The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter is one of the most known aircraft of the aviation history due to its extraordinary maximum speed and climb speed, even today slightly exceeded by the modern fighter, but also, and unfortunately, due to its high piloting difficulty, causing many accidents. Designed in the early ‘50s to compete against the Russian fighter, soon entered in service and achieving a good commercial success. Produced in 16 different version fitting minor technical improvements and numerous avionics or armament configurations, has been operated by 15 Countries. Many European facilities or industrial groups produced hundreds F-104 for the NATO Countries. Fiat built 444 F-104, 245 of these in the S version, equipped with a more powerful engine, operated by the Italian Air Force up to 2004.
The exposed aircraft is the F-104G S/N 683-2044 operated by the Luftwaffe. We can appreciate the extreme sharpness of the wing leading edge (0.41 mm) due to the design specifically targeted to the flight speed, requesting a ground protection application to avoid maintenance staff injuries.