Gameplay of the | F-104A | in War-Thunder
The F-104 was developed by Lockheed taking into account the experience of the Korean War. High flight characteristics were put at the forefront during the development of this aircraft, which was later often called a "rocket with a man inside"[2]. Work on the aircraft project began in 1951. The contract for the production of the first two prototypes was signed in 1953 and the first of them took off on February 7, 1954, after only 11 months.
The first combat vehicles began to arrive in the US Air Force in January 1958 and were designated F-104A. This modification was not really all-weather and therefore was not widely used. In the USAF, only two squadrons were equipped with F-104A. In addition, these aircraft were supplied to the Air Forces of Germany, Taiwan and Pakistan, and took part in the Indo-Pakistani conflicts of 1965 and 1971