Norwegian CF-104D Starfighter Performs Afterburner Test Run

On May 22nd, 2024, the CF-104D Starfighter 637 / LN-STF conducted a series of engine tests including lighting the afterburner.  The engine runs were performed one the last time inside Bodø Airport’s engine test cell, which due to be demolished to make way for a new runway.

CF-104D Starfighter “637” / LN-STF flew for the first on September 28th, 2016, 33 years after its inaugural flight, adorned in the colors of the Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF).  The aircraft, which had been meticulously restored to airworthy condition over 13 years by the Norwegian Foreningen Starfighterens Venner (Friends of the Starfighter Association), was accompanied by the type that replaced the Starfighter in the RNoAF- a Lockheed Martin F-16B.

This particular Starfighter is a two-seater, originally built by Lockheed for the Royal Canadian Air Force where she served as RCAF 104637 upon her delivery in May 1962. She flew test flights out of Cold Lake, Alberta for the bulk of her Canadian operations, until the RNoAF acquired her along with several dozen other Canadian examples in May 1973. The Starfighter arrived in Norway on June 14th, 1973; receiving the RNoAF serial “4637″. She served with 334 Squadron out of Bodø, so it seems only fitting that she yet makes the base her home. The Norwegians retired 4637 on April 1st, 1983, and she passed into storage at Sola Air Force Base. The fighter didn’t stay in Sola for long, as a few months later it returned to Bodø where Air Force trainees used it for ground handling instruction until the early 1990s.

For more information about the organization, visit www.starfighter.no