The quest for the worst combat aircraft in history...

[Schroeder]

Originally Posted by Oberon

Well, no, but out of those 15 countries at least two of them lost pilots, the Luftwaffe crashed 292 and lost 110 pilots to it, Canada crashed 110 of them too, Belgium crashed forty one, Italy lost 137, Japan lost 36, and the US had 30.63 accidents for every 100,000 flight hours which was the highest of the 'century' series fighters. So at the very least (not including US losses) some 616 F-104s crashed in service. That's nearly 30% of all aircraft built (I don't know the precise number, too late to work it out).

Don't forget the role it was pushed into in the Luftwaffe. Low flying fighter bombers always lose more planes and pilots to accidents as they are flying close to the ground which makes it difficult to correct mistakes. A 104 mechanic told me once that the loss rates with the Starfighter's predecessor, the F84 Thunderstrike, were even higher.
At the end of it's career the 104G had become a pretty reliable craft. They were withdrawn in 1986 and the last pilot was killed in 1981 (IIRC). That's five years of flying without a fatal incident.