Republic F-84F Thunderstreak

I flew the F-84F in 1954-56 after flying the "G" model for a year. It received a lot of bad press before we got it and like any swept-winged fighter of that era it did have it's idiosincrasices. If you learned to cope with them before they killed you it was a damn good airplane. It would lift half the world off the ground if the runway was long enough, it was air-refuelable so you could stay up longer than you really wanted to, and with a little finess it would beter Mach 1 at altitude. All in all I had a ball flying this airplane 'cause in that era we weren't overloaded with restrictions and paper work

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I flew the 84F at RAF Bentwaters & Manston from 1956 to 1959. The mission was to provide a counter to USSR aircraft. BUT, for the first time in history 2 nations went nose to nose and decided NOT to start hostilities. The F84F was significant for our capability.

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From 1953-1957 I was advisor to the Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF)logistics command. There was 180 F-84G in the inventory. About 98% of their support came from the USAF. My task was to keep the priority requests moving so we had no grounded aircraft. In those days the Cold War was a major problem and we could not display a weak link in the NATO structor. I enjoyed working with the Norwegians and they all loved to fly the "G". Later in my tour we got a squadron of RF-84F.

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Who ever you are Al, I suspect you remember me. I was in the first 10 to become crew chiefs of the F-84F's being sent to Macdill to get ready for the Cuban Crisis. I left the AF just as we started getting the F-4's. Col McCleland,the first CO of the 12th was my Maint. Officer '54 - '56 in Delaware. I have corresponded with Sgt Jay Cessna in resent years. We parked our 84s next to each other.

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I flew the F-84F at Dow AFB, Bangor, ME with the 506th Strategic Fighter Wing. We were the first operational wing to get the aircraft about 1954. We started with the split tail and later got the slab tail. The split tail had limited elevator authority, you had to trim the tail all the way into and out of a loop or immelmann. Also in a hard turn. The slab tail was a big improvement. There were engine problems with shroud and blade rub in visible moisture. We were restricted until the blades were cropped. In flight refueling was a pop up door on top of the wing rather than probe and drogue. The 450 gal. drop tanks gave it lots of range, but it was the world's fastest tricycle getting off the ground. Unstick speed was about 150 -155 knots. We moved to Tinker AFB in OKC in spring of 1955 and I got out in Oct. of 1955 and joined the Ohio ANG at Lockbourne AFB in Columbus, OH flying the E and then the G model. About 1958 or 1959 we got the F in the Ohio Guard. I have a very nice color picture of one of our F models if anyone would like to have it e-mailed to them.

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The Republic F-84F Thunderstreak was substituted for a MIG 15 in the movie THE HUNTERS, starring Robert Mitchum. How did the F-84F compare to the F-86 Saberjet?
Gary

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the F-84F was completely different from the earlier 84G. Fiscal(congressional?) prevented acquisition of a new type so the F-96A was renamed F-84F
A one-off G with a experimental swept wing was built and probably flown.

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Was CC on 84F's at Langley Field 1955-56 time frame. Nice little aircraft, but had its problems. Engine and Slab system as I remember. Squibs were nasty. Inlet duct panels were a nightmare also. Fairly easy to maintain. Pilots seemed to like it coming from F-80's.

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I was at Macdill from '63 to '66. We had F-84's there in the 12th and 15th TFW's in '63, then upgraded to F-4's. I always loved the F-84's. They were a sleak little fighter.
Anyone here remember that?
AL

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The F84F was the first single seat fighter I ever flew -and the idea of "no dual" was unusual -but after a comprehensive groundschool it was an easy conversion to the F84 from the T33 -and the absence of an instructor nattering at you was a welcome change.
I never had a chance to wring the aircraft out -but it flew beautifully -and I really enjoyed the cartridge start. All that black smoke let you know you were doing something significant!
Later while flying CF104s in Germany I found F84s as decoy targets at airports all over the continent -they had been replaced largely by F104s but were still serving on! I wish I could have borrowed one and taken it flying!
One of the saddest things in my life was seeing thousands of these great machines literally piled up three deep awaiting destruction at Davis Monthan.
Of course all pilots of my era are awaiting "bronzing"...

Jock Williams

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Would you have a 3 view line drawing of the F96A? It was the first swept wing modification of the F84. If you would have one, I would like to get or purchase a copy. I was also wondering if you could create a drawing of the F96A if it had been built in a two seat trainor version. Thank you. Jerauld Olmsted

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