How Germany lost 270 of its 915 F-104 Starfighters

[Bleipriester]

Known is that many F-104 were lost by accidents. For example, Germany lost 270 of its over 900 (over 35 % of all 2578 F-104) Starfighters.
The speculations about the why and how are still ongoing. Bad weather, human failure, etc. But the most important reason in my opinion was the abuse of the F-104 for tasks it was not designed to perform. To make a multirole Blitzbomber out of the interceptor, first of all the Germans equipped the fighters with a lot of stuff that increased its weight and massively limited its flight characteristics what caused a heavy loss of pilots and fighters.

The interesting story of the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter in Germany:
Starfighter with Luftwaffe

 

[mamooth]

When I was young, I'd stay up late just to watch the TV station sign off with this.

 

[Daryl Hunt]

When I was young, I'd stay up late just to watch the TV station sign off with this.

Same here. Here it is in color.

High Flight

High Flight
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward Ive climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of—wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hovring there,
Ive chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air....
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
Ive topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark nor even eagle flew—
And, while with silent lifting mind Ive trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

 

[jwoodie]

The F-104 looked and flew like a dart. Lose power and it was going down - quickly.

 

[Manonthestreet]

We cranked out varied fighters at amazing speed back then...now we cant even make them work after 10-12yrs ....very sad state of affairs

 

[Daryl Hunt]

The F-104 looked and flew like a dart. Lose power and it was going down - quickly.

The Interceptor version was very popular. Even today, it has the best time to climb record. The last few US versions had a better than 1:1 thrust to weight ratio. IT's turn rate was better than a F-4 due to it's bleed air on the leading edges. For 1953, it was a remarkable aircraft. The J-79 was the most reliable of it's time. AS long as the motor turned and burned it could do the job of intercepting Bombers or Fighters and raise hell when it got there. The F-104J was dogged down trying to do things it was never designed to to. The best of the lot was the modified A that the top speed was confidential. It would take more than 20 years before the performance would be matched and that would be the F-15 and the Mig-25. Think of this, the F-16 is nicknamed the Lawn Dart because it has only one engine yet it seems to stay in the air pretty well.

 

[Daryl Hunt]

We cranked out varied fighters at amazing speed back then...now we cant even make them work after 10-12yrs ....very sad state of affairs

The difference then versus now, the test pilots don't die at even a fraction of the rate it used to be.