Some history.....

In 1959, the CF-104 was selected by the Royal Canadian Air Force to replace the Sabre for use with the Air Division in Europe. These aircraft were built under license by Canadair in Quebec. The aircraft were built and used in the attack role instead of it's designed fighter role. In service these aircraft were initially used for photo recce and nuclear strike missions. Later in their career they reverted to a conventional strike role. 

    Canadair rolled it's first CF-104 out of the Cartierville plant on March 18, 1961 it was the first of 238 built for the RCAF.  Canadair built an additional 150 Starfighters for other NATO Nations. First flight of a CF-104 occurred on August 14 1961. 

    In Canadian service the CF-104 performed very well, it was loved by it's pilots and was a powerful aircraft to fly. In the ground attack role the 104 could out run any of it's opponents, however, it was not a forgiving aircraft to fly at low level. During the CF-104 era 37 pilots lost their lives flying this aircraft. Unfortunately the CF-104, while fast, was not as maneuverable as many other types of aircraft. At low level, this lack of maneuverability could be dangerous if a pilot was not paying close attention. Canadian pilots, excelled with the Starfighter, some being considered among the best pilots in NATO.

    The last of these great aircraft where transferred to Turkey in 1986, where some were flew into the late 1990's. Canada's Starfighters were replaced by the CF-18 Hornet. Other Starfighters had also been transferred to Norway and Denmark, in the 1960's although these are now retired from service as well, being replaced by the F-16 Fighting Falcon in the 1980's.

    In Canadian service the CF-104 flew with the following squadrons: 417 (The Operational Training Unit), 421, 422, 427, 430, 434, 439, 441, and 444. Not all of these squadrons served during the entire life of the 104

The Decals.....

This is the long awaited CF-104 decal sheet featuring the option to make one of seven different CF-104's comes in 1/72, 1/48 and 1/32.  Planes featured on this decal sheet include regular CF-104's as well as two AETE planes and 3 planes that attended the "TAM '80" weapons meet.  There is also a nice selection of "nose art", it's very modest nose art, but nose art all the same.  Leading Edge has been careful in it's research and include both dark blue and lighter blue roundels in this decal sheet.  For myself I find the camo paint job very appealing.  This decal sheet includes full stencils that are clearly printed and all in register.  Leading Edge also includes the 3 resin RWR's with this decal sheet.  With the new Hasegawa F-104 family of jets.....it's now too tempting not to add at least one CF-104 to your display.

Steve Bamford