Photo: Benny Kirk
We've slowly been compiling a list of the coolest military aircraft currently for sale on civilian resale websites. Last time, we found a parking lot full of SEPECAT Jaguar attack jets. This time around, we have a screaming metal death trap flown by French and British people in the woods, sorry Canada.
Meet the venerable CF-104 Starfighter. As you might have guessed, it's a licensed-built copy of the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter. The type was the pride and joy of the Royal Canadian Air Force from the early 1960s until the late 1980s. The Mach Two capable interceptor carried an engine also licensed from the U.S., the Orenda J79, carried-over from General Electric.
This particular example was manufactured in 1962 by the Canadair Corporation. This two-seater variant was flown with the Royal Canadian Air Force for over a decade. It served with a squadron at the Cold Lake testing facility until it was sold to the Norwegian Air Force, where it served until 1982.
The airframe then spent time at a number of museums across the United States. By 1995, it found its way to Fuel Fresh Inc out of Phoenix, Arizona, today's airframe. Only 2100 flight hours have come and gone in this warbird in the last 60 years.
It's a venerable spring chicken compared to how worn out and disheveled some of its contemporaries were. Not just any wealthy pilot with moolah to blow will be able to fly this fighter. Please make no mistake about it. People can and have been killed in Starfighters.
It doesn't have the unofficial nickname "Widowmaker" for no reason. But if you think you're up to it, a check for $850,000 will see this bird shipped off the nearest hangar to your mansion. That's high-end Hypercar price territory, but this Starfighter is essentially a hypercar in the sky, isn't it?
This particular example was manufactured in 1962 by the Canadair Corporation. This two-seater variant was flown with the Royal Canadian Air Force for over a decade. It served with a squadron at the Cold Lake testing facility until it was sold to the Norwegian Air Force, where it served until 1982.
The airframe then spent time at a number of museums across the United States. By 1995, it found its way to Fuel Fresh Inc out of Phoenix, Arizona, today's airframe. Only 2100 flight hours have come and gone in this warbird in the last 60 years.
It's a venerable spring chicken compared to how worn out and disheveled some of its contemporaries were. Not just any wealthy pilot with moolah to blow will be able to fly this fighter. Please make no mistake about it. People can and have been killed in Starfighters.
It doesn't have the unofficial nickname "Widowmaker" for no reason. But if you think you're up to it, a check for $850,000 will see this bird shipped off the nearest hangar to your mansion. That's high-end Hypercar price territory, but this Starfighter is essentially a hypercar in the sky, isn't it?
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