Lockheed F-104G Starfighter – JG 34 25th Anniversary, Luftwaffe 1984

Hobby Master 1/72 scale HA1040: Lockheed F-104G Starfighter 25+50 of JG 34, Luftwaffe, Memmingen Airfield, Germany, Squadron 25th Anniversary 1984.

Length 9.25 inches      Wingspan 3.75 inches

F-104G Starfighter 25+50 was manufactured by Fokker Aircraft Company in 1963 as an RF-104G 683-8161 and served with the German Air Force JG-34 as 24+19 that operated the Starfighter from 1964 until 1987. Later the aircraft was converted to anF-104G and in 1984 was given a special paint scheme and serial to commemorate two events. 1984 was the 25th Anniversary of JG-34 operations and the 50th Anniversary of the Memmingen Airfield, home to JG-34. Along with the special paint the aircraft received number 25+50 to match the two anniversaries.

Designed to meet a need for an aircraft that could successfully compete against the MiG-15 in Korea, the F-104 Starfighter was first flown on February 20, 1958. American pilots believed that the F-86 Sabre was too large and complex to outmaneuver the lighter MiG, and they wanted a smaller, simpler, high-performance aircraft to replace it. The resulting design was a light, aerodynamic airframe wrapped around a powerful J79 turbojet engine. The F-104C was used by the USAF from 1958 until 1967, but most of the 2,578 production Starfighters were built and flown by members of NATO, including the Italian Air Force, which didn’t retire it until 2004.