"Starfighter - Sie wollten den Himmel erobern" (They Wanted to Conquer the Skies) is a 2015 German television drama directed by Miguel Alexandre and written by Kit Hopkins and Thilo Röscheisen. The film deals with the Starfighter Affairs that took place in the mid-1960s. The use of technically deficient fighter planes led to numerous crashes and deaths. The film was shot under the working title "Witwenmacher" (Widowmaker). For background information on the film, interviews were shot with the actors, the director. In addition, experts on the subject of the "Starfighter Affair" had their say.

The first broadcast was scheduled for April 2, 2015 on RTL. But after the crash of the Germanwings plane with 150 dead, the station postponed the broadcast of its expensive in-house production "Starfighter. (Source: Wikipedia)

Plot: In the 60s, the Swinging Sixties, the economy in Germany is growing rapidly and the upswing is in full swing. On behalf of the then Defence Minister Franz Josef Strauß, 916 of the most modern combat 916 of the most modern fighter planes - the so-called Starfighters. But the 'Lockheed F-104' planes have inexplicable defects.

Over the years, a total of 262 planes crash, 116 pilots lose their lives. In most cases, the cause of the accident remains unexplained and is declared to be pilot error. The pilot's widow Betti Schäfer, played by Picco von Grote, is not satisfied with this explanation. She investigates and hires the American star lawyer Gordon Marks, played by Walter Sittler, who takes on her mandate in the fight against the Starfighter corporation. (Source: RTL.de)