The F-104 Starfighter 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”. The F-104 was operated by approximately 15 countries. The Starfighter first flew with the USAF in 1958 and the last airplane was decommissioned in Italy in 2004.
Mitsubishi built F-104J c/n 683B-3087, model 683-07-14 was given the JASDF serial 26-8587 and was delivered on April 30, 1964 to the 201st Hikotai In 1970 it was transferred to the 202nd Hikotai (Squadron) / 5th Kokudan (Wing). In November of 1980 and 1981 46-8587 (587) represented the squadron at the ACM meeting, similar to the NATO Tiger Meet. In 1982 the 202nd and 204th squadrons of the 5th Kokudan shared the aircraft. In 1982 the 202nd squadron began to convert to the F-15 so in December 587 was withdrawn from service and eventually scrapped.
