The return of an old F-104 Starfighter fighter and the intense smoke of its J79 turbojet

@DefAviation ES 6·25·2023 · 20:21 0

A few days ago, the Italian Air Force celebrated its centenary with a great air show in Pratica di Mare, which lasted three days.

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One of the participants in this air show was an old Lockheed TF-104G-M Starfighter fighter, the two-seater version of one of the most beautiful and legendary aircraft of the Cold War: a real rocket with wings that it was capable of reaching a top speed of 2,125 km/h.

The aircraft that participated in the centenary of the Italian Air Force has the nickname "Black Beauty" and US civilian registration N991SF, and is owned by Starfighters Aerospace, a private company operating from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida (USA), and which boasts having the world's only fleet of airworthy F-104s. He owns eight fighters of this type.

For this occasion, Starfighters Aerospace decorated the drift of this TF-104G-M with a motif alluding to the centenary of the Italian Air Force. For this plane, this flight was something special. And it is that the "Black Beauty" served in the Italian Air Force under the number MM.54258. It was assigned to the 20th Operational Training Group of the 4th Stormo (Wing), based in Grosseto. It was withdrawn from service in 2004.

According to The Aviationist, the "Black Beauty" returned to Italy on June 3 disassembled and aboard a C-130J Super Hercules of the Italian Air Force. It must be taken into account that the range of an F-104G by ferry (that is, at full fuel and without weapons) was 2,623 km, insufficient to make a trip from the US to Italy.

You can see here two videos of the exhibition in which this TF-104G-M participated, accompanied by a Eurofighter Typhoon, an F-35 Lightning II and an F-86 Sabre. The first one is posted by Paddy Patrone and the second one is from Vintage Aviation News (turn up the volume on your speakers, the sound is amazing):

One of the most striking things in the video is the intense smoke trail from the TF-104G-M, compared to the smoke coming from the other planes.

This wake became even more intense when breaking formation and starting an ascent:

These smoke trails are the typical imprint of the J79 turbojets, the powerful engine that carried the F-104 and also the F-4 Phantom II. Although it had the advantage of providing great thrust (something ideal for climbing, in which the F-104 was something spectacular) and great speed, the great drawback of this engine is that its wake betrayed the position of the airplane. Today there are more efficient engines, hence these things are seen less and less.