F-104 Starfighter

This is an Air Force F-104, part of the Air Force Test Flight Center Museum, at Edwards Air Force Base. The model is probably best known for another of Chuck Yeager's famous flights, one in which he set the world altitude record. He made it to 103,395 feet before losing control of the plane, which plummeted to the ground. Yeager parachuted to safety, an event chronicled in "The Right Stuff."

The F-104A "Starfighter" "was the first aircraft to hold simultaneous official world records for speed, altitude, and time-to-climb, most of which were established at Edwards AFB," reads a plaque at Edwards.