Lockheed F-104C Starfighter

USAF 479th TFW, no. 56-0891, WC George Laven Jr., George AFB, CA 1963

JC Wings  1:72  JCW-72-F104-004

Tactical Air Command accepted its first F-104C at the annual fighter weapons meet at Nellis AFB, Nevada, on 15 October 1958. This aircraft was named "Really George" because its home base would be the 479th TFW at George AFB, California. Secondly it would be the plane flown by Wing Commander Col. George Laven Jr. who was a WWII P-38 ace with 5 victories. The paint schemes on some of the planes from this era were quite elaborate, with "Really George" being one of them.

Lockheed F-104C Starfighter
Designed to meet a need for an aircraft that could successfully compete against the MiG-15 in Korea, the F-104 Starfighter was first flown on February 20, 1958. American pilots believed that the F-86 Sabre was too large and complex to outmaneuver the lighter MiG, and they wanted a smaller, simpler, high-performance aircraft to replace it. The resulting design was a light, aerodynamic airframe wrapped around a powerful J79 turbojet engine. The F-104C was used by the USAF from 1958 until 1967, but most of the 2,578 production Starfighters were built and flown by members of NATO, including the Italian Air Force, which didn't retire it until 2004.

The JC Wings "1:72 Military" line features detailed, ready-to-use 1:72 scale military aircraft models.

JC Wings 1:72 Military aircraft features:

Die-cast metal construction with some plastic components.
Realistic panel lines, antennas, access panels and surface details.
Pad printed markings and panels that won't fade or peel off like decals.
Interchangeable extended/retractable landing gear with rotating wheels.
Authentic detachable ammunition loads with plates.
Selected moving parts such as canopies, control surfaces and pivoting wings.
Detailed, hand-painted pilot and crew figures.