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Article Excerpt
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Since 1953, the Thunderbirds aerial demonstration team has been the most, dramatic and visible display of the Air Force s public relations efforts. In the fifty-six years that the Thunderbirds have been thrilling audiences at air shows around the world they have demonstrated the power and grace of first-line Air Force jet fighters and the skills of its pilots. Despite occasional accidents over the years, the Thunderbirds continued to play a key role in Air Force public relations and recruiting.
From its inception, the team has flown eight types of aircraft in their precision aerobatic performances. For six air shows in April and May 1964 the Thunderbirds flew Republic F-105B Thunderchiefs. A day before their seventh show one of their planes broke up in mid-air killing its pilot. The team switched to the North American F-100D Super Sabre for the remainder of the 1964 season and never went back to their F-105s.
This article tells the story of this shortest era in Thunderbird history.
Equipping the Team with Thunderchiefs
The F-105B Thunderchief was the third Republic-built jet that the Thunderbirds flew. For 130 shows in its first two years, from 1953 to 1955, the team flew Republic's F--84G Thunderjet. For their 1955 season, the team switched to the faster, swept-wing F-84F Thunderstreak and switched again a year later to the supersonic North American F-100C Super Sabre. These changes in aircraft reflected the team's role in showcasing the latest Air Force jet fighters. The switch to the Thunderchief in 1964 continued this trend since the F-105 was replacing F-100s in some Air Force fighter squadrons in the U.S., Germany, Japan, and Okinawa. (1)
The process of equipping the Thunderbirds with the "B"-model Thunderchief began six years before they flew their first air show with the F-105. In May 1958, the first F-105Bs arrived at Eglin AFB, Florida, from Republic Aviation's factory on Long Island, New York. At Eglin they began Phase II testing (System Development and Evaluation) conducted by the 335th TFS, which had been detached from the 4th TFW at Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina. The 335th was chartered to test the Air Force's newest fighter bomber before the planes were assigned to the 4th TFW, the first combat unit scheduled to receive the F-105. A year later, beginning on June 16, 1959, the first F-105Bs were delivered directly to Seymour Johnson from Republic's factory. These planes equipped the 334th TFS, a second squadron in the 4th TFW. (2) Over the next eighteen months the 334th worked to become the Air Force's first squadron to become combat ready in the Thunderchief, a goal they achieved on December 31, 1960. (3)
Within six months, the Tactical Air Command (TAC) was eager to replace the sixty-three "Bs" belonging to the 4th TFW with the more capable F-105Ds, which were now coming off Republic's assembly line. In a secret letter to Hq USAF dated July 6, 1961, Hq TAC stated their goal of fully equipping the 4th TFW with the F-105D and for the wing's current F-105Bs "... to be used in the training program or air demonstration teams." In their response on July 14, 1961, Hq. USAF asked TAC to define the modifications needed to F-105Bs to equip both the Thunderbirds and Skyblazers air demonstration teams. (4) In their answer to the Air Staff on September 10, 1961, TAC provided a description of the needed modifications for F-105Bs for use by air demonstration teams. (5)
The Skyblazers belonged to the 36th TFW stationed at Bitburg AB, Germany, and flew the F-100C, the plane then being used by the Thunderbirds whose home was (and still is) Nellis AFB, Nevada. The Skyblazers had been formed in 1949 at Furstenfeldbruck AB, Germany, to provide air shows for the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE). Bitburg was an F-100 base and its 36th TFW was slated to get the F-105D as the first USAFE unit to receive the newest Thunderchief. However, the plan to convert the Skyblazers to the F-105B was abruptly halted when, in a cost-cutting effort on January 12, 1962, the commander of USAFE, General Truman H. Landon, directed the Skyblazers to disband, much to the disappointment of air show fans throughout Europe. (6)
The Thunderbird conversion to the F-105B almost didn't happen. During 1962, the F-105 depot, the Mobile Air Materiel Area (MOAMA) at Brookley AFB, Alabama, was coping with a series of upgrade modifications to the F-105 fleet under operation "Look Alike." The depot questioned the estimated cost of $5 million for incorporating "Look Alike" into the F-105Bs for the Thunderbirds since the "Bs" were "... programmed for transfer to the ANG on 1 January 1964". Nevertheless, MOAMA i established a conversion schedule of modifying nine F-105Bs for the Thunderbirds beginning in November 1962 with final delivery by September 1963. MOAMA's cost concerns got the attention of the Air Staff. On November 28, 1962, they directed TAC to "... evaluate the performance of the T-38 to determine whether it might be more appropriate than the F-105." In early 1963, TAC's evaluation resulted in their favoring the Thunderchief and the issue was resolved. This decision was not surprising since the T-38 was an Air Training Command trainer and the F-105 was TAC's (and the Air Force's) front-line fighter-bomber. (7)
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Once the Air Staff approved the F-105B for the team, TAC selected nine two-year-old F-105Bs from the fleet at Seymour Johnson. Eight of these "Bs" had been production-delivered to the 335th TFS at Eglin between January and August 1959 to support Phase II testing. They had been at the wing's home base at Seymour Johnson since completion of this test program on November 2, 1960. The ninth plane was one of those delivered directly to the 334th TFS at Seymour Johnson in September 1959. (8)
Events delayed the Thunderbird conversion. In 1962, Seymour Johnson pilots ferried the nine F-105Bs to the Republic plant in Farmingdale, New York, where they were to be modified for the Thunderbirds. (9) However, funds were not yet available for the work and the planes sat on the contractor's ramp for the next nine months. In August 1963, Republic began modifying the airplanes under contract number AF01 (601)50922. By the end of 1963, they had completed four of the nine aircraft, which were in final inspection and flight test at the factory. (10)
While Republic was modifying their new planes on Long Island, the Thunderbirds flew their 690th and last demonstration in their F-100Cs, which they had been flying since 1956. It was the end of the team's 10th anniversary season and their last demonstration was at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, during the 60th anniversary of powered flight on December 17, 1963. The team flew two shows that day. They took off from Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, flew a demonstration there, then with in-flight refueling headed for Kitty Hawk for their final show. They recovered at Langley AFB, Virginia. The team's eight F-100Cs were then flown to the depot at McClellan AFB, California, where they were de-modified and reassigned to other F-100 units. (11)
On January 25, 1964, the Air Force accepted the first Thunderbird F-105B at Republic and four...
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