26
May

CF-104D 104643 saved!

Since the death of Allan Rubin, the owner of he Canadian Air Land and Sea Museum at Markham/Toronto, in 2020, the future is still unclear for a number of aircraft. In between some aircraft left the museum to new owner like the CF-104D 104644 to Australia and the F-104G FX-99 to Belgium.
And now again another aircraft left the former museum being the ex Canadian CF-104D 104643 (c/n 5313) which could be found at Markham, in a sorry state, from late nineties.
After its operational career this aircraft went to Mountain View during mid eighties becoming an instructional battle damage repair airframe with code "877C" and "211AC". And so when it arrived at Markham the aircraft was in a bad shape. Sadly the owner never found the time to restore the aircraft to a complete aircraft again.

On May 22nd, 2023 the aircraft left Markham and on the 25th it arrived in California. It will be completely assembled and restored and the plan is to have it preserved in California in Fall this year. To achieve this, a lot of extra components and also some wings were collected to make it complete. Steve Alex will act as a restoration consultant during the project.
We keep you all updated!!

Beneath some pictures provided by Steve Alex taken at Markham May 22nd.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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2 Comments

  1. Nicki Niemi Cammack

    Thank you for the information that you provided here for #643. It is in addition to what I already knew about this aircraft.

    It is the VERY FIRST 104 that my late brother Capt. Wally Niemi flew when he started the 104 training at Cold Lake in January of 1982.

    In that photo right at the top, the blue tarp that you see on the carrier is covering up the restored wing of a 104 that was delivered to my hometown in Birsay, Saskatchewan. This wing was purchased by Wally’s wife Mary Niemi and restored by Steve Alex. Marty and I collaborated on having this wing be installed as a memorial to Wally and all Canadian military pilots who lost their lives in service to their country.

    It was very exciting to have, for the first time ever, an actual CF-104 in my tiny little prairie hamlet home town for a few hours! They dropped off Wally’s wing and continued on their way to California where the 104 will be restored for display.

    It was such a historic event to have, for 1700 miles from Markham to Birsay, Wally’s first Starfighter, and his memorial wing were travel companions!!

  2. Harry Prins Post author

    Thanks a lot Nicki for your comment!


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