The Lockheed F-104C "Starfighter" was a revolutionary supersonic tactical strike fighter that shattered previous aviation altitude and speed records. First flown in 1956, it became the first production aircraft to exceed twice the speed of sound in level flight, the first to exceed 100,000 feet altitude, and the first to hold both speed and altitude records at the same time. Its performance came from a design built around the powerful J-79 turbojet engine, using the smallest possible fuselage and extremely short, thin, razor-sharp wings that helped it reach unprecedented fighter performance but also made it highly sensitive, unforgiving, and difficult to fly. This specific aircraft, serial number 56-932, was sent to Germany in 1961 during the Berlin Crisis, deployed to Florida during the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962 in case air strikes on Cuba became necessary, and in 1965 became one of only 29 F-104s used in action in Vietnam, flying more than fifty missions. The aircraft was armed with an M-61 "Vulcan" cannon firing 6,000 20mm rounds per minute, could carry a tactical nuclear weapon or up to 4,000 pounds of conventional bombs, and later often carried two Sidewinder missiles on its wingtips. Landing it could be especially demanding, with touchdown speeds near 250 mph, little gliding ability, and early downward-firing ejection seats that were dangerous at low altitude before later models adopted upward-firing seats. Only highly skilled U.S. Air Force pilots were allowed to fly it, and NASA also maintained a small fleet of Starfighters for extreme flight testing.