F-104A "China Lake 6740" (56-0740) at NAF China Lake 1959 F-104A, construction number 183-1028, model 183-93-02, US serial number 56-0740, built by Lockheed AFFTC support; accident late 1957 and repaired; 1959 on loan to US Navy, flying out of NAF China Lake (NMC) for high speed Sidewinder missile tests crashed in bad weather into mountain Josephine Peak (near the junction of Mt. Wilson and Palmdale Roads in the Angeles Natl. Forest) north of Los Angeles on September 22, 1960 pilot U.S. Marine Corp Captain Howard O. Casada Jr. was killed. copyright © Peitzmeier archive Naval Air Facility (NAF) China Lake was an independent tenant command of Naval Ordnance Test Station (NOTS) China Lake