Republic F-105G Thunderchief
As is typical of many high-performance fighters, the F-105 Thunderchief had a two-seat conversion trainer variant, the F-105F. This was especially necessary given the flying characteristics of the Thunderchief, which could be daunting to a new pilot: while the “Thud” was fast, it was not as maneuverable as other aircraft of the Century Series, which could come as a lethal surprise to pilots used to the F-100 Super Sabre or F-106 Delta Dart. Moreover, its radar was complex and required training. As a result, the last 143 F-105s to come off the Republic assembly line were two-seaters. Except for a three-foot extension of the fuselage to accommodate a second cockpit and a slightly larger tail, they were otherwise identical to the definitive F-105D variant, including in performance and armament; though their primary role was converting new pilots to the single-seat F-105D, the F-105F was meant to be fully combat capable. Though visibility from the rear cockpit was very limited, everything in the front seat was reproduced in the second, and the backseater had his own flight controls and radar.
This would prove presicient: as combat losses of single-seat Thunderchiefs climbed in Vietnam, two-seaters were soon pressed into combat duties. Initially, the handful of F-105Fs assigned to Thud units in Southeast Asia were used in the same role as the F-105Ds, as attack aircraft. However, having a second person in the back to take some of the load off the pilot soon opened up different roles for the two-seaters.
By far, however, the most ambitious was Project Wild Weasel II. The surface-to-air missile sites in North Vietnam, first detected in April 1965, had shown their lethality soon after becoming operational. To this point, above 15,000 feet, American aircraft were largely safe from North Vietnamese defenses, but the SA-2 Guideline missile was effective to 50,000 feet and had a slant range enough to force slower aircraft such as the EB-66 Destroyer out of North Vietnamese airspace. Both the US Navy and USAF had attempted to destroy the SAM sites before they became operational, but Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara had refused to allow the strikes, dubiously citing the possibility of killing Soviet and Chinese advisers and broadening the war. Faced with the dilemma of having to attack the SAM sites after they fired, and provide early warning to strike packages that SAM radars were locking onto them, the USAF began formally training for Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD), codenamed Wild Weasel. Initially, the two-seat F-100F Super Sabre had been modified for the SEAD role, but it neither had the speed to survive over North Vietnam, nor the ordnance capacity needed for the role. The logical next move for the USAF was to modify the F-105F, as it had everything the Wild Weasels needed to do their job and survive.
Under Project Wild Weasel II, the F-105F received radar warning equipment and specialized sensors designed to detect the emissions of North Vietnamese radar, especially Fansong SAM guidance radars and Firecan antiaircraft gun directors. The crews were handpicked for Wild Weasel training, with the backseater usually a navigator specially trained in detecting and breaking out different radar signals. Wild Weasel F-105Fs would usually carry ALQ-89 ECM pods to jam North Vietnamese radars, and two AGM-45 Shrike antiradar missiles. During a “typical” SEAD mission, one or two Weasels would scout ahead of the main force, waiting for SAM radar controllers to “come up,” switching on their Fansongs. If a threat to the force was detected, the Weasel could then fire a Shrike at the radar. If the Fansong remained on, the Shrike would home in and destroy it; if the radar was switched off, it was no longer a threat. Once a SAM site was spotted—usually when it launched—the Weasel could direct accompanying F-105Ds to strafe and bomb it.
It was a highly dangerous job: not only were the Weasels literally asking to get shot at—experienced crews often baited SAM sites into firing on them first rather than the force—the SAM sites were usually heavily defended by antiaircraft guns; there was also the usual hazards of flying over North Vietnam, the most heavily defended spot on earth during the Vietnam years. It became a game of cat-and-mouse between veterans, the Wild Weasels versus the SAM crews, the latter quickly learning the limitations of the Shrike and knowing the limited number of F-105Fs. Casualties were heavy: of the initial batch of 12 F-105Fs and their crews that arrived in Southeast Asia in June 1966, only two remained by October. Wild Weasel crews suffered heavy casualties for the duration of the Vietnam War: attrition rates were high enough that completing a 100-mission tour over North Vietnam was considered problematic.
Surviving F-105Fs were modified beginning in 1967 to F-105G Wild Weasel III standard. This incorporated improved radar warning recievers, internal ALQ-105 ECM equipment that replaced the pods, and the capability to launch the AGM-78 Standard ARM; unlike the Shrike, which would fly into the ground if the radar signal was switched off, the Standard ARM would memorize the radar’s location and destroy it even if the radar was shut off. The F-105G proved very effective, but the simple fact was that the USAF was running out of Thunderchief airframes. As a result, though the F-105G would serve for the balance of the Vietnam War, it was phased out after 1973 in favor of the F-4G Phantom II. Of 143 F-105Fs built, 38 were lost in combat. Most of the survivors were scrapped, but some 32 two-seat Thuds survive in museums.
It would be expected that one of those 32 survivors would be at the National Museum of the USAF. 63-8320, like all F-105Fs, started off as a conversion trainer, assigned to the 23rd Tactical Fighter Wing at McConnell AFB, Kansas. It was chosen for conversion to a Wild Weasel aircraft in 1966, and was reassigned to the 355th TFW at Takhli RTAFB, Thailand a year later. Most Wild Weasels never reached the magical number of 100 missions, but 8320 beat the odds and flew Weasel missions for three years. In December 1967, it became the last Thud to score a MiG kill over North Vietnam; claims for two more were made, though these are not substantiated by postwar records. In 1972, 8320 was withdrawn to be upgraded to F-105G standard, and returned for another round over North Vietnam as part of the 388th TFW at Korat, flying missions during Operations Linebacker I and II. It returned home and joined the USAF's dedicated Wild Weasel wing, the 35th TFW at George AFB, California. Retired in 1980, it was preserved for the National Museum of the USAF because of its long career and MiG killer status, and went on display around 1981.
Today it is very attractively displayed in a vignette showing a Weasel crew getting ready to head out for a mission over North Vietnam. As such, it is equipped for maximum endurance, with three underwing and underfuselage external drop tanks, and two AGM-45 Shrike antiradar missiles. Often, the Weasels would carry two Shrikes and a load of bombs underneath the fuselage. To the right side of 63-8320 is a AGM-78 Standard ARM, the Shrike's bigger and more deadly cousin.
Since Dad never got a chance to see his beloved Thuds at the NMUSAF, I was hoping this picture would turn out as a tribute to him. Luckily, it did. To the left is the giant tail of the B-52D Stratofortress.
Republic F-105G Thunderchief
As is typical of many high-performance fighters, the F-105 Thunderchief had a two-seat conversion trainer variant, the F-105F. This was especially necessary given the flying characteristics of the Thunderchief, which could be daunting to a new pilot: while the “Thud” was fast, it was not as maneuverable as other aircraft of the Century Series, which could come as a lethal surprise to pilots used to the F-100 Super Sabre or F-106 Delta Dart. Moreover, its radar was complex and required training. As a result, the last 143 F-105s to come off the Republic assembly line were two-seaters. Except for a three-foot extension of the fuselage to accommodate a second cockpit and a slightly larger tail, they were otherwise identical to the definitive F-105D variant, including in performance and armament; though their primary role was converting new pilots to the single-seat F-105D, the F-105F was meant to be fully combat capable. Though visibility from the rear cockpit was very limited, everything in the front seat was reproduced in the second, and the backseater had his own flight controls and radar.
This would prove presicient: as combat losses of single-seat Thunderchiefs climbed in Vietnam, two-seaters were soon pressed into combat duties. Initially, the handful of F-105Fs assigned to Thud units in Southeast Asia were used in the same role as the F-105Ds, as attack aircraft. However, having a second person in the back to take some of the load off the pilot soon opened up different roles for the two-seaters.
By far, however, the most ambitious was Project Wild Weasel II. The surface-to-air missile sites in North Vietnam, first detected in April 1965, had shown their lethality soon after becoming operational. To this point, above 15,000 feet, American aircraft were largely safe from North Vietnamese defenses, but the SA-2 Guideline missile was effective to 50,000 feet and had a slant range enough to force slower aircraft such as the EB-66 Destroyer out of North Vietnamese airspace. Both the US Navy and USAF had attempted to destroy the SAM sites before they became operational, but Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara had refused to allow the strikes, dubiously citing the possibility of killing Soviet and Chinese advisers and broadening the war. Faced with the dilemma of having to attack the SAM sites after they fired, and provide early warning to strike packages that SAM radars were locking onto them, the USAF began formally training for Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD), codenamed Wild Weasel. Initially, the two-seat F-100F Super Sabre had been modified for the SEAD role, but it neither had the speed to survive over North Vietnam, nor the ordnance capacity needed for the role. The logical next move for the USAF was to modify the F-105F, as it had everything the Wild Weasels needed to do their job and survive.
Under Project Wild Weasel II, the F-105F received radar warning equipment and specialized sensors designed to detect the emissions of North Vietnamese radar, especially Fansong SAM guidance radars and Firecan antiaircraft gun directors. The crews were handpicked for Wild Weasel training, with the backseater usually a navigator specially trained in detecting and breaking out different radar signals. Wild Weasel F-105Fs would usually carry ALQ-89 ECM pods to jam North Vietnamese radars, and two AGM-45 Shrike antiradar missiles. During a “typical” SEAD mission, one or two Weasels would scout ahead of the main force, waiting for SAM radar controllers to “come up,” switching on their Fansongs. If a threat to the force was detected, the Weasel could then fire a Shrike at the radar. If the Fansong remained on, the Shrike would home in and destroy it; if the radar was switched off, it was no longer a threat. Once a SAM site was spotted—usually when it launched—the Weasel could direct accompanying F-105Ds to strafe and bomb it.
It was a highly dangerous job: not only were the Weasels literally asking to get shot at—experienced crews often baited SAM sites into firing on them first rather than the force—the SAM sites were usually heavily defended by antiaircraft guns; there was also the usual hazards of flying over North Vietnam, the most heavily defended spot on earth during the Vietnam years. It became a game of cat-and-mouse between veterans, the Wild Weasels versus the SAM crews, the latter quickly learning the limitations of the Shrike and knowing the limited number of F-105Fs. Casualties were heavy: of the initial batch of 12 F-105Fs and their crews that arrived in Southeast Asia in June 1966, only two remained by October. Wild Weasel crews suffered heavy casualties for the duration of the Vietnam War: attrition rates were high enough that completing a 100-mission tour over North Vietnam was considered problematic.
Surviving F-105Fs were modified beginning in 1967 to F-105G Wild Weasel III standard. This incorporated improved radar warning recievers, internal ALQ-105 ECM equipment that replaced the pods, and the capability to launch the AGM-78 Standard ARM; unlike the Shrike, which would fly into the ground if the radar signal was switched off, the Standard ARM would memorize the radar’s location and destroy it even if the radar was shut off. The F-105G proved very effective, but the simple fact was that the USAF was running out of Thunderchief airframes. As a result, though the F-105G would serve for the balance of the Vietnam War, it was phased out after 1973 in favor of the F-4G Phantom II. Of 143 F-105Fs built, 38 were lost in combat. Most of the survivors were scrapped, but some 32 two-seat Thuds survive in museums.
It would be expected that one of those 32 survivors would be at the National Museum of the USAF. 63-8320, like all F-105Fs, started off as a conversion trainer, assigned to the 23rd Tactical Fighter Wing at McConnell AFB, Kansas. It was chosen for conversion to a Wild Weasel aircraft in 1966, and was reassigned to the 355th TFW at Takhli RTAFB, Thailand a year later. Most Wild Weasels never reached the magical number of 100 missions, but 8320 beat the odds and flew Weasel missions for three years. In December 1967, it became the last Thud to score a MiG kill over North Vietnam; claims for two more were made, though these are not substantiated by postwar records. In 1972, 8320 was withdrawn to be upgraded to F-105G standard, and returned for another round over North Vietnam as part of the 388th TFW at Korat, flying missions during Operations Linebacker I and II. It returned home and joined the USAF's dedicated Wild Weasel wing, the 35th TFW at George AFB, California. Retired in 1980, it was preserved for the National Museum of the USAF because of its long career and MiG killer status, and went on display around 1981.
Today it is very attractively displayed in a vignette showing a Weasel crew getting ready to head out for a mission over North Vietnam. As such, it is equipped for maximum endurance, with three underwing and underfuselage external drop tanks, and two AGM-45 Shrike antiradar missiles. Often, the Weasels would carry two Shrikes and a load of bombs underneath the fuselage. To the right side of 63-8320 is a AGM-78 Standard ARM, the Shrike's bigger and more deadly cousin.
Since Dad never got a chance to see his beloved Thuds at the NMUSAF, I was hoping this picture would turn out as a tribute to him. Luckily, it did. To the left is the giant tail of the B-52D Stratofortress.