F-104 Starfighters for Belgium

Much has been written about the operational use of the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter jet fighter with West Germany, Italy, and Japan, bearing in mind the fact that the F-104s operated by the Luftwaffe (the air force of West Germany and ultimately the reunified German nation) were given nicknames like "Flying Coffin" and "Widowmaker" because they suffered a high accident rate. However, almost lost in talk regarding the F-104's operational career with Western and Central European air forces is the service career of the F-104 with the Belgian Air Force.

A Belgian Air Force F-104G Starfighter (serial number FX-82) on outdoor static display at the Planes of Fame Museum, photographed by me on January 21, 2024.

In the late 1950s, the Belgian Air Force was shopping for a new combat jet to replace the subsonic CF-100 Canuck interceptors and F-84F Thunderstreak fighter-bombers in its inventory, especially given that both the Canuck and Thunderstreak were becoming technologically obsolete. With the Luftwaffe as well as the post-World War II Italian air force (Aeronautica Militare) and Royal Netherlands Air Force purchasing the F-104, the Belgian Air Force decided to order the F-104G, and contracts were signed for the purchase of 112 F-104Gs, with twelve TF-104Gs ordered from Lockheed and 100 F-104Gs to be built under license by the homegrown Belgian aircraft manufacturer SABCA. The TF-104Gs were given the serial numbers FC-01/FC-12 while the SABCA-built F-104Gs for bore the serial numbers FX-1 to FX-100; twenty-eight of the F-104Gs ordered by Belgium (three TF-104Gs, 25 F-104Gs) were funded under the Mutual Assistance Program (MAP). Deliveries of the F-104G to the Belgian Air Force began in February 1963, with the F-104Gs and TF-104Gs replacing the F-84F and CF-100 in service with the 23 and 31 squadrons (both of 10 Wing) at Kleine Brogel and the 349 and 350 squadrons (both of 1 Wing) at Beauvechain (Bevekom) respectively. One F-104G ordered by the Belgian Air Force (serial number FX-27) crashed during a training flight at Sart-Dames-Avelines on November 21, 1963 prior to delivery due to a flameout of the turbojet engine, and a new F-104G (c/n 9082) also bearing the serial number FX-27 was built and delivered to replace the crashed aircraft, so a total of 111 F-104Gs and 12 TF-104Gs were built for the Belgian Air Force.

Three Belgian Air Force F-104Gs (serial numbers FX-12, FX-30, FX-82) in flight, 1971. 

Operational use of the F-104G by the Belgian Air Force in its role as an interceptor began in August 1964. Although the 10 Wing and 1 Wing were exclusively tailored to the air defense and tactical nuclear strike roles respectively, the F-104Gs were swapped between the two operational wings to balance airframe fatigue between medium/high-altitude fighter missions and nuclear-armed fighter-bomber missions. In its role as a fighter-bomber for the Belgian Air Force, the F-104G was armed with B61 tactical nuclear free-fall bombs stored at facilities owned by the 52nd Special Ammunition Group at Meeuwen. By 1968, the F-104Gs of the 10 Wing switched to dual air defense/fighter-bomber missions and began training with conventional weapons such as the 20-mm Vulcan rotary cannon, three napalm bombs or two Snakeye bombs or two LAU rocket launcher pods each armed with nineteen 2.75-inch FFAR rockets. Beginning in late 1979, the Belgian Air Force began replacing the F-104G with F-16 Fighting Falcons (the TF-104Gs were phased out in 1980), and the last Belgian Air Force F-104Gs were retired from service on September 26, 1983. Besides the F-104G with serial number FX-27 that crashed in November 1963, a total of 38 F-104Gs and three TF-104Gs were lost in accidents during operational service. In the meantime, 18 Belgian Air Force F-104Gs were transferred to the Turkish Air Force and 23 were given to Taiwan.