How the U.S. Air Force Learned to Love the F-105 Thunderchief

Despite the rough start, the pilots have grown to appreciate the stability and predictability of “blows”.

When the Republic of the F-105 Thunderchief is first debut In 1955, the new supervisory fighter did not impress his pilots. The Air Force Community continued to assign a series of derogatory nicknames, including “Chief Thunderthud”, “Lead Sanja”, “Thud” and “Hyper Hog”. But thanks to such a critique of the breakthrough and willingness to recognize the feedback of the pilot, the F-105 was reformed in something that the pilot community slowly grew to appreciate then respect.

Shrub reform

The original “Thud” has been improved thanks to the pilot feedback, which has led to significant changes. Changes included additional armor, improved pistol landmarks, improved ejecting and adding electronic measures (ECM). New and improved, the F-105 won the hearts and minds of those who flew away.

AND F-105 was extremely versatile. For starters, the F-105 could serve as a bomber. In a bombarder configuration, Thunderchief could be equipped with a nuclear battle head. Or, a jet could be full stuck with full load bombs– a useful load that has exceeded that of the bomber of World War II like B-17 or B-24. Second, F-105, equipped with rockets and rotary cannons, also had the ability to participate in the fight for passes, and indeed, he became involved in the fights for passes, earning 27.5 mig killing in heaven over Vietnam. And the third, the F-105 could act in an ultra-dance sead, or suppress the enemy air defense, the role, which required engagement with the rocket defense systems of the surface in the air.

An unusual choice of design

But the primary role of F-105, the main intentions of the designer, was for a low level banning, which demanded that the jet would hold high speeds at small heights. The jet is configured accordingly, with the wings located in the middle of the trunk and withdrawn to 45 degrees. The truke was slender, built around one engine with two entries, located in the bottom of the wing. The nozzle nose, which would have an engine intake in most fighters, instead was full of radar equipment. The trade was quite large to receive 1,184 liters of fuel and an inner bay bomb 15 feet long, which could wear a nuclear weapon or ancillary 350 liters of fuel. The Kingi Kilons are introduced to wearing additional weapons or discharging the tank for additional fuel.

Again, the F-105 was large, 20 feet high and 65 feet long, which is unusual in proportions in the combat nozzle. A significant size meant that the F-105 needed extra space for the take-off runway, as the jet was supposed to hit 230 miles per hour to rotate. Put that in perspective, a Boeing 737 It usually moves at a speed between 140 and 155 miles per hour. But once the F-105 was worse, it was smooth and stable; The jet is designed to fly straight. Putting thunder in spin required a deliberate effort on behalf of the pilot. And after spin was caused, recovery was usually a simple procedure. The pilots have grown to appreciate the stability and predictability of a jet called “Thud”.

About the author: Harrison Kass

Harrison Kass is a higher defense and national security writer with over 1000 total works on questions that include global jobs. A lawyer, pilot, guitarist and minor hockey player, Harrison joined the US air forces as a pilot trainee, but was medically fired. Harrison graduated from Lake Forest College, JD from the University of Oregon and MA from New York University. Harrison listens to Dokken.

Picture: Wikimedia Commons.