Packed with full-colour images. Written by a former German Starfighter pilot. Part of the Historic Military Aircraft Series. The F-104 Starfighter was one of the most fascinating aircraft of the Cold War era in Europe. Several European air forces operated the aircraft, with Germany alone having 916 Starfighters in its inventory. The General Electric J-79 engine howl was unique and filled the European skies for many years. This book details the purchase decisions, service introduction and aircraft production by Lockheed and European manufacturers. This is followed by a deep look at the entire period of Starfighter operations with the Luftwaffe and Marineflieger combat wings. Fighter, fighter-bomber and reconnaissance wings were all equipped with this aircraft. With over 240 images, many unpublished outside of Germany, this book, the first volume of two covering the Starfighter in German service, provides a dynamic history of this versatile multi-purpose aircraft in service with the Luftwaffe and Naval Air Wings.
Klaus Kropf can look back on almost ten years of Starfighter flying service with 1,900 hours on the aircraft. After basic flight training in Texas, he underwent Starfighter training at Luke AFB, Arizona, from June 1971 to February 1972\. This was followed by Europeanisation at Jever and several years as an F-104G fighter-bomber pilot with JaboG 31 B at N rvenich. At the end of 1980 he moved to the Tri-National Tornado Training Establishment at RAF Cottesmore, UK, where he was stationed for three years as a Tornado instructor pilot. Though his flying activities with the Starfighter ended many years ago, his bond with this aircraft remains strong to this day. His first book, Deutsche Starfighter, published in 1994, and he has continued to publish on aviation subjects to this day.
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