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Latest release from Iliad Designs are marking for a number of F-104 Starfighters involved in combat.

As there is no information for any of these aircraft marking and I was very curious I did a little research. I may be totally wrong about some of the aircraft depicted, but it gives you a little insight into the combat experience of this fantastic looking if troubled Mach 2 fighter.

On 13 January 1967, four Republic of China [Taiwan] Air Force F-104G aircraft engaged a formation of 12 Mig 19's of the People's Liberation Army Air Force over the disputed island of Kinmen. Maj Shih-Lin Hu and Capt Bei-Puo Shih each shot down one People's Liberation Army Air Force MiG-19. This marked the first F-104 combat victory in the world. However, one F-104 did not return to base and claim as MIA.
Pakistan Air Force markings could be for Flight Lieutenant Aftab Alam Khan aircraft. At dawn on 6 September 1965, Flight Lieutenant Aftab Alam Khan in an F-104 claimed a Dassault Mystere IV destroyed over West Pakistan and another damaged, marking the start of aerial combat in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. It is claimed as the first combat kill by any Mach 2 aircraft, and the first missile kill for the Pakistan Air Force, although Indian sources dispute this.

The USAF F-104 could be for the aircraft involved with the Operation Rolling Thunder campaign, the Starfighter was used both in the air-superiority role and in the air support mission; although it saw little aerial combat and scored no air-to-air kills. Starfighters were successful in deterring MiG interceptors. Starfighter squadrons made two deployments to Vietnam, the first being from April 1965 to November 1965, flying 2,937 combat sorties. During that first deployment, two Starfighters were shot down by ground fire. One was shot down by a Chinese Mig 19 [Shenyang J-6] when the F-104 strayed over the border, and two F-104s were lost to a mid-air collision associated with that air-to-air battle. The 476th Tactical Fighter Squadron deployed to Vietnam in April 1965 through July 1965, losing one Starfighter; and the 436th Tactical Fighter Squadron deployed to Vietnam in July 1965 through October 1965, losing four.

479th TFW F-104Cs at Da Nang, 1965.
Starfighters returned to Vietnam when the 435th Tactical Fighter Squadron deployed from June 1966 until July 1967, in which time they flew a further 2,269 combat sorties, for a total of 5,206 sorties. Nine more F-104s were lost: two F-104s to ground fire, three to surface-to-air missiles, and the final four losses were operational (engine failures). The Starfighters rotated and/or transitioned to F-4 phantoms in July 1967, having lost a total of 14 F-104s to all causes in Vietnam.

1/48 Decals. Starfighters in combat.
Ref no. 48020
Price: $12.00

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