Mid 60s the Middle East was a very explosive area and Jordan felt the need to increase the Air Defense capability to cope with the treat.
Although the Royal Jordan Air Force wanted to take over 36 ex-USAF Starfighters from the US in 1966, it was 1969 they really got their first aircraft. In stead of 36, they received only 22 F-104A and 4 F-104B aircraft. The first batch arrived in the autumn of 1969 and the second batch in 1972/1973.
Initially the Jordanian pilots were trained in the US with the 4760th Combat Crew Training Squadron at Webb Air Force Base in 1967.
All 26 Starfighters were operated by nr 9 Squadron, based at the King Hassan Air Force Base (also known as “H5”) at Amman. Operations started in September 1969 and ended at 10th of July 1977 when the remaining aircraft were replaced by Northrop F-5E and F-5F aircraft. Jordan had a good relationship with Pakistan and it was during the 1971 Indian-Pakistan war that Jordan flew of number of their Starfighters to Pakistan in December 1971, on loan, to assure extra capacity for the Pakistans which used a small number of these jets with a lot of success. It was decided to use the Jordanian aircraft only for night air defense without missiles (i.e. gun only), making the wingtips available for carriage of drop tanks instead of carrying them under wings, which increased the drag by about 45%. This way the aircraft could fly guard patrols for a longer duration being an effective help. However one of the aircraft got lost on December 17th that year when it was shot down by an Indian Air Force MIG-21 near the Pakistan border.
Since the Jordan Air Force structure was looking quite similar with the RAF structure the Jordanians decided to introduce the RAF known “squadron-code” designations on the aircraft tails during the summer of 1974 . For this reason the remaining aircraft received codes “A” till “V”. Also around that time the serials were moved from the speed break doors (back of the aircraft) to the front fuselage. This was mainly because these speed break doors sometimes switched during maintenance.
After the aircraft had been withdrawn from use most of them started a career as decoy aircraft on King Hassan Air Force Base and Azraq Air Force Base. A number of aircraft received camouflage scheme to simulated the operational Mirage F1 aircraft. Some aircraft also were sold to a US company and brought back to the country they once started their lives…the USA. At the end most decoys ended up as preserved Starfighters on different locations in Jordan.
The individual history of all the 26 Jordanian Starfighters + one CF-104 obtained from Turkey, can be found beneath:
F-104A | |||
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903/- | 183-1055 | 56-767 | d/d 1-9-1969, 9sq, w/o 17-12-1971, shot down by MIG-21 over Pakistan border. |
904/- | 183-1062 | 56-774 | d/d 1-9-1969, 9sq, w/o 16-7-1974, crashed due to technical issues. |
905/D | 183-1063 | 56-775 | d/d 30-9-1969, 9sq, wfu 1-7-1977, store Amman-Marka and owned by Historic Jordanian Flight. |
906/- | 183-1065 | 56-777 | d/d 30-9-1969, 9sq, w/o 14-9-1972, crashed after unrecoverable spin. |
907/E | 183-1066 | 56-778 | d/d 8-10-1969, 9sq, wfu 1-7-1977, Civil USA 1990, “N66305”, Warhawk Air Museum "56-778". |
908/F | 183-1068 | 56-780 | d/d 22-9-1969, 9sq, wfu 1-7-1977, Civil USA 1990, “N66342”, Cavanaugh museum “56-780”. |
909/G | 183-1074 | 56-786 | d/d 27-6-1969, 9sq, wfu 1-7-1977, Civil USA 1990, “N66328”, Olympic Flight Museum restored. |
910/H | 183-1076 | 56-788 | d/d 1-9-1969, 9sq, wfu 1-7-1977, store Safawi AB, Possibly preserved at Amman University. |
911/I | 183-1077 | 56-789 | d/d 30-9-1969, 9sq, wfu 1-7-1977, preserved Monta-Mutah University. |
912/J | 183-1085 | 56-797 | d/d 20-10-1969, 9sq, wfu 1-7-1977, preserved Balila near Road 35. |
913/K | 183-1087 | 56-799 | d/d 11-10-1969, 9sq, wfu 1-7-1977, preserved Safawi town, damaged due to tornado. Restore? |
914/L | 183-1127 | 56-839 | d/d 23-9-1969, 9sq, wfu 1-7-1977, decoy Azraq AB and dumped. |
915/M | 183-1131 | 56-843 | d/d 8-10-1969, 9sq, wfu 1-7-1977, store Safawi AB. Preserved and destroyed by citizens at Ramtha. |
916/N | 183-1133 | 56-845 | d/d 14-10-1969, 9sq, wfu 1-7-1977, preserved Irbid. (US&T) |
917/- | 183-1138 | 56-850 | d/d 14-10-1969, 9sq, w/o 6-6-1971, crashed due to too low pull out during strafing bombing run. |
918/O | 183-1059 | 56-771 | d/d 29-8-1972, 9sq, wfu 1-7-1977, store Amman-Marka to be restored (no markings). |
919/P | 183-1079 | 56-791 | d/d 29-8-1972, 9sq, wfu 1-7-1977, preserved Mafraq AB. |
920/Q | 183-1099 | 56-811 | d/d 29-8-1972, 9sq, wfu 1-7-1977, store decoy Marka AB. Still there? |
921/R | 183-1112 | 56-824 | d/d 29-8-1972, 9sq, w/o 15-12-1974, crashed due to technical issues. |
922/T | 183-1070 | 56-782 | d/d 10-10-1972, 9sq, wfu 1-7-1977, decoy Azraq AB, Preserved on pole at Ajloun. |
923/S | 183-1081 | 56-793 | d/d 24-10-1972, 9sq, wfu 1-7-1977, decoy Azraq AB, Preserved along road HRH Amman as "752". |
924/U | 183-1122 | 56-834 | d/d 3-5-1973, 9sq, wfu 1-7-1977, preserved Sabha (Mafraq province) on concrete blocks (Knowledge Station) |
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F-104B | |||
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900/A | 283-5006 | 57-1294 | d/d 20-8-1969, 9sq, wfu 1-7-1977, preserved Dutch Camp Azraq, now probably dumped. |
901/B | 283-5008 | 57-1296 | d/d 27-7-1969, 9sq, wfu 1-7-1977, Civil USA 1990, “N65354”, preserved Royal Air Museum Inc. Bonifay. |
902/C | 283-5010 | 57-1298 | d/d 1-9-1969, 9sq, wfu 1-7-1977, preserved Madaba on roundabout. |
925/V | 283-5016 | 57-1304 | d/d 24-10-1972, 9sq, wfu 1-7-1977, preserved Irbid on roundabout. |
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CF-104 | |||
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----- | 683A-1143 | 104743 | d/d 1998 to Historic Flight (ex Turkish Air Force), preserved pole Al-Bayd-University Mafraq. |
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