 |
|
|
| SPECIFICATIONS |
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|
| ENGINE |
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Pratt & Whitney J75-P19W turbojet 26,500 lbs. of thrust |
| ARMAMENT |
|
One M-61 20mm cannon and 14,000 lbs. of ordnance |
| WING SPAN |
|
34 feet, 11 inches |
| LENGTH |
|
67 feet |
| HEIGHT |
|
20 feet, 2 inches |
| MAX TAKEOFF WEIGHT |
|
54,580 pounds |
| CREW |
|
2 |
| MANUFACTURED BY |
|
Republic Aviation |
| TOTAL BUILT |
|
833 |
| TOTAL EXISTING |
|
Unknown |
| FIRST BUILT |
|
1955 |
| MUSEUM'S AIRCRAFT BUILT |
|
1964 |
| ON DISPLAY AT |
 |
Cavanaugh Flight Museum, Addison Airport (KADS), Dallas, Texas |
| MAXIMUM SPEED |
|
848 m.p.h. (at sea level) |
| RANGE W/EXTERNAL TANKS |
|
1,500 miles |
| SERVICE CEILING |
|
47,800 feet |
|
The Republic F-105 Thunderchief is one of America's most important, yet often overlooked, aircraft of the 1950s and 1960s. Envisioned by the
great engineer Alexander Kartveli, the F-105 was a brutally large, powerful and effective fighter/bomber. Employed over Vietnam in a role for
which it had not been designed, the F-105 Thunderchief (commonly known as the “Thud”) flew more missions than any other type of
American aircraft in Southeast Asia -- and suffered more losses than any other type.
The F-105 was born as Advanced Project 63 in 1951. Designed as a replacement for the F-84 Thunderjet, Advanced Project 63 was a single-seat, high speed
nuclear attack bomber carrying a single tactical nuclear bomb carrier in its internal bomb bay. The powerful Pratt & Whitney J-75 turbojet engine
enabled the F-105 to fly faster than the speed of sound at very low altitudes. The first F-105 prototype flew on October 22, 1955 and delivery of the
new aircraft followed soon afterward. Though hamstrung by a series of maintenance problems, by 1964 the F-105 had become the U.S. Air Force's premier
fighter/bomber. The F-105B was used for a short time by the Air Force Thunderbirds (F-105 aerobatic routines were possibly the loudest air show
performances ever put on). Shortly after the Gulf of Tonkin incident in August 1964, F-105s flew their first combat missions over Vietnam. Over the
next five years, the “Thud” conducted countless low-level, low-speed tactical bombing missions, and although not meant to be a fighter,
F-105s (mostly the F-105D model) brought down no less than 25 MiG fighters over Vietnam.
The two seat F-105F model was introduced in 1963 as a combat proficiency trainer. Equipped with additional armor plate, a secondary flight control
system, improved ejection seats and electronic counter measures (ECM) pods, the F-105F was a natural selection for the Air Force's Wild Weasel
program which began in 1965. Wild Weasels were used to hunt enemy surface-to-air missile (SAM) sites and radar-guided antiaircraft guns. F-105Fs
flushed out these weapons by allowing themselves to be used as bait; a very critical, but often costly role. Other F-105Fs were modified to jam
Communist radio communications and to conduct low-level precision bombing strikes in bad weather or at night. These missions were later turned over
to the more advanced F-111.
The F-105F on display at the Cavanaugh Flight Museum is on loan to the Frontiers of Flight Museum from the National Museum of the USAF. It completed
a combat tour in Vietnam in 1968 before serving with the Texas Air National Guard at Carswell Air Force Base. It was retired in 1981.
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