The latest in the Warbird Tech series is #38 on the F-104 Starfighter. As with others in this growing and increasingly more well-done range of books, it contains the full life story of the aircraft from inception until current operations. What makes this book more interesting than some of the others to me, is that I just like the Starfighter.

It begins with the inception of the aircraft; its design and features. If you what to know the way that the Starfighter got around the area-rule requirements without 'pinching' the fuselage around the wings, then it is all told here, and a fascinating bit of engineering it is.

Next up is the actual manufacturing of the aircraft and its various systems like engine inlet design (which was classified for years). That is followed by flight testing and then the various different models and the changes between them. A chapter on weapons systems is after that.

A super color section, containing 40 superb images is next in the center of the book.

After that is a section on world wide operators. Then modifications, including the NASA birds and NF-104As. Finally a listing of civilian operators.

Appendices follow which include specs, production list, significant dates and a new section on various applicable scale models. This last section isn't bad, but is by no means comprehensive as there really isn't space to include all the available and past kits.

All in all, a superb book and one that I found fascinating, including the previously classified missile launch platform using an F-104 and the space escape capsule program. I was surprised that the civil operator Northern Lights was left off the civilian listing and photos as I've got pictures of the planes so hard to find they shouldn't have been. It is a book that I can highly recommend to you, especially if your tastes lean toward the 'missile with a man in it'!

Review book courtesy of , where you can order your copy of this and many other superb aviation and modeling books.

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