The Canadian Starfighter Association

 A beautiful 104 shot
 
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The Troops 1
The Troops 2
The Troops 3
The Troops 4
The Troops 5
The Troops Part 6
The Troops Part 7
"The Troops - All Who Flew"
In the summer of 1961 the nucleus of  the future instructional cadre for 6 Strike/Reconnaisance Operational Training Unit at Cold Lake, Alberta,  (who became known as "the originals") went to Palmdale, California to get checked out on the 104. The first Canadair-constructed CF-104 (RCAF serial number 12701) was airlifted to Palmdale, California in the spring and made its first flight on May 26. The second CF-104 (12702) also made its first flight there.

By the end of that year "the originals" were back in Cold Lake busily training the rest of the Instructors  (including your webmaster) prior to the imminent arrival of the first students.

If you follow the links on the left you will find photos from all of the CF-104 courses! They are in "thumbnail" format,  so please click to enlarge and then hit your browsers "back" button to return to view the next one.

Special thanks to Norm MacSween for all of his work scanning and editing these pictures. It was a Herculian task demanding inordinate dexterity, characteristic aplomb and not a little verbosity (read: the job was a major headache as the job had to be done without breaking apart the book).

The courses are in chronological order, VIP and exchange officer  courses will show up when they took place.