F-105 Thunderchief MiG Killers of the Vietnam War (Combat Aircraft) NEUF • EUR 23,85 (2024)

FAQs

Why were so many F-105 lost in Vietnam? ›

Of the 833 F-105s, 395 were lost during the Vietnam War. 334 were shot down, mostly by antiaircraft guns or missiles, and 17 by enemy fighters. Another 61 were lost due to accidents. The 40% combat loss is indicative of the extreme danger of the missions these airplanes were engaged in.

26 April 1966: Major Paul J. Gilmore, aircraft commander, and First Lieutenant William T. Smith, pilot, flying McDonnell F-4C-23-MC Phantom II 64-0752, shot down the first Vietnam People's Air Force Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 of the Vietnam War.

This means the F-105 has to go right for base, putting it right into the cross hairs of enemy fighters. It loses a dogfight to almost anything, and an IR missile is almost always a death sentence due to the inability to turn away and the lack of flares.

The F-105 was gradually replaced by the F-4 Phantom, and the USAF withdrew the last F-105D from service in July 1980. The aircraft on display is painted and marked as it appeared while serving in the 357th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 355th Tactical Fighter Wing, based at Takhli Royal Thai Air Base in Thailand.

The F-105 had been designed for a short nuclear campaign, leading to shortcomings that became evident in a lengthy conventional war, such as a poor hydraulics layout and fuel tanks that were not self-sealing. Subsequent upgrades improved the reliability and weapons capacity of the existing F-105Ds.

By 1970, the Air Force had withdrawn the F-105D from combat, though the Wild Weasels soldiered on until the end of the war. Ninety-six F-105s remain relatively intact in museums, on display at various Air Force bases or awaiting destruction at the Davis-Monthan boneyard in Arizona. Not a one is flyable.

It was a very stable platform, and the faster it flew the better it got. It operated well from sea level to 15,000ft, and in military power the jet would run faster than any other aircraft at low level — it just didn't turn much. It also had a great gun and was a very stable bomber that could take hits and come home.”

A pack of F-105 Thunderchiefs (and a B-66 destroyer) bomb North Vietnam. In the first five years of the Vietnam War, the F-105 conducted 75 percent of Air Force bombing missions over North Vietnam. They were incredibly dangerous, yet Thud pilots were expected to complete 100 of them during their combat tours.

The F-105 was commonly known as the “Thud” by its crews. As a follow-on to the Mach 1 capable North American F-100 Super Sabre, the F-105 was also armed with missiles and a rotary cannon; however, its design was tailored to high-speed low-altitude penetration carrying a single nuclear weapon internally.

This June, the Air Force announced Moody will replace its A-10s with two squadrons of F-35A Lightning II fighters starting in fiscal 2029, pending environmental impact assessments.

What was the f18 replaced by? ›

F/A-XX is a development and acquisition program for a future sixth-generation air superiority fighter to replace the United States Navy's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and complement the F-35C beginning in the 2030s.

Forty F-105 “Thud” fighter pilots were killed in action while flying combat missions to North Vietnam from May 1966 to December 1972.

A lack of reliability and in-flight systems failures plagued its early career. But it admirably took on one of the toughest air combat assignments in history—bombing targets and suppressing surface-to-air missiles in Vietnam. Of the 833 F-105s produced, 334 were lost in combat along with over 150 aircrew.

As a branch of the US forces, however, the Marine Corps lost the highest percentage of its own men (5.0%) which in turn accounted for 25.5% of all casualties.

Some of the issues were technological, while others were bureaucratic and even political. The truth is, America lost aircraft and pilots over Vietnam not because of a single incorrect conclusion (“dogfights are over”), but rather because of a litany of errors that were – largely – made with the best of intentions.