| 10 January 1983 | CF-104 | 104821 | 439sq | CAF | written off | pilot ok |
| It crashed near Karlsruhe, Germany, after encountering an engine-failure due to foreign object damage. The pilot, Capt. T.F.Klassen was on approach to Sollingen when he suffered the problems. He flew towards an open field and ejected safely. Newspaper articles thanks to Rick Odermatt and Bernard Goodman). |
| @ |
   |
| 10 January 1983 | F-104G | 23+87 | JBG31 | GAF | phased out | pilot ok |
| This aircraft encountered a slight bird-hit which could be repaired. However the aircraft was taken out of service due to the fact that JBG31 was in the process of transferring to the Tornado fighter bomber. This Starfighter became an instructional aircraft at Norvenich until early 1992. Then used for Battle Damage Repair Training till October 1992 when it was scrapped. |
| 18 January 1983 | CF-104 | 104900/900 | 334SKV | RNorAF | written off | pilot ok |
| This starfighter crashed into the sea approximately 15 km west of Bodø. The pilot Lt. Bjørn Larsson, lost control of the plane at low altitude, but managed to eject safely. Beneath a photo by Rolf Baaken taken in December 1980. |
| @ |
 |
| 17 February 1983 | F-104S | MM6911/51-45 | 51St155gr | AMI | written off | pilot ok |
| During a training mission from homebase Istrana the pilot encountered an issue while performing a practice barrel roll at 500 feet with 310kts speed and lots of fuel. This situation caused a rapid loss of altitude resulted in exceeding the controllability limit. The kicker (artificial stick pusher) cut-in resulting in still more loss of altitude, resulting in a crash into a power line cables near Caerano San Marco, Treviso, just near the road to Cornuda. Gladly the pilot, Capt Franco Troglio, could eject in time and was safe. The aircraft parts were spread all around and the engine was found inside a small house. Gladly there were no casualties. The aircraft flew in a tip/pylon tanks configuration. Photos beneath are from the AMI flight safety magazine (thanks to Eugenio Lo Verso). |
| @ |
    |
| 17 March 1983 | F-104G | 20+75 | JBG31 | GAF | phased out | pilot ok |
| This F-104 encountered a birdhit which could be repaired. However the aircraft was taken out of service due to the fact that JBG31 was in the process of transferring to the Tornado fighter bomber. On 7 June 1983 it went to Husum as instructional with LVR7 soon receiving fake serial “24+76”. Around 1985 it moved to Leck and became Battle Damage Repair training aircraft. In July 1992 it was handed over to scrapdealer Nord-Schrott in Flensburg. It was meant to be preserved there but standing on a container it fell off due to a lorry which hit the container accidentally in 1996. The aircraft was scrapped since it was damaged so badly by the fall. Beneath a photo showing the 20+75 with fake code 24+76 at Leck, photographed by Gerrit Hiemstra. |
| @ |
 |
| 24 March 1983 | F-104G | D-8337 | 312sq | KLu | incident | pilot ok |
| This F-104G sustained a birdhit with significant damage to its side beneath the cockpit. It could land at Volkel Air Base and damages could be repaired soon. |
| @ |
  |
| 12 April 1983 | F-104G | D-8337 | 312sq | KLu | written off | pilot killed |
| This Starfighter crashed during a shooting-exercise at the Otterburn-range (near NewCastle). Together with collegue D-8061 (alfa) the D-8337 (bravo) made a run over the target. F104G D-8061 missed but the D-8337 hit the target. It is unsure if the D-8337 entered the jetwash of the 8061 but the D-8337 pilot was sadly unable to pull up the aircraft in time again (including kicker activations) and struck ground. The pilot, 2ndLt Martin Sasbrink Harkema (26) was sadly killed. The mission was flown from Coningsby AB. Beneath a few photos, showing the D-8337 with D-8061 on the flightline of Coningsby the day before the accident , next photo shows the moment of impact (taken by Otterburn Range officials) on which you also see D-8061 flying away and finally some pictures taken at the crash site showing the tail section and other parts of the aircraft. The wreckage has been laying around over the swampy area ("bogs"), only reachable by helicopter (Westland Sea King). After a certain time the remains have been brought over to Woensdrecht Air Base. The newspaper articles were shared by Michael Kronemeyer and Harry Prins. |
| @ |
    |
| @ |
    |
| 29 April 1983 | F-104S | 6884/9-884 | 192filo | THK | written off | pilot killed |
| (THK serial 75-6884) This F-104S crashed near Manyas (near Kiziksa). The pilot, 1stLt Ümit Bekem (28), was sadly killed. |
| 18 May 1983 | CF-104 | 104744 | 417sq | CAF | written off | pilot killed |
| The Starfighter was number one in a two aircraft formation engaged in a Butterfly Dart mission over the range near Cold Lake together with exchange pilot Hauptmann Harald Riedel. Shorty after commencing a pre-briefed, straight maneuver with 3,5 to 4 G turn into the dart. Despite calls from the lead aircraft to pull-up, the aircraft continued in a steep descent impacting in soft, marshy terrain. The pilot, Capt. Scott M. Ritchie, was killed in the crash. From lack of evidence of any other possibilities, it is likely that the pilot was a victim of incapacitation. Medical analysis indicated that recovery time from episodes of G induced loss of consciousness varies from 9 to 21 seconds with a mean at 15 seconds. |
| 19 May 1983 | CF-104 | 104737 | 417sq | CAF | incident | pilot ok |
| This day pilot Kevin Vaillant experienced an exciting moment when he CF-104 Starfighter entered a flat spin during a dogfight with another CF-104. So he had to have to get the nose down as soon as possible while the altitude was decreasing rapidly. So he he decided to pull his drag chute. Then indeed the nose dropped down. While low on airspeed, with nose down, he lit the afterburner. Then he lowered T/O flaps and pulled through around 1.500' AGL (estimated). Gladly he made it back to Cold Lake Air Base. Picture shows the aircraft back at Cold Lake with the remaining ropes of the dragchute (thanks to Kevin Vaillant) |
 |
| 22 May 1983 | CF-104 | 104813 | 439sq | CAF | written off | pilot ok |
| TThe Starfighter crashed during an air display at the Rhien-Maine AFB open house with an associated air show. One of the participants was the Canadian Air Force Starfighters Air Demonstration team from CFB Baden-Soellingen. The team consisted of five CF-104s, four doing formation flypasts while the fifth performed solo routines. The solo, being flown by Captain Alan Stephenson in 104813, had completed one 360 degree turn and was setting up for a slow speed pass. As the pilot turned towards the show line on Frankfurt’s runway 25L, he slowed to 350 knots and pulled a little tighter to ensure he did not cross the taxiway between 25L and 25R. The aircraft was seen to pitch up and depart controlled flight. As the aircraft nose pointed down, the pilot safely ejected. The aircraft exploded and disintegrated on impact with Bundesstraße 43 near Waldstadion, approximately 5 km from the end of runway 25L. A car driving south on Bundesstraße 44 was engulfed by the fireball instantly killing Pastor Martin Jürges and his entire family of five. A niece survived for 81 days before succumbing to her injuries. The aircraft crashed only a half kilometer from the cities main soccer stadium Waldstadion and adjacent to a large tennis complex where a weekend tournament was being held. Parts of the exploding aircraft landed in the tennis courts and the engine, in particular, damaged many cars in the nearby parking lot. Miraculously, no one was injured at this location. It was a very tragic accident. A video can of the accident can be found on Youtube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJtTYzUIwBQ Beneath a newspaper article thanks to Bernie Goodman and Harry Prins. |
| @ |
    |
| 10 June 1983 | TF-104G | D-5817 | CAV | KLu | incident | pilots ok |
| During the landing at Volkel the nosewheel of this TF-104G collapsed and the aircraft sustained damage on its forward section. However it was soon repaired. |
| 14 June 1983 | TF-104G | 28+02 | JBG34 | GAF | written off | pilots ok |
| This two-seater crashed after the pilots lost control during touch&go training at Memmingen. Both pilots OTL Ludwig Schonecker and OltzS Winfried Frank ejected safely but the aircraft was a total loss. |
| 16 June 1983 | CF-104 | 104830 | 441sq | CAF | written off | pilot ok |
| The CF-104 was carrying out a strafing run on a training target at the Suippes Range in France. A ricochet from a 20MM projectile was ingested by the engine causing a compressor stall. The pilot, Capt. G.W.Bayles, was able to turn the aircraft away from nearby villages and safely ejected. However, after the pilot ejected, the CF-104 turned towards the village of Sainte-Marie- à-Py. Fortunately, the aircraft crashed just short of the village, damaging a barn. There were no injuries on the ground. This was the last Canadian Armed Forces operated CF-104 to be lost in a flying accident. Crash location photo thanks to Bernie Goodman. |
| @ |
  |
| 26 June 1983 | F-104G | 4359 | 3TFW | RoCAF | written off | pilot ok |
| (USAF serial 61-2604) After encountering an engine failure this F-104G crashed into a can-factory (Dong Yang food company) in Da Jia City, Tai Chung County, causing 2 death and 3 injured. Also cars and houses were damaged. The Pilot Hu Tseng Chun ejected and was safe although slightly wounded. The aircraft was based at Ching Chuan Kang AB and most probably operated by 28TFS) The engine failure was caused by a main fuel control malfunctioning. The photo beneath shows the aircraft behind aircraft 4336 in the mid 70s. When it was lost it was wearing a light grey overall color scheme. |
| @ |
 |
| 18 July 1983 | TF-104G | 28+11 | JBG33 | GAF | written off | pilots ok |
| This Starfighter crashed after an engine-failure near Sulzberg, Bavaria (Kempten, Allgäu). Gladly both pilots Hptm Gunter Berg and Olt Hartmut Schmidt ejected safely. |
| 19 August 1983 | TF-104G | 62-12274 | 335mira | HAF | incident | pilots ok |
| August 1983 | F-104G | MM6501/3-11 | 3St/132gr | AMI | incident | pilot ok |
| This F-104G encountered a CAT 2 accident after retracting its gear during landing. It was repaired and received IP200 maintenance from August 8th till October 19th, 1983 and was given back to 132 gruppo again (3360 flying hours). Today it is preserved inside the AMI museum. Photo beneath is from the AMI flight safety magazine (thanks to Eugenio Lo Verso). The other photo shows the aircraft preserved in May 2004 at Pratica di Mare (Harry Prins) |
| @ |
  |
| 9 Sept 1983 | F-104S | MM6880/53-07 | 53St21gr | AMI | incident | pilot ok |
| This day, during a taceval exercise, this aircraft suffered reasonable damage after an attempted aborted take-off from Cameri. Pilot Lt Paolo Manzoni escaped by ejection seat and was unhurt. The aircraft was repaired and started flying again soon. Beneath a number of interesting pictures showing the aircraft after the accident. (Thanks to Giovanni Perrone Compagni). |
| @ |
    |
| @ |
   |
| 9 Sept 1983 | F-104S | MM????/??-?? | ??St??gr | AMI | written off | pilot ok |
| This day this F-104S crashed without knowing any detail except that pilot Ten P. Manzoni ejected safely. It was a different aircraft as MM6880. Who can confirm this and knows more? |
| 12 Sept 1983 | F-104G | 7199/4-199 | 142filo | THK | written off | pilot ok |
| (THK serial 65-7199) This Murted based F-104G crashed near or at 6AJU base Bandirma, due to an unknown cause. The pilot was safe. |
| 15 Sept 1983 | F-104S | MM6837/51-32 | 51St155gr | AMI | written off | pilot ok |
| This F-104S crashed during take off from homebase Istrana after the aircraft encountered a flameout during full afterburner take off on runway 08. The aircraft demolized the lights of runway 26 by fire. It was operated with tip and pylon tanks. Gladly pilot Ten. Alberto Casamatti ejected safely. Beneath a picture showing the aircraft at Aviano on 29 June 1979. |
| @ |
 |
| 3 October 1983 | F-104S | 6902/9-902 | 192filo | THK | written off | pilot ok |
| (THK serial 75-6902) This F-104S Starfighter based at Balikesir, crashed near Yenice due to an unknown cause. Pilot ejected safely. Beneath a photo showing the aircraft at Lechfeld during a squadron exchange in July 1981. |
| @ |
 |
| 11 October 1983 | RF-104G | D-8103 | 306sq | KLu | written off | pilot ok |
| 11 October 1983 | RF-104G | D-8145 | 306sq | KLu | incident | pilot ok |
| Starfighter D-8103 crashed after a mid-air collision with D-8145 over Deursen. After the collision the aircraft began to burn and the pilot, Lt. Frans van Giersbergen decided to select his ejection seat. He ejected at 20000ft and he stayed in the air, hanging on his parachute, for 15 minutes!! After landing on the ground he was slightly hurt. The D-8145 , flown by pilot Joost Steenbergen, was ok could land safely and be repaired. It happened on the way back to Volkel. The D-8103 being alpha and D-8145 as bravo, both had done a normal mission and were flying on a certain distance of Volkel waiting for approval for landing. An a certain moment both F104s started a left 30 degree turn and rolled out heading west. Shortly afterwards D-8103 felt an enormous bang and saw bravo flying just a few meters above. Immediately the D-8103 turned over to the left and the nose went down. The D-8103 was out of control. After bravo D-8145 told alpha was on fire and told him to eject. The pilot of the D-8103 ejected and reached ground safely, altough very hard. The aircraft crashed and bravo managed to land at Volkel. The investigation revealed that bravo (D-8103) was flying some 2 miles behind leading alpha after the 30 degree turn. He decided to fly towards alpha a little bit closer and increased engine-power. On that moment he followed some lower flying aircraft as well visual as by radar followed by a cockpit-check. When he looked up to see if he had reached alpha enough he got a fright when he saw alpha very closeby a little bit above the tail of alpha. Bravo pulled his stick very fast but it was too late. With a big bang he collided by strucking alpha's airframe with his left pylontank, damaging the controlling-units. Also the left engine-inlet was damaged by this pylontank. A part of the airframe was cut out causing the alpha becoming out of control and strucking fire. On the ground the D-8145 had still a piece of alpha's airframe hanging on his pylontank! Damage to D-8145 consisted of left hand LE flap and left hand pylontank. Pylon tank was damaged beyond repair. Beneath a photo taken at Volkel Air Base on 6th of April 1983, six months before the accident. (Thanks to Jan Hazeveld for the photo and Harry Prins and Jeroen Jonkers for the newspaper articles). |
| @ |
     |
| 12 October 1983 | TF-104G | 5813/4-813 | 142filo | THK | written off | pilots ok |
| (THK serial 66-5813) This former Dutch Air Force Starfighter crashed near Kutahya due to an unknown cause. It is unknown if there were 1 or 2 pilots on board but at least no pilot was killed. Beneath photos showing the aircraft at the flightline at Murted in 1981 (by Marcel te Slaa) and a photo of the crash site after the accident (thanks to Cetin Tuna). |
| @ |
@  |
| 30 November 1983 | F-104G | 8052 | None | THK | written off | pilot ok |
| (THK serial 63-8052) This former Dutch Air Force Starfighter was lost during the delivery to Turkey, near Wadern, Germany due to an engine failure. The pilot, Mustafa Kemal Evinligil, ejected safely but was severely wounded on one of his legs. The aircraft toke off from Volkel appr. 08.30AM and crashed appr. 09.00AM. Beneath a photo taken at Volkel showing the aircraft with Turkish markings, ready for departure to Turkey where it never arrived. The shown newspaper article thanks to Harry Prins. |
| @ |
  |
| 7 December 1983 | F-104G | 4320 | 3AG | RoCAF | written off | pilot killed |
| (USAF serial 62-12220) This F-104G Starfighter crashed during bad weather circumstances. Sadly pilot Jian SHEN was killed. Photos of the aircraft are very rare. Beneath a photo taken of this 4320 late 60s at CCK. |
| @ |
 |
| 22 December 1983 | F-104S | MM6711/53-11 | 53St21gr | AMI | written off | pilot ok |
| This F-104S crashed near Cameri Air Base, during takeoff just before the pilot pulled up its gear it hit some snow on the runway side and an explosion with fire was experienced followed by illuminated hydraulic leak and fire warning lights. The pilot Lt Col Vicenzo Pastore ejected immediately but due to the circumstances he smashed on the runway and was seriously injured. Investigations found that the undercarriage broke loose and severed a fuel line which sprayed fuel all over, ignited by the heat of the engine. The aircraft had a BL.104 + tip/pylon tanks configuration. Below a picture of the unlucky aircraft. |
| @ |
 |
| 1983 | F-104S | MM6735/53-01 | 53St21gr | AMI | incident | pilot ok |
| During night flying This F-104S taxied out of its shelter and hit a parked SIRMAC (fire brigade truck) with its left side tiptank. Damage was nihil. Photo and drawing beneath are from the AMI flight safety magazine (thanks to Eugenio Lo Verso). |
| @ |
  |
##
| Back to accidents overview |
Copyright © 2024 I-F-S.NL Protected by U.S. and International law for the F-104 Society Inc. The Netherlands | Developed by Media4ever and Ralphdesign
