This was a render I was meant to do for the August Aviation Challenge, but it did not fit into that then... The F-104 was born in the late '50s... extremely powerful single engine aircrafts, little maneuverability, so little that often (given the incidents involving it) pilots decribed it "widowmaker" - Here in Italy, where we got it into service until 1995 it was called "flying coffin"... Simply it was not conceived as an air superiority vehicle, but as a carrier for short distance nuclear missiles, long before ICBM and nuclear strategic submarines dawned into Cold War scenario, really not so much diffrent than a first stage rocket with pilot.... In this render I show a moment in aviation history, when test pilot Chuck Jaeger breaks altitude record with a NF-104 Starfighter... wrecking it and jettisoning out afterwards. You could see actual footage of the event in Youtube, I believe. Try a search with NF-104 or/and Chuck Yaeger.