1950-era Lockheed F-104 Starfighter Inspired F-16

By Kris Osborn, Warrior

Roughly one year after the 1953 armistice paused fighting in the Korean War, Lockheed’s XF-104 Starfighter single-engine supersonic jet took flight as part of a deliberate effort to leverage lessons learned from the conflict. 

US Air Force pilots fighting in support of South Korea reported that their F-86 Sabre jets were less agile and effective than Russian-built MiG-15 fighters flown by North Korea. Therefore, seeking to immediately implement lessons from real air war tactical experience, Lockheed sought to engineer a fast, sleek, high-performance XF-104 prototype jet with thin wings and a missile-shaped fuselage. 

The first prototype F-104 Starfighters took to the sky in 1954, and even though two were lost due to accidents, production Starfighters were well received and served with a number of countries such as Jordan, Turkey and Japan. Lockheed and the US Air Force ultimately produced more than 2,500 F-104s, and the jets occupy an important space in the developmental trajectory of US fighter jets. The F-104 became enthusiastically referred to as the “missile with a man in it,” as it was designed as a low-cost, lightweight, high-speed interceptor with little room for fuel or extensive avionics. 

F-104 Influenced F-16

The F-104's single-engine  and pointed, sleek, rounded fuselage seems to resemble the configuration of the famous F-16 which emerged just several decades later. It seems entirely conceivable that F-16 engineers were inspired or at least heavily influenced by F-104 Starfighter designs. Also, the Starfighter did have nearly “missile-shaped” structures attached at the end of wide thin wings, structures which may have influenced the missile-like rounded structures attached to the wings on F-16s. Breaking from the swept-wing designs of its era, the F-104 featured extremely thin, mid-mounted, trapezoidal wings with a very short span of just under 22 feet. The leading edges were so sharp that protective guards were required for ground crews.

First Mach 2 Jet

The F-104 was the first aircraft to sustain Mach 2 speeds, yet the aircraft’s high accident rate led it to be termed the “widowmaker.” This was to some extent due to the fact that the F-104s small wings resulted in what’s called “high-wing” loading, something which helps maintain stability at high speeds and low altitudes but much more difficult to maneuver at lower speeds. While quite fast and agile, the Starfighter was also a multi-role aircraft capable of operating as both a fighter and a bomber. The aircraft was even capable of carrying nuclear weapons as well, something which contributed to its multi-role functionality. 

Built for Speed

The thin, lightweight F-104 configuration clearly shows the aircraft was specifically engineered for speed, something suggesting that the US Air Force sought to immediately address the warzone speed deficit exhibited in the Korean War by the F-86 Sabres.  Much was likely learned in the realm of aerodynamics, as the smooth, thin, rounded fuselage likely generated a favorable airflow boundary layer supported by less drag and protruding heavy structures such as external fuel tanks. This is largely why the aircraft, while extremely fast, lacked an ability to achieve the ranges, payload size, versatility and bomb-carrying capacity of other aircraft. There are always design and performance trade off calculations which drive design decisions with these kinds of fighters, as an aircraft with greater bomb-carrying capacity or heavier fuel tanks would achieve much greater range and mission-time or mission-scope capability. 

Kris Osborn is the President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a highly qualified expert in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel.