Finally…Starfighter to arrive at Alberta Aviation Museum

It has been almost 18 months since the Alberta Aviation Museum started the Starfighter project to add this important piece of Edmonton, Alberta and Canadian history to its collection.

Funds were raised in 30days from donations across Alberta and Canada topped off with a major donation by the family of the late Don Hamilton and AirSpray Ltd.

The rest of the time has been spent dealing with the mountain of paper work spread across one ocean, two continents and three countries. But that mountain of paperwork has been scaled and the Alberta Aviation Museum is expecting arrival of the Starfighter Friday March 29th.

The acquisition of the Starfighter provides an Edmonton story (having been serviced at North West Industries), an Alberta story with 6 Squadron Strike/Recce Operational Training Unit, the Canadian Starfighter story, an International story with the Canadian/German crew at the time of loss and it’s Dutch history as Starfighter D5805 of the RNAF.

It will also be part of our Education program and open for cockpit tours whenever possible.

The Starfighter will arrive the morning of Friday March 29th, at approximately 9:00am.

The aircraft will be arriving in (2) containers and we will be unloading the fuselage (main body) container as soon as it arrives.

The Starfighter we are receiving is:

RNAF History
Lockheed built construction number 583E-5805
RNAF number D5805
Entered service 07-09-63
Retired from Service 02-05-84
Stored until recently inside an Aviation Museum in the Netherlands
Currently seeking additional detailed information on this aircraft for our exhibit.

Our Starfighter on completion will represent the history of Starfighter 104651:

Originally:
Starfighter 12651 (RCAF)
No. 6 OTU Cold Lake, Alberta
583A-5321 Lockheed
Came into service26-Jun-63

Re serial numbered as 104651 (CAF)
No. 417 Squadron, Cold Lake, Alberta
583A-5321 Lockheed Aircraft
Crashed 24-June-1980 engine failure due to bird strike, both pilots ejected successfully

Crew at time of incident

Pilot in Command:
Canadian Armed Forces
Captain (at the time) Rick Wall served in the Canadian Air Force and flew the CF-104 with 441 Squadron in Germany & 417 Squadron at Cold Lake, Alberta. Surpassed 2000 Starfighter hours.
Ejected successfully from CF104D 104651 in 1980 after a bird strike.

Second Pilot
Luftwaffe
Captain/ Hauptmann (at the time) H Riedel
(currently seeking additional information)
Ejected successfully from CF104D 104651 in 1980 after a bird strike.

The RNAF history will not be lost as a portion of the exhibit will cover the RNAF history of our Starfighter.

Any additional information on this specific RNAF aircraft or Luftwaffe
Hauptmann (at the time) H Riedel wold be appreciated so we can tell the full history of the aircraft.

Thomas Hinderks
Exexutive Director
Alberta Aviation Museum