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 Rank: Pro Groups: Joined: 24/08/2009 Posts: 48,827 Points: -13,348
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Due early 2017 
http://www.italeri.com/scheda.asp?idProdotto=2305 Tomick attached the following image(s):
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Rank: Pro Groups: Joined: 24/08/2009 Posts: 48,827 Points: -13,348
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Commonly known as the "widow maker" - After the "Starfighter" was introduced with the German Bundeswehr there was this humorous saying:
- "How to get your own F-104?"
- "Buy a piece of land and wait for one to drop on it!"
The poor safety record of the Starfighter brought the aircraft into the public eye, especially in German Air Force service.
Fighter ace Erich Hartmann was retired from the Luftwaffe because of his protests against having to deploy the unsafe F-104's.
During its period of service with the German armed forces, about 270 German Starfighters were lost in accidents, just under 30 percent of the total force. About 110 pilots were killed. However, the attrition rate in German service was not all that much greater than that of the F-104 in service with several other air forces, including the United States Air Force. Canada had the unenviable record of losing over 50 percent of its 200 single-seat CF-104s in flying accidents. The loss rate of Luftwaffe Starfighters was not all that extraordinary, since the Luftwaffe had suffered a 36 percent attrition rate with the Republic F-84F Thunderstreak, the Starfighter's immediate predecessor. There was nothing intrinsically dangerous about the Starfighter, since the Royal Norwegian Air Force operating identical F-104Gs suffered only six losses in 56,000 flying hours, and the Spanish Air Force lost not a single one of its Starfighters to accidents.
The F-104 was also at the center of the Lockheed bribery scandals, in which Lockheed had given bribes to a considerable number of political and military figures in various nations in order to influence their judgment and secure several purchase contracts; this caused considerable political controversy in Europe and Japan.
In August 2016 it was announced that the F-104 would be used to launch small commercial satellites into orbit.
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Rank: Pro Groups: Joined: 24/08/2009 Posts: 48,827 Points: -13,348
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