“The Highly Supersonic F-105 Thunderchief”

Now preserved in Alabama, 54-0102, a B model, was the fifth F-105 built.

Original and superlative-packed caption for the previous photo.

Two B models flying by “robot control” (See the following caption)

“Jetbuilders” at work. F-105D assembly line,1960.

F-105s on the ramp at Seymour Johnson AFB. The base also hosted B-52s, as seen in the background.

Outnumbered by a host of F-4E Phantoms, this F-105G visiting Seymour Johnson in the late 1970s is nearing the end of its days.

With the noteworthy exception of not dropping a thermonuclear bomb on invading armies (as was its original purpose), the F-105 Thunderchief, AKA the “Thud” (of course), pretty much performed every role one could think of and a few more as well. However, such achievements came with a price, especially in the skies over Vietnam during the first few years of the war. During that period, the 105 was the primary strike aircraft and had a loss rate to prove it: More than half of the F-105s that saw combat in Vietnam were shot down or otherwise crashed in-country. A poignant example of that loss rate is found in the attached photo, which shows the Thunderchief assembly line in 1960. In that picture, 17 Thuds can be identified by serial number; all would serve in Vietnam. Of those 17 aircraft captured in this random photo, 15 would be shot down. Very grim math, indeed.

Nevertheless, most F-105 guys thought they had the best plane in the world, a bird far superior to anything else that came to replace it (See: F-4 Phantom). These Thud drivers haughtily looked down their noses at any mere mortal who even remotely impugned the legend that was their F-105 Thunderchief.

I will leave you with a joke I heard decades ago from an F-4 pilot.

Q: “How many F-105 pilots does it take to screw in a light bulb?”

A: “Two. One guy to screw in the bulb, the other to talk about how great it was.”