Hobby Master HA1072 | F104G Starfighter 4347, Capt. S. L. Hu, 3rd TFW, 8th TFS, ROCAF, 1967

General Background:

The F-104 Starfighter was a revolutionary design with short razor-sharp wings. It was the first aircraft to be able to maintain Mach 2 not just in short bursts. The Starfighter shattered speed and rate of climb records that still are impressive today. This extremely high speed earned the plane the nickname “The Missile With A Man In It”. Because of financial considerations 15 or more countries purchased the F-104. The Starfighter flew with the USAF in 1958 and the last airplane was decommissioned in Italy in 2004.

The Aircraft:

Lockheed F-104G Starfighter c/n 683D-6118 with US serial number 64-177773 was built by Canadair and completed its maiden flight in March 1965. The aircraft was delivered to the USAF in July 1965 as FG-773/47773 and transferred to the ROCAF 8th TFS / 3rd TFW coded as 4347. On January 13, 1967 4347 was flown by Major Shih-Lin Hu who used an AIM-9B to shoot down a MiG-19. On the same day another F-104 flown by Captain Bei-Puo Shih shot down another MiG-19. On April 29, 1971 4347 was destroyed during an aborted takeoff, pilot was safe.

F-104G specifications
Manufacturer: Lockheed
Designation: F-104G Starfighter
Crew: 1 (pilot)
Length: 16.66 M
Height: 4.09 M
Wingspan: 6.63 M
Wing Area: 18.22 Sq. M
Empty weight: 6345 Kg
Gross weight: 9362 Kg
Maximum weight: 13171 Kg
Range: 1754 Km Cruise Speed : 821 km/h
Maximum speed : 1844 km/h
Climb : 14,630 M/min
Ceiling: 15240 M
Wing loading: 563kg/m2
Powerplant
1 General Electric J-79-GE-11A (A/B 7,067 Kg.)
Thrust: 4356 Kg