Why was F-104 so hard to fly?
The fuselage and wing combination provided low drag except at high angle of attack (alpha), at which point induced drag became very high. The F-104 had good acceleration, rate of climb, and top speed, but its sustained turn performance was poor. While the twin-engine F-4 had much better acceleration, it had a lower top speed than the F-106, which could usually catch up and overtake it.