THIS AIRCRAFT MADE AN APPERANCE IN A 1969 STAR TREK EPISODE.
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.
Lockheed F-104C 57-0914 c/n1231 and was one of 12 Starfighters delivered on July 22, 1966 to the 435th TFS based at Udorn AB, Thailand. On January 16, 1967 the aircraft suffered an engine failure forcing the pilot to bail out. 57-0914 made an appearance in season 1 episode 19 of Star Trek filmed in 1966 and aired January 26, 1967. This F-104 was scrambled to intercept the USS Enterprise when it time travelled to 1969 and the pilot had to be beamed aboard when the F-104 began to disintegrate.