The Starfighter S.1 in RAF Service

Spinners · April 23, 2016

Lockheed-Canadair Starfighter S.1 - No.214 Squadron, RAF Germany, 1966

In 1963, with the Mark 2 versions of the Vulcan and Victor becoming the spearhead of Bomber Command, four Valiant squadrons (49, 148, 207 and 214) were assigned to SACEUR forming a powerful strike wing based at Marham in Norfolk. But during the summer of 1964 fatigue cracks were discovered in the front and rear wing spars of several aircraft and whilst consideration was given to a rebuild programme the estimated cost of this was close to the original price and the rebuild programme was postponed but with further cracks being discovered the RAF reluctantly grounded the Valiant in December 1964. In January 1965, this lead to Denis Healey (Minister of Defence) declaring that the Valiant situation was "causing considerable embarrassment for us with our NATO allies" and that an interim solution was being sought "to restore our missing strike power and commitment to SACEUR".

With President Lyndon Johnson already critical of Harold Wilson's refusal to commit British troops to Vietnam, Wilson and Healey needed a quick solution and in February 1965 they pulled off a deal with Lockheed and Canadair to take 50 CF-104 Starfighter aircraft to be delivered straight off the Canadair production line to a build standard approaching that of the F-104G but optimised for the nuclear strike role and equipped with R-24A NASARR radar and associated avionics dedicated to the air-to-ground role. Entering service with No.207 squadron in June 1965 the Starfighter force built up at RAF Marham before being transferred to RAF Geilenkirchen during the Spring of the following year.