Republic F-105 Thunderchief 1

Republic F-105 Thunderchief 1

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Howto & Style

Tags:

• Republic
• F-105
• Thunderchief
• f105
• thud
• airplane
• vietnam
• combat
• aviation

[rarebear14]

lmost 400 out of 659 Thuds produced were shot down, the real guilties were LBJ and Mcnamara who overcontrolled the airwar and imposed the craziest ROE's in military history, costing the lives of many fine young men. Those two really lost the war, not the warriors... damn them !!

[fulcrumSMT29]

@avwiz : There were actually two F-105 pilots that earned the Medal of Honor during Vietnam, Leo Thorsness and Merlyn H. Dethlefsen

[hotpocketpoison]

the F-105 is an excellent plane...FOR ITS ROLE! the minute you start using aircraft for literally the exact opposite role they were designed for is when you start taking casualties,couple that with ludicrous ROE and the fact that the F-105 flew 75% of ALL sorties in vietnam and you can begin to see why there were so many losses,it really had nothing to do with the plane. watch the Discovery channels "Great Planes" episode about the F-105,i have a profound respect for the F-105 after watching it.

[rarebear14]

the ROE did not change, you have to wait till they fire at you before unleashing the guns/rockets etc...because we are civilized humans even when going to war against medeavel enemies. The only time that planes (A10's) were cut loose was in the Irak war when the Irak troops fled Kuwait, the A10's had a real turkey shoot....

p.s. Colonel Broughton was treated like he was the enemie during the Turkestan trial. Again proof that trusting politicians is like trusting your bank manager

!

[gallantrycross]

I was in the Air force from 1968 to 1972 and was with the 23rd Wing towards the end of the war, posted with the 561st Squadron (Wild Weasels). It was the most stressful outfit I was ever with--I heard the casualty rate for Wild Weasel aircrews was 63%. When Giap invaded with 200,000 troops in 1972, we sent the 561st to SEA. As I recall, out of our 12 planes, four were shot down. In fact, a plane from my squadron was the last F105 shot down in Vietnam. We earned the AFOUA with Combat "V".

[94AggressiveInline]

Do they still use that rule of engagement in this day and age becaue if they do that is stupid, whoever is first to fire with the munitions of today is usually the ace that wins the dogfight .

[336kgf]

@ryanspeed The problem was very simple...LBJ tried to be everything for everybody. He never understood the military or what it was for. I agree-the ROE that they put in place were astoundingly stupid. I think that book you are talking about is Thud Ridge. Haven't had a chance to read it yet.

[ryanspeed]

@rarebear14 A damn good question my friend! Very stupid indeed!

I read a book years ago that was written by a former F-105 driver who expressesd his displeasure of how they couldn't touch a SAM site under construction until it became operational!! What kind of crap is that!!?? Wait till they start shooting you down...then go after them!!??

Johnson was an inept piss poor president but given the state of how the USA is today it sure as hell looks like he wont be the worst we've had!!

[rarebear14]

@ryanspeed worst team ever in the White House and Pentagon....the ROE were ridiculous...

like in the movie Topgun: do not fire until fired upon .... Holy Sh*t  who invents such stupidity !!!!

[ryanspeed]

@rarebear14 I've heard some Vietnam vets say that the best thing that ever happened to LBJ (and McNamara) was when they finally kicked the bucket!

[everythingman987]

@rarebear14 very true, but 833 thuds were built! not 659, but still i love this airplane, if this was used how the plane was the designed, i think none would be lost!

[THEFESTUS19]

@Eirik36 Yes. In the description area of my eBay ad. from ebay.com search for Korat Thailand.