F 84 Thunderjet, Thunderstreak, Thunderflash, Thunderscreech. Republic's amazing American aircraft

The Republic F-84 Thunderjet was an American turbojet fighter-bomber aircraft. Originating as a 1944 United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) proposal for a "day fighter", the F-84 first flew in 1946. Although it entered service in 1947, the Thunderjet was plagued by so many structural and engine problems that a 1948 U.S. Air Force review declared it unable to execute any aspect of its intended mission and considered canceling the program. The aircraft was not considered fully operational until the 1949 F-84D model and the design matured only with the definitive F-84G introduced in 1951. In 1954, the straight-wing Thunderjet was joined by the swept-wing F-84F Thunderstreak fighter and RF-84F Thunderflash photo reconnaissance aircraft.
The Thunderjet became the USAF's primary strike aircraft during the Korean War, flying 86,408 sorties and destroying 60% of all ground targets in the war as well as eight Soviet-built MiG fighters. Over half of the 7,524 F-84s produced served with NATO nations, and it was the first aircraft to fly with the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds demonstration team. The USAF Strategic Air Command had F-84 Thunderjets in service from 1948 through 1957.
The F-84 was the first production fighter aircraft to utilize inflight refueling and the first fighter capable of carrying a nuclear weapon, the Mark 7 nuclear bomb. Modified F-84s were used in several unusual projects, including the FICON and Tom-Tom dockings to the B-29 Superfortress and B-36 bomber motherships, and the experimental XF-84H Thunderscreech turboprop.
The F-84 nomenclature can be somewhat confusing. The straight-wing F-84A to F-84E and F-84G models were called the Thunderjet. The F-84F Thunderstreak and RF-84F Thunderflash were different airplanes with swept wings. The XF-84H Thunderscreech (not its official name) was an experimental turboprop version of the F-84F. The F-84F swept wing version was intended to be a small variation of the normal Thunderjet with only a few different parts, so it kept the basic F-84 number. Production delays on the F-84F resulted in another order of the straight-wing version; this was the F-84G.
In 1944, Republic Aviation's chief designer, Alexander Kartveli, began working on a turbojet-powered replacement for the P-47 Thunderbolt piston-engined fighter. The initial attempts to redesign the P-47 to accommodate a jet engine proved futile due to the large cross-section of the Thunderbolt's fuselage. Instead, Kartveli and his team designed a new aircraft with a much-slimmer fuselage housing an axial compressor turbojet engine in the rear fuselage, and an air intake of the nose of the fuselage, with air ducts running from the nose to the engine and taking up much of the fuselage volume. Fuel was mainly stored in tanks in the thick, but laminar-flow airfoil, unswept wings.
On 11 September 1944, the USAAF released General Operational Requirements for a day fighter with a top speed of 600 mph (520 kn; 970 km/h), a combat radius of 850 mi (740 nmi; 1,370 km), and armament of either eight 0.50 in (12.7 mm) or six 0.60 in (15.2 mm) machine guns. In addition, the new aircraft had to use the General Electric TG-180 axial turbojet which entered production as the Allison J35. These specifications proved to be too ambitious, however, and the radius requirement was reduced to 705 mi (613 nmi; 1,135 km) and the armament to six .50-caliber or four .60-caliber machine guns in order to reduce weight.
On 11 November 1944, Republic received an order for three prototypes of the new XP-84 - known to Republic as the Model AP-23. Since the design promised superior performance to the Lockheed-built P-80 Shooting Star and Republic had extensive experience in building single-seat fighters, no competition was held for the contract. The name Thunderjet was chosen to continue the Republic Aviation tradition started with the P-47 Thunderbolt while emphasizing the new method of propulsion.
General characteristics
Crew: 1
Length: 38 ft 1 in (11.61 m)
Wingspan: 36 ft 5 in (11.10 m)
Height: 12 ft 7 in (3.84 m)
Wing area: 260 sq ft (24 m2)
Airfoil: Republic R-4,45-1512-.9 (12%)
Empty weight: 11,095 lb (5,033 kg)
Gross weight: 18,645 lb (8,457 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 23,525 lb (10,671 kg)
Fuel capacity: 450 US gal (1,700 L) internal fuel
Powerplant: 1 × Allison J35-A-29 turbojet engine, 5,600 lbf (25 kN) thrust
Performance
Maximum speed: 622 mph (1,001 km/h, 541 kn) at sea level
Cruise speed: 48 mph (77 km/h, 42 kn) at 35,000 ft (11,000 m)
Range: 670 mi (1,080 km, 580 nmi) (internal fuel)
Ferry range: 2,000 mi (3,200 km, 1,700 nmi) with external tanks
Service ceiling: 40,500 ft (12,300 m)
Time to altitude: 7.9 min to 35,000 ft (11,000 m)
Armament
Guns: 6 × .50 in (12.7 mm) M3 Browning machine guns, 300 rounds per gun
Rockets: Up to 32 5-inch rockets
Bombs: 4,000 lb (1,800 kg) bombs, including 1 × Mark 7 nuclear bomb
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