Shooting Star focuses on the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, an aircraft designed around a radical idea: a small, lightweight fighter built for exceptional speed and climb performance.
The F-104 Relic
The relic comes from a cockpit map-and-data case removed from an F-104 before the aircraft was retired. The specific airframe is unknown, but the component was preserved in the E. Bowers Collection.
Material from an original F-104 Starfighter cockpit map-and-data case.
The Missile With a Man in It
The F-104's exceptionally thin wings, powerful engine and streamlined fuselage produced the performance that gave rise to its famous “missile with a man in it” description. It set speed and altitude records and became one of the most visually distinctive fighters of the early supersonic era.
Although its U.S. operational career was comparatively limited, the Starfighter was adopted by numerous allied air forces and remained in frontline service internationally for decades. Variants served as interceptors, strike aircraft, reconnaissance platforms and trainers.
The cockpit relic offers a quieter connection to that history: a practical component from the cramped working environment of an aircraft designed around extraordinary performance.
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