F-105 Thunderchief | Supersonic Flying Munition Depot | Thunder In The Sky | Full Documentary

The Republic F-105 Thunderchief story.
The F-105 Thunderchief is an American supersonic fighter-bomber that served with the United States Air Force from 1958 to 1984. Capable of Mach 2, it conducted the majority of strike bombing missions during the early years of the Vietnam War; it was the only American aircraft to have been removed from combat due to high loss rates. It was originally designed as a single-seat, nuclear-attack aircraft; a two-seat Wild Weasel version was later developed for the specialized Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD) role against surface-to-air missile sites. 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. First flown in 1955, the Thunderchief entered service in 1958. The single-engine F-105 could deliver a bomb load greater than some American heavy bombers of World War II such as the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and Consolidated B-24 Liberator. The F-105 was one of the primary attack aircraft of the Vietnam War; over 20,000 Thunderchief sorties were flown, with 382 aircraft lost including 62 operational (non-combat) losses (out of the 833 produced). Although less agile than smaller MiG fighters, USAF F-105s were credited with 27.5 kills.
During the war, the single-seat F-105D was the primary aircraft delivering heavy bomb loads against the various military targets. Meanwhile, the two-seat F-105F and F-105G Wild Weasel variants became the first dedicated SEAD platforms, fighting against the Soviet-built S-75 Dvina (NATO reporting name: SA-2 Guideline) surface-to-air missiles. Two Wild Weasel pilots were awarded the Medal of Honor for attacking North Vietnamese surface-to-air missile sites, with one shooting down two MiG-17s the same day. The dangerous missions often required them to be the "first in, last out", suppressing enemy air defenses while strike aircraft accomplished their missions and then left the area.
When the Thunderchief entered service it was the largest single-seat, single-engine combat aircraft in history, weighing approximately 50,000 pounds (23,000 kg). It could exceed the speed of sound at sea level and reach Mach 2 at high altitude. The F-105 could carry up to 14,000 lb (6,400 kg) of bombs and missiles. The Thunderchief was later replaced as a strike aircraft over North Vietnam by both the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II and the swing-wing General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark.
General characteristics
Crew: 1 (F-105F: 2)
Length: 64 ft 4+3⁄4 in (19.628 m)
Wingspan: 34 ft 11+1⁄4 in (10.649 m)
Height: 19 ft 8 in (5.99 m)
Wing area: 385 sq ft (35.8 m2)
Aspect ratio: 3.18
Airfoil: root: NACA 65A005.5; tip: NACA 65A003.7
Empty weight: 26,855 lb (12,181 kg)
Gross weight: 35,637 lb (16,165 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 52,838 lb (23,967 kg)
Fuel capacity: 770 US gal (640 imp gal; 2,900 l) in three flexible fuselage tanks + 390 US gal (320 imp gal; 1,500 l) weapon-bay tank, with provision for 1x 650 US gal (540 imp gal; 2,500 l) or 750 US gal (620 imp gal; 2,800 l) centerline drop tank and 2x 450 US gal (370 imp gal; 1,700 l) underwing drop tanks; Total maximum fuel 2,810 US gal (2,340 imp gal; 10,600 l)
Zero-lift drag coefficient: CD 0.0173
Drag area: 6.65 sq ft (0.6 m2)
Powerplant: 1 × Pratt & Whitney J75-P-19W afterburning turbojet engine, 14,300 lbf (64 kN) thrust 26,500 lbf (117.88 kN) with afterburning and water injection
Performance
Maximum speed: 1,210 kn (1,390 mph, 2,240 km/h) / Mach 2.1 at 35,000 ft (10,668 m)
Combat range: 676 nmi (778 mi, 1,252 km)
Ferry range: 1,917 nmi (2,206 mi, 3,550 km)
Service ceiling: 48,500 ft (14,800 m)
Rate of climb: 38,500 ft/min (196 m/s)
Time to altitude: 35,000 ft (10,668 m) in 1 minute 42 seconds
Lift-to-drag: 10.4
Wing loading: 93 lb/sq ft (450 kg/m2)
Thrust/weight: 0.74
Armament
Guns: 1 × 20 mm (0.787 in) M61A1 Vulcan 6-barreled Gatling cannon, 1,028 rounds
Hardpoints: 5 total: 4 × under-wing, 1 × centerline pylon stations plus an internal bomb bay with a capacity of up to 14,000 lb (6,400 kg) of ordnance, with provisions to carry combinations of:
Rockets:
LAU-32/LAU-59 rocket pods with 7 x FFARs each
Missiles:
AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles
AGM-12 Bullpup air-to-surface missiles
AGM-45 Shrike anti-radiation missiles
Bombs:
M117 and Mark 80 series of general-purpose bombs
M118 demolition bombs
Nuclear weapons B28, B43 stored internally and B57, B61
Cluster munitions of various types, including CBU-24
Avionics
NASARR R-14A radar
AN/ASG-19 Thunderstick fire control system
AN/ARN-85 LORAN (AN/ARN-92 in Thunderstick II-modified aircraft)
#fighteraircraft #vietnamwar #f105

[@Dronescapes]

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[@mrt2this607]

Audio from 2:02 to 2:03 censored. What did screwtube not like his opinion on Patriotism? Bet they'd be joyous for a large group of idiots chanting a genocidal slogan about Israel though...

[@markpaul-ym5wg]

I remember a video about an African American pilot who flew the f105.He was flying just above the ground when he saw a single soldier raise his rifle and fire.That golden BB brought him down.He flew about 60 miles and notices his hydraulics were going out.Later,he bailed out and was captured,doing about 7 years in a north Vietnamese pow camp.

[@albonyo]

A middle aged man who had seen action in korea as well?

[@steffen19k]

Wasnt a 105, it was an f100.

[@xcx8646]

The start of The Right Stuff book will always stay with me. The Century series jets were deathtraps for the pilots. Such courage to effectively be a test pilot for such new tech.

[@ziptiejedi5658]

The pilot that crash landed the 105 on the salt flats did one hell of a job. It looked like it was in pretty good shape for a wheels up landing. Must of had balls of steel to even want to attempt that landing

[@randywilson944]

My instructor flew the Thunder Thud in Vietnam 🇻🇳

[@paulwheeler9572]

Thank you for sharing openly. You are the hero of the people everywhere!

[@LeriusDoman]

This channel and this video is excellent! Thank you!

[@JamesLaserpimpWalsh]

Thanks for the video. Great channel.

[@Dronescapes]

Thanks for watching!

[@juliusdream2683]

This was a great American aircraft. I wasn’t alive during Vietnam war so I really don’t know the real reason behind the war but that Jet helped our guys on the ground who just wanted to go home. That’s what I’ve always seen and I’m not young.

[@OuterHeaven210]

Strange to say that you don't know the reason behind the war because you weren't alive then. Maybe not strange but that makes no sense. Anyways I see where u r coming from. Regardless of war. It's a beautiful aircraft.

[@juliemunoz2762]

2:02:32 the sound cuts out, was it a glitch or youtube censorship?

[@MrShene123]

What an amazing person.

[@antiti4ever]

When I first saw F-105 side pictures, I wondered where are the air intakes.

[@JamesRice-wx8jb]

At the beginning of the wings

[@shenmisheshou7002]

_The F-105 actually shot down more enemy planes in Vietnam using its guns than the F-8 did_ . The F-8 only shot down 2 planes using its guns, while the F-105 shot down 25 using its guns. Everyone calls the F-8 "the last gunfighter" and commentators say that the gun was the primary weapon, but that is simply not true. The primary weapon of the F-8 was the AIM-9D, and it was the Sidewinder that gave the F-8 most of its kills. Meanwhile, the F-105 only have a couple of missile kills, with the vast majority being gun kills. In my own mind, I think of the F-105 as the "last gunfighter".

[@user-fp3mr9de4x]

When people are like each other they tend to like each other.

[@user-ju6sl6rs1u]

Test pilots are a rare breed

[@nmsidewinder]

Ah yes, the lead sled. 😊😊😊😊

[@markcooke5270]

Nothing beats the ENGLISH ELECTRIC INTERCEPTOR

[@raptor31able]

Until you actually need to engage an enemy, yes their quite charming. Plucky lil jet !!

[@reptile2001]

24:48 “Most of the time, the bomb bay was occupied by a further reserve of fuel on the outer wing.” Huh? Can someone clarify this?

[@hook86]

Momentary spell of retardation of the part of the narrator. The bomb bay was occupied by a reserve fuel tank most of the time.

[@SkyAIChannel]

i love video. Like

[@swright5690]

When you see one in person. Big.

[@EagleFighterJet]

F-105 Thunderchief

[@edwardrichardson8254]

This little jet could carry a bomb load greater than a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress or B-24 Liberator. Its primary mission was to penetrate low level at supersonic with a 1 megaton nuclear weapon (Hiroshima a mere 14 kilotons by comparison) carried INTERNALLY!!! If that sounds like science fiction for 1955 let me correct the myth that the Soviets were "ahead" on anything when they launched Sputnik 2 years after the "Thud"'s maiden flight. Our nuclear weapons program was so advanced that our warheads were tiny, therefore our rockets were tiny, and we even had single-engine, single-seater jets like the F-105 able to function as City Crackers with Doom In A Can. The Soviets had a large ICBM that could reach space because of their primitive (by comparison) cumbersome nukes, not because of any technological lead but rather a lack thereof. The Thunderchief was part of the supersonic atomic freakshow that included the wicket B-58 hustler. How would the Thunderchief escape the fireball of a 1 megaton nuke? It would toss bomb the weapon using an advanced fire control system. Imagine flying treetop level supersonic then miles outside your target pulling up when the computer says and once you gain high enough altitude releasing the bomb like an underarm softball toss high in the air, giving you time to afterburn out of there as it falls. It's like a STUKA in reverse. Like many iconic aircraft of the Cold War it found itself in a different role - dogfighter and conventional dumb-bomber in the jungles of Southeast Asia. The narrator notes Operation Rolling Thunder never got the communists to the negotiating table, well that's because that shitshow was controlled by the President and his advisors, not military men, and everything worth anything including NVA airfields were off limits. When Nixon got in and ran his version of it, they came to the table. However, this bungling by the Johnson administration contributed to the F-105 being the only US combat aircraft recalled because of high losses, a distinction it does not deserve. It flew over 20,000 sorties, and suffered about the same as the F4 Phantom in terms of combat losses doing things it was never designed to do.

[@Sagiterrian77]

It was designed to be a nuclear kamikaze. Then the War Machine realized it could be used as a conventional terror bomber.

[@ceciljohnrhodes4987]

Thud.

[@LordHolley]

Spin testing pilot...... I wonder what your life insurance premium is for that job.

[@frank3305]

What does his skin color have to do with anything