The F-104 wasn’t the only “Widow Maker.” The MiG-19, MiG-21 and F-100 had high accident rates too

The F-104 was not the only fighter aircraft to have a high accident rate during the Cold War.

The first sleek, futuristic F-104 Starfighter took to the air in early 1956. With its long, circular fuselage, sharply pointed nose, and very small, thin wings, it looked every bit like the finest fighter in the world.

Created by C. L. “Kelly” Johnson and his “Skunk Works” team—who were also responsible for iconic combat aircraft like the U-2 and SR-71 reconnaissance planes—the Lockheed F-104 was promoted by the company as a “missile with a man in it,” but was known to the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) and Marineflieger (German Navy) as the “widow maker.”

As we have previously discussed, the Starfighter’s exceptionally high accident rate led to a shocking number of mishaps during its German service. By mid-1966, 61 German F-104s had crashed, costing the lives of 35 pilots. The losses went on despite numerous modifications. Between 15 and 20 German F-104s crashed every year between 1968 and 1972, and this continued at a rate of about 10 F-104s per year until they were replaced.

In total, 292 of the 916 Starfighters were lost, and 115 pilots were killed. Yet German F-104s were far from the only fighter aircraft to suffer a high accident rate during the Cold War.

According to Michael Napier in his book In Cold War Skies, in 1972, the Bulgarian Air Force’s 21st IAP (fighter regiment) at Uzundzhovo retired its MiG-19S fighters and reintroduced the older MiG-17PF. This seemingly retrograde move was driven by the MiG-19’s poor reputation in Bulgarian service. Its RD-9B engines proved highly unreliable, leading to a serious accident rate: the Bulgarians ended up losing nearly half of their MiG-19 fleet in crashes.

Bulgaria’s 48 percent loss rate with the MiG-19 was, unfortunately, fairly typical of combat aircraft accident rates in that era.

As noted earlier, the F-104 earned its infamous ‘widow maker’ label due to an attrition rate of 30 percent in Luftwaffe service and 46 percent with the RCAF/CAF. In both the Dutch and Belgian air forces, roughly 35 percent of their F-104 fleets were lost, while Denmark saw a comparable proportion of its F-100D force written off. The MiG-21F-13 in Hungarian service also suffered a loss rate of about 37 percent.

However, accident rates also depended on several factors, such as flying hours and the aircraft’s role. For example, the Canadians logged more hours per CF-104 than other air forces did with their F-104G fleets, and they flew them almost exclusively in the high‑risk, low‑level environment.

Statistics can be expressed in various ways, one of which is the number of losses per 100,000 flying hours. By this measure, the Bulgarian MiG-19s suffered 100 losses per 100,000 hours, the F-104G 139 losses, the RAF’s Lightning fleet 41 losses, and the MiG-21F in Soviet service 30 losses. For comparison, between 1971 and 1975, the USAF’s McDonnell F-4 Phantom II recorded a rate of 50 aircraft lost per 100,000 flying hours.

No matter how the figures are presented, it is clear that serving as a fighter aircrew member at the height of the Cold War was both demanding and frequently hazardous. One illustrative incident occurred on 14 July 1970 during Exercise Zenit-70, when a Polish MiG-21PFM flown by Kapitan (Captain) H. Osierda of 11. PLM intercepted a Czech Air Force Su-7BKL. Forgetting that his aircraft was armed with live weapons, he launched a K-13R air-to-air missile, destroying the Su-7. Fortunately, the Czechoslovak pilot, Kapitán F. Kružík, managed to eject and survived the incident.

In Cold War Skies is published by Osprey Publishing and is available to order here.

Photo by U.S. Air Force and Rob Schleiffert from Holland via Wikipedia