canadair build Starfighters. This time it was in Norway. Tom Svendsen investigated some aircraft and would be pleased to get some help from all of you. He stated:

We need some help identifying Canadair built Starfighters!!!!
If you are planning to visit a museum or may have this sort of starfighter in the area you live ,could you please help us to check some dataplates on the for us? Anyone who can help us to solve this mystery and explain the identity or roots of this airframe, please contact us as soon as possible!!!!!!

Actual Starfighters to be checked are :
CF-104   constr.nr 1001-1200 , serial 104700 to 104900
CF-104D constr.nr  5301-5338 , serial 104631 to 104668
F-104G constr.nr 6001-6140 ,serials 62-12302 to 12349 and 63-12697 to 12734 and 64-17752 to 17795

More details on his investigation and the mix-ups we are talking about can be found on our f-104 mystery page so have a look and please help!!

There should be a preserved Starfighter located at the Centro Addestramento Sperimentale in Sabaudia (LT). We do not have any details yet and also do not know when it arrived there. Likely in 2008. The barracks are located at Google Earth coordinates 41°18'36.38"N 13° 1'16.49"E but Google Earth photos are a bit too old.

Lots of people within the aviation scene know the great Japanese Aviation photographer Katsuhiko Tokunaga. He has been guest with 20Gruppo a few times and took fantastic photos of the Starfighters Air 2 Air in great angles and razor sharp!! At this moment there is a website with lots of Grosseto Starfighter photos taken in 2004. See this link and enjoy!!!!! Thanks to David Cenciotti for hosting these photos.
http://lowpassage.com/photo-archive/f-104-air-to-air-pictures-by-katsuhiko-tokunaga/

Recently an unidentified F-104S-ASA-M arrived at the Aeroporto di Lugo and meant to be displayed with the Aero Club Francesco Baracca Lugo di Romagna. It arrived by truck from Grazzanise AB.
See also www.aeroclublugo.it
The aircraft does not have any CFE plate applied on the fuselage which is very strange. Recent visits (thanks to forum http://italy-mil-aviation.forumfree.net/ showed the cockpit section. On the typical 10 Gruppo id location the red "32" was noticed meaning code "9-32". So it looks like we have here the aircraft MM6935 which was not seen anymore during a recent visit in April. Of course we still have to get this confirmed but it looks like we are on track now!!!!!!!!!!. TODAY WE RECEIVED INFORMATION THAT INDEED IT WAS CONFIRMED MM6935!!!

The Villafranca Air Base preserved promotional monument F-104G Starfighter MM6525 (3-01 and 3-30) has participated at the big show in the center of Villafranca town, in front of the castle, for the April 25th end of war anniversary!! In between it has returned to Villafranca Air Base. (Photo and information : Daniele Faccioli)

Currently Johan Bringmans is very busy restoring his FX69, stored at Weeze Apt, into a real "sliver" Starfighter. He also owns the main fuselage and tail of F-104G FX-70 for spareparts. Since the main airframe of the FX70 is now stripped he is almost ready to scrap the remains. A Dutch F-104 cockpit collector decided to take over the cockpit section to build his own cockpit at home in Leeuwarden. So last Thursday April 23rd the FX70 was cut in two parts. A crane was available and the cockpit section was transported to Holland. That day also the FX70 tailsection was mounted on the FX69 and also the wings were mounted. This proves that the FX69 restoration process is still ongoing. Photos show the FX69 at 11:00 PM after a day of hard work!! and bottom photo shows the activities around the just cut FX70 cockpit section. (photos by Roger Seroo)

During a bike-vacation last year in Northern Italy German Aviation anthusiast Florian Rodemich discovered an F-104 Starfighter mounted on some pipes along the road near S. Pellegrino East of Lecco, (Lago di Como). It happened to be one of the F-104S Starfighters which disappeared from the Rome Bentivoglio scrapyard. It was MM6758 code 4-22 with tail from MM6744 and nose from MM6788.

End of last year, the famous aircraft storage area of Piet Smedts in Kessel (Holland) was cleared of all it's aircraft. Little was know till now on the whereabouts of all these former aircraft. Two 104's (23+01 and 21+60) were recently seen behind a  cafetaria in Kessel, but the rest were unknown. Recently Mark Wassenaar had the oportunity to check the area form the air (!) and relocated most of the former Kessel- 104's.
See photos, on top Kessel storage and the bottom one shows Baarlo storage area)
Clearly visible behind a shed are five F-104's with a lot of additional parts spread around. Indentified could be the following F-104G aircraft: 23+01, 21+60, 24+89, 25+61 and 26+30.
There was no sign of the 26+72, but the wings with the tiptanks still attached were seen in the garden in Baarlo. Probably the rest of the 26+72 is in one of the hangars together with the 21+71. Still stored outside in Baarlo is 23+76 as "22+90" and to complete the list, the 24+63 is still on it's pole painted as the blue white painted "D-8212"

During a visit at Grazzanise Air Base on 7 April 2009 an F-104S was seen which had been restored for preserval duties. It was found in front of the main hangar and was resprayed light grey overall. It was planned to be transported by truck last tuesday April 14th to Foligno to become a gate-guard. The CFE-plate stated "11508 MM6850" but this was false. The real MM6850 was still seen that day on the F-104 storage flightline. The aicraft was inspected and identified being MM6763 (ex 9-33). The c.n plates could be found on the radome as well as some other locations on the fuselage. This is again a proof that the italians are making everything very complicated for all of us... Sad but true!!

Thanks to some research by Hubert Peitzmeier we found out that the F-104G 21+00 which is guarding the General-Kammhuber-Kaserne at Karlsruhe since 18 May 1995, will soon be removed and transported to Sollingen. The barracks were former VBK 52 and is now divided into two other sections being a "Fernmeldeinheit" and a "Bundeswehr Fachschule". The F-104G will be taken off the pole and will become part of the "Deutch Kanadisches Luftwaffenmuseum located at Victoria Boulevard in Rheinmünster, not far from the Baden Airpark. It is expected to arrive in May 2009.

Inside the Army Museum in Istanbul, Turkey a CF-104 Starfighter could be found beneath some bushes. It was ex Canadian 104733 coded "8-733". It looks like they cleaned or even refurbished the aircraft completely and put it now on some kind of steel frame. This way the aircraft will stay a lot cleaner for sure. It is unknown when the aircraft was moved but it looks like late 2008. The photo was taken by Bernd Lübbert in April 2009.

Two wellknown preserved Starfighters at Balikesir have received an artist paintbrush colorscheme in 2006. The famous Turkish artist Evrim Duyar (25 years old) had received a task to paint the F-104G 7122 in the city centre and also the wellknown TIGER colored F-104G (c/n 9145) near the 192 filo barracks. On the right side a few photos from the Evrim Duyar website (thanks to her) to give a small impression on the result of the paintschenes.. In between there has been created a new Ataturk monument and they Starfighter 7122 has been refurbished into Turkish Air Force 7122 codes 9-191 and 9-192 and placed in front of the new monument on a new created pedestal. So it was moved from the city park side. This must have taken place around 2008.

Who knows more about this and who can confirm both that 7122 was moved (when?) and if the 192 Filo Starfighter has still its paintbrush colorscheme?

For a long time the F-104C 56-912 has guarded the Sheppard AFB area and this has a lot of impact on the metal structure of the aircraft. It was erected late 70s and that is almost 30 years ago. The AB personnel have decided to refurbish the aircraft again. We got a photo of it showing the aircraft with sealed canopy glasses and new paint. In between they have also changed the serial on the tail since it showed "00912" in the past. Now it shows "60912"!!!

For a lot of years we believed that the Hellenic Air Force had lost Starfighter 64-17782 in a crash around 1989 but we never got confirmation. It was simply not seen since. However recently the aircraft was found back at Tatoi. Years ago they put this aircraft preserved somewhere on a secret location at Tatoi and because the paint had been faded it got a fresh paint job early this year. Now it is back on its former location somewhere on the Tatoi premises. The aircraft is wearing the official Hellenic Air Force 104 camouflagescheme and the serials have been applied in a very exotic way. On the fin "7782" can be found and on the fuselage they applied "FG-7782" a bit like they applied serials on ex-German Air Force Starfighters.

Today we received the latest status information regarding the total restauration of F-104G 21+91 at the Air Ailes Anciennes Toulouse, France. Sylvain Dupouy (Trésorier Adj. & Secrétaire Adj.) told us :

We made a lot of work on the plane. We finished the restauration of the landing gears, doors over the fuselage (fuel tanks), back part of the plane and the left wing. We will finish the second wing in some weeks. The canon bay, the airbrake bay and the wing jonctions will be finished in some months.
For more information you can see the progress on the museum website: http://www.aatlse.org

The photos (on right side) have been taken on 14 (top) and 15 (bottom) February. You notice the progress on the left wingbay within 1 day. (Click on the photos for a bigger picture)

Thanks to Tom Svendsen we stay up-to-date on the great 637 Starfighter project in Norway.
The CF-104D 104637 "637" is in excellent state , almost flyworthy but the main problem is the used ejection seats. Also the aircraft will have a 200 hrs check which will be performed during this month or in March 2009. Then VHF ,VOR, GPS must be installed and the aircraft should be civil registered.

The CF-104D "637" originally has C-2 seats but the explosives, which are lacking on the "637" are very expensive (up to 120-150 000 Euro for two seats). For this reason the project team was aiming for good Martin Baker seats instead. Thanks to the Italian Air Force the projectteam got almost new MB seats and also obtaining explosives should be no problem in the near future. However the CF-104D was not intended to be fitted with the Martin Baker 7A seats. The RDAF was the only Air Force which modified their CF-104/CF-104D aircraft to use these Martin Baker seats. Therefore the RDAF ejection seat drawings were needed. Gladly the team got these drawings last year.
The project team was still struggling how exactly the seats should be replaced. Gladly this was solved by contacting a Danish Air Force technician who did this modification on the Danish Starfighters. He was willing to do the modification on the "637" as well. In between the team got permission of the Danish Air Force to obtain needed ejection seat mounting rails and other parts from two of their CF-104Ds so the modification can now be finalized. Needed parts include the mentioned rail but also cockpitfloor in the backseat and connections.

The annual meeting for the Norwegian Starfighter friends for 2009 will be held on April 25th, at Bodo AB.Of course we keep you updated!!!

In January 2009 a special F-104 cockpit has been revealed at dell’Istituto Scienze Militari Aeronautiche, located at Firenze. The cockpit section is from an unidentified aircraft and painted into the famous red 9-99 colors. It is not coming from the real 9-99 which can still be found at Grazzanise AB. The cockpit was revealed by commander of the institute Brig General Settimo Caputo.
It is interesting to notice that the Pratica project refuelling probe has been added to the cockpit.
See for more information here.

This month (January 2009) at least two Taiwanese Starfighters have been erected on a pole at CCK AFB. Both aircraft, F-104G 4301 and TF-104G 4147 have been part of a big museum collection at the Air Base. It is unknown why they decided to give these two aircraft a new location. The aircraft 4301 was seen for the first time (likely the day it was erected) on 10 January, the 4147 was first noted on 13 January while they still were busy securing the mounting of this aircraft. It is located on the left side of the gate. Both Starfighters have new paint and squadron markings on the tail. The markings of 4301 are from 7th TFS and 4147 is carrying markings of the 427th TFW. It still carries the wrong US serial "61-12236" (in fact it should be "61-3030").

Late 2008 the premises of the Technical School at Zwolle has been modernized including some main buildings. The preserved Starfighter was taken away for this reason but was put back again in December 2008. It looks like it is now preserved on a different spot at the school area. We got a photo from Tom Bouwmeester.