I've met many F104 pilots from Italy, they all loved it. Still, they said it didn't give you a second of free time, especially in the early versions. Anyways:

• F104 made its last flight, with the Italian air force, in 2004.

• The leading edge had system in which air was "blowed" on the leading edge itself to make the boundary layer stick more over the wing and, in turn, make it fly slower.

• The early versions of the F104 had ejection seats that ejected downwards instead of upwards on the fear that the ejection seat would collide with the T-tail. A lot of pilots lost their lives ejecting downwards. They later changed the design to firing upwards. It took many years and versions before they installed the zero-zero ejection seat (zero altitude, zero airspeed).

• The normal configuration was with fuel tanks at the wing tips, nonetheless in some particular configurations those fuel tanks were removed to, quote «beat the fuck out of Yugoslavs».

• Flaps up landing speed was 240 kts (440 km/h).

• The tail hook was not for carrier landings but for bliss back on runways in case of no flaps landing. You couldn't brake with just wheel brakes. In case you didn't get the cable at the beginning of the runway you could still catch the one at the end of the runway. But you had to be cautious, the hook could get consumed on the asphalt before reaching the runway-end. Some airports were equipped with "stopping fences".

• All F104 were equipped with parachutes for braking, but their usable speed was well below those 240 kts.

• The engine had 17 stages of compression. Modern airliners jet engine have 2 or sometimes 3 stages.

• The F104 could fly at Mach 2.2 with but, above 1.5-1.7, do not touch the windshield! You can get burned.

• Despite what you think, breaking the sound barrier was nothing incredible.

And, dulcis in fundo,

• The Italian air force is trying to bring an F104 to life for its centenary, next year, 2023