Republic F-84 Thunderjet: Books - History and Deployment

Republic F-84: The USAF's Thunderjet, Thunderstreak and Thunderflash Fighters

The F-84 Thunderjet was the US Air Force's main strike aircraft during the Korean War and was used primarily in ground attack operations. Manufactured by the Republic Aviation Corporation, the straight-winged XP-84 prototype first took flight in 1946. Testing revealed lackluster engine performance and structural problems.

Design revisions resulted in several new model designations, beginning with the F-84B and followed by the F-84C, which was phased out of operational service by 1952. The F-84D saw significant improvement in engine performance and was followed by the F-84E and the F-84G models, with all three models seeing heavy action in the Korean War. The F-84F Thunderstreak was a swept-wing version that came after the Korean War and was faster than the original F-84 Thunderjet. The Thunderflash was the reconnaissance version of the F-84F.

This book, part of the Legends of Warfare series, describes the development, features and use of the USAF's Thunderjet, Thunderstreak and Thunderflash fighters.

Republic F-84 Thunderjet, Thunderstreak, & Thunderflash - A Photo Chronicle

The Republic Aviation Corporation F-84 series, the Thunderjet, Thunderstreak, and Thunderflash was the United States Air Forces' first Post World War II jet fighter. It was not the Air Forces' first operational jet fighter, as that honor went to the Lockheed F-80 which was created during World War II. And it did not receive the glory of the North American Aviation F-86, which followed it in sequence and was more photogenic, faster, and more involved in the glory of aerial combat.

Nevertheless, the F-84 performed its unheralded role in a true yeoman fashion. It, and its pilots and groundcrews, fought the air-to-mud role as a fighter bomber in Korea.
It served as an interceptor, and in photo reconnaissance. It was the first jet fighter to be operationally capable of air refueling, and it was the first to be able to deliver a nuclear weapon.
4300 of the straight-wing F-84s were built, along with 2713 of the swept-wing F-84Fs, and 715 of the reconnaissance RF-84Fs. Almost 8000 unrecognized fighters, of which half of those produced served as a deterrent to enemy forces during the Cold War while being flown by friendly foreign countries.