The National Interest on MSN7d
The F-104 Starfighter Was Called The “Widowmaker” For One Reason
The F-104 Starfighter was designed, in a time of increasing aircraft complexity and size, to be a straightforward, ...
The National Interest on MSN8d
Chuck Yeager Loved The F-104 Starfighter. Everyone Else Hated It.
The F-104 Starfighter was not built for dogfights. In fact, Lockheed’s designers purposely sacrificed maneuverability for ...
The National Interest8d
The F-104 Starfighter Was Called The “Widowmaker” For One Reason
Indeed, the F-104 set records for air speed, altitude, and time-to-climb in the late 1950s. Nor was West Germany the only foreign operator to have runaway safety problems with the F-104 ...
The National Interest9d
Chuck Yeager Loved The F-104 Starfighter. Everyone Else Hated It.
But other nations, especially West Germany, used the F-104 heavily throughout the Cold War. It was in Germany that the plane earned its macabre “Widowmaker” label. As one might expect from a ...