DURING THE COLD WAR, CANADA STRUCK A THE CANADIAN CONNECTION DEAL WITH LOCKHEED TO BUILD THE F-104 During the late 1950s, with some pres- sure from the USA and the United STARFIGHTER UNDER LICENSE. THE CF-104 Kingdom, Canada modified its role within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization DIFFERED IN NUMEROUS WAY FROM THE (NATO). With the threat posed by the Soviet Union constantly increasing, Canada LOCKHEED PRODUCT. THE ROYAL CANADIAN committed to the nuclear strike role. The AIR FORCE PLACED NUCLEAR BOMB Canadair Sabre was then serving with the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) but the CARRYING CF-104s IN GERMANY WITH THE aircraft was not capable of the new mission even though RCAF Sabre squadrons were a SHARP END POINTED AT THE WARSAW PACT strong presence within NATO. Accordingly, an international search began for a suitable BY E.A. SEITZ aircraft. All major aircraft builders were eager to have Canada as a customer and a Canadian panel considered the Blackburn Buccaneer, Dassault Mirage IIIC, Fiat G.91, Grumman F-111 Super Tiger, Lockheed F-104G Starfighter, Northrop N-156 Freedom Fighter, and the Republic F-105 Thunderchief. The RCAF contingent rea- soned that the Thunderchief, fitted with an Orenda Iroquois turbojet, would be the best aircraft for the mission. However, as in any bureaucracy, cost became a major concern and this factor was perhaps placed first over capability (in RCAF service, the F-105 would have been an absolutely fearsome weapon with much greater capabilities than the CF-104). To keep their aviation industry alive (which had been heavily damaged by the cancellation of the Avro CF-105 Arrow), the study committee favored the pro- posal put forth by Lockheed. Part of this favoritism was the fact that Best from Canada: CF-104 Lockheed had developed a relationship with leads a CF-100 Arrow, Silver Canadair in Montreal. Star, and a Sabre. On 14 August 1959, the government selected Canadair to build the Lockheed F-104G under license and Canadair rapidly initiated a manufacturing program to build the fighters. The company designation was CL-90 while the RCAF initially designated their new aircraft as CF-111 but this was quickly changed to CF-104. Although basi- cally similar to the F-104G, the Canadians modified the design for the nuclear strike/reconnaissance mission. The new aircraft was to be fitted with R-23A NASARR radar equipment dedicated to the air-to-ground mode. The CF-104 would also have provision for a ventral reconnaissance pod equipped with four Vinten cameras. Other special items With the Royal Canadian Air Force’s acquisition and included a Tactical Analogue Bombing deployment of the new CF-104, a great deal of publicity was (TAB) computer and a Litton LN-3 iner- generated on how Canada was now on the tip of the tial navigation system to provide guidance nuclear spear aimed at the Warsaw Pact nations. This dramatic photograph illustrates the men and to any one of twelve pre-programed targets. machines that were ready to undertake one of Also fitted was a Garrett air-data comput- the Cold War’s most vital deterrent roles. er, a Honeywell automatic control system, 16 AIR CLASSICS/July 2019 airclassicsnow.com 17.