Background
The F-105F was a supersonic fighter bomber used by the United States Air Force. The F-105F was the third F-105 in production
and the F-105G would later be modified from the F-105F. It was manufactured by Republic Aviation, which between 1963 and 1964
produced 143 F-105Fs, or Thunderchiefs (sometimes called “Thuds”). The last of these was delivered in January of 1965. Even
so, the F-105Fs was used until the United States ended their involvement in Vietnam.
The two-seat F-105F was produced for the Vietnam War; where it was deployed as a low-altitude, high speed fighter-bomber,
capable of carrying up to 14,000 pounds of bombs and missiles. The rear cockpit of the F-105F was a duplicate of the front
cockpit, which allowed either pilot to have control of the aircraft.
The F-105F was 67 feet long, 20 feet 5 inches tall, and had a max weight of 54,580 pound. It had a cruising speed of 596 miles
per hour, a maximum speed of 1,386 miles per hour, and it contained one Pratt & Whitney J75-P-19W engine. A modified F-105F,
known around the Air Force as the EF-105F, though still officially called the F-105F, added jamming equipment, AGM-45 Shrike
anti-radiation missiles, and some models even had combat cameras, armor plating, backup flight control systems, and automatic
or manually-controlled weapons release.
The F-105F was also considered a “Wild Weasel” aircraft because it was used by the United States against the North Vietnamese
to destroy surface-to-air missile sites with anti-radar missiles.