Technical data:

· Status: On display

· Category: Military

· Length: 16,7 m

· Wingspan: 6,7 m

· Height: 4,1 m

· Max weight: 13171 kg

· Max speed: 2,2 mach (33.000 feet)

· Max height: 17700 m

· Range: 2200 km

· Engine: 1 J79-OEL-7 (produced under licence in Canada)

· Other details:
Armed: One 20 mm M61A1 Vulcan

Canadair CF-104 Starfighter

The Canadair CF-104 Starfighter is an American fighter aircraft produced under licence in Canada.

About the aircraft type
Lockheed’s XF-104 first flew on 7 February 1954. The YF-104A was the first plane in the world to fly faster than twice the speed of sound. More than 20 variants of the Starfighter were developed. The American Air Force had a small number of F-104s in its inventory, but in Europe the F-104G became the most important fighter in most NATO countries in the 1960s and 1970s.

Canada joined the F-104 programme when it was decided to equip eight Canadian squadrons in Europe with this aircraft type. The planes were manufactured in Canada and the aircraft factory Canadair Ltd obtained the contract. These aircraft were designated CF-104.

Starfighter in Norway
The aircraft carrier USS ‘CROATAN’ arrived in Bodø in August 1963 with 23 F-104Gs for 331 Squadron. These planes were produced by the Lockheed aircraft factory in the USA. The squadron obtained a further three aircraft in October the same year. These were produced by Canadair.

In 1972, the Royal Norwegian Air Force decided that 334 Squadron in Bodø should also convert to the Starfighter and 22 second-hand CF-104s were bought from Canada. The aircraft were equipped as fighter bombers for use against surface vessels. The first aircraft landed at Bodø in the summer of 1973 after they had been overhauled by Scottish Aviation Ltd.

In January 1982, 334 Squadron began its conversion to the F-16 in earnest. The Starfighters were only flown for maintenance purposes, for mobilisation in emergency.

On 22 April 1983, Colonel Aamoth and General Schibbye took off for the last flight made by a Norwegian Starfighter. By then the (C)F-104 had been in service with the Royal Norwegian Air Force for 20 years and had flown more than 100,000 hours.

The Museum’s aircraft ‘801’
The Museum’s aircraft is a Canadair CF-104 serial number 104801 (formerly serial number 12801).

The aircraft arrived new from the factory in May 1962. It flew a total of 1,985.2 hours with the Royal Canadian Air Force before being sold to Norway and the Royal Norwegian Air Force in 1972.

It landed at Bodø in July 1973. After 9 years’ service and 1,435.65 flying hours with 334 Squadron, ‘801’ was taken out of service and handed over to the Norwegian Defence Museum. The log book then showed a total flying time of 3,357.7 hours.

On Tuesday 13 July 1982, Captain Rolf Noel sat in the cockpit when ‘801’ was flown to Gardermoen and delivered to the Norwegian Defence Museum.