REPUBLICAN F-105 THUNDERCHIEF

The mighty ‘Thud’ was a mainstay of the air war over Vietnam

- WORDS STUART HADAWAY

Initially designed as a fighter-bomber and tactical nuclear bomber, the Thunderchief entered service in 1959 after a troubled development. It was a leap ahead in technology, twice as fast as its predecessor, the F-84F Thunderstreak, with top speeds of over Mach 2, and with a heavier bomb load than the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. Advanced avionics included ground-mapping radar, and it was optimised for fast, low-level operations over the battlefield. At that time, it was the largest single-seat, single-engine combat aircraft ever built.

Known affectionately as the ‘Thud’, the F-105B first deployed with the United States Air Force (USAF) in Germany in 1960, and four years later the first units were despatched to Thailand to join the fledgling air war over Vietnam and Laos. In various marques, it remained over Vietnam until the end, only being withdrawn in 1974, and it flew 75 percent of the USAF's combat missions during the entire conflict. Between June 1966 and December 1967, 27.5 MiG-17s were claimed by Thud pilots, three shot down with AIM-9 missiles and the rest with cannon fire. As a fighter-bomber it was fast, rugged and effective, and from 1966 the two-seat F-105F version - 'Wild Weasel' - arrived fitted out for a new role. These aircraft operated in small teams to track and neutralise enemy anti-aircraft guns and surface-to-air (SAM) missiles, which were taking a terrible toll on American aircraft. The F-105s were brutally effective in both roles, but at a high cost. Of the 833 F-105s built, nearly 400 were lost over Vietnam.

Armament