The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter,
aptly called "the missile with the man in it" by the
awe-struck aviation community of its day. Designed by the immortal
Clarence Kelly Johnson and built by Lockheed at their
mysterious Skunk Works facility in California, it was
designed to be a hunter and fighter from the outset - the shape
and form of a swift killer, a gunfighter of the modern day and
age.
Patrolling the skies over the Western United States, the very
countryside that its 'predecessors' rode across on horseback,
its task was to track down and intercept intruding high speed
enemy aircraft.
The original oil painting
of this piece is currently available. - Original
painting |