Flyable Starfighter For Sale

A pristine example of one of the hottest rides of the Cold War is up for sale for what seems to be a bargain price and the bonus is that there’s room for two. An Arizona company is selling an airworthy Lockheed CF-104D fighter/interceptor for $850,000, about the same price as an SR22, and it comes with a barn and hangar full of spare parts including two engines, 150 main gear tires, brakes, control surfaces, canopies and parachutes. Platinum Fighter Sales is handling the sale and says the Mach 2 two-seat training version of the Starfighter has 2500 total hours and is in “excellent condition.”

The current owner of the plane, Fresh Fuel Inc., of Mesa, Arizona, bought it in 1996 and it last flew in 2008. It has been maintained in airworthy condition since. It is registered as an experimental exhibition aircraft and has a coveted “pre-moratorium” status that allows it to be flown “on condition” with a yearly inspection. That flexibility is not available anymore. The plane was one of 38 training aircraft built by Lockheed for the Royal Canadian Air Force. Operational CF-104s were built in Canada by Canadair. Canada sold it to Norway in 1973 and Norway retired it in 1982. It went through a series of civilian owners (including EAA in 1992) but has been in Mesa for 22 years.