[98ZJ USMC]

Although I think most of the century series were to combat Russian bombers more than to engage in fighter-on-fighter combat

That's pretty much correct. None of them were dogfighters. The F-104 was designed and built for straight line speed and climb.

The Buffalo. Actually not a bad aircraft at all, until you added armor, guns and military radios. It was a good performer without the added weight.

[GreyFriar]

Yes, the F-104 and the Mig-21 orginated as “point defense fighters;” to climb quickly and take out incoming bombers that had gotten through the outer defensive layers. And just before, for the US, the Nike series of missiles that were placed around the major cities.

See these three websites:

http://alpha.fdu.edu/~bender/N-view.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Nike

http://www.ftmac.org/Lanike1.htm