The Aviation Art Of - William Phillips Air Guard in Mig Alley.jpg (1/1)

In article , Mitchell Holman
says...




for context...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_F-84_Thunderjet

...."Thanks to the thick straight wing the Thunderjet rapidly reached its Mach
0.82 limitation at full throttle and low altitude. The aircraft had sufficient
power to fly faster, but exceeding the Mach limit at low altitudes resulted in a
violent pitch-up and structural failure causing the wings to break off. Above
15,000 ft (4,600 m), the F-84 could be flown faster but at the expense of severe
buffeting. However, the airspeed was sufficiently easy to control to make safe
dive bombing from 10,000 ft (3,000 m) possible. The top speed limitation proved
troublesome against Soviet Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15s in Korea. Slower than the
MiG, the F-84 was also unable to turn tightly with a maximum instantaneous-turn
load of only 3 Gs followed by rapid loss of airspeed. One F-84E pilot credited
with two MiG kills achieved his second victory by intentionally flying his
aircraft into pitch-up. The MiGs chasing him were unable to follow the violent
maneuver and one crashed into the ground. Luckily for the F-84E pilot, the
aircraft did not disintegrate but the airframe did suffer heavy warping. The
F-84 was a stable gun platform and the computing gunsight aided in accurate
gunnery and bombing. Pilots praised the aircraft for Republic's legendary
ruggedness.

"Pilots nicknamed the Thunderjet "The Lead Sled". It was also called "The Iron
Crowbar", "a hole sucking air", "The Hog" ("The Groundhog"), and "The World's
Fastest Tricycle", "Ground Loving Whore" as a testament to its long takeoff
rolls. F-84 lore stated that all aircraft were equipped with a "sniffer" device
that, upon passing V2, would look for the dirt at the end of the runway. As soon
as the device could smell the dirt, the controls would turn on and let the pilot
fly off the ground. In the same vein, it was suggested a bag of dirt should be
carried in the front landing gear well. Upon reaching V2, the pilot would dump
the dirt under the wheels, fooling the sniffer device.



...."The aircraft were initially tasked with escorting the B-29 Superfortress
bombers. The first Thunderjet air-to-air victory was scored on 21 January 1951
at the cost of two F-84s. The F-84 was a generation behind the swept-wing Soviet
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 and outmatched, especially when the MiGs were flown by
more-experienced pilots, and the MiG counter-air mission was soon given to the
F-86 Sabre. Like its famous predecessor, the P-47, the F-84 switched to the
low-level interdiction role at which it excelled.

"The F-84 flew a total of 86,408 missions, dropping 55,586 tons (50,427 metric
tons) of bombs and 6,129 tons (5,560 metric tons) of napalm. The USAF claimed
F-84s were responsible for 60% of all ground targets destroyed in the war.
Notable F-84 operations included the 1952 attack on the Sui-ho Dam. During the
war, the F-84 became the first USAF fighter to utilize aerial refueling. In
aerial combat, F-84 pilots were credited with eight MiG-15 kills against a
Soviet-claimed loss of 64 aircraft. The total losses were 335 F-84D, E and G
models.



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