I am a Thud pilot.

[pipz]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MR2F677wYm0

[Gman]

I had just watched another youtube F105 documentary a couple months back, this one is excellent as well.  Quite an aircraft for a single engine plane, horrible loss rate due to the missions, over half built were destroyed in Vietnam to various causes.  Interestingly it was bisexual, with both types of refueling capabilities, the probe and the USAF port.

[Cthulhu]

I had just watched another youtube F105 documentary a couple months back, this one is excellent as well.  Quite an aircraft for a single engine plane, horrible loss rate due to the missions, over half built were destroyed in Vietnam to various causes.  Interestingly it was bisexual, with both types of refueling capabilities, the probe and the USAF port.

Loved Thuds since I was a kid, and of all the superlatives I had in mind...  fast, powerful, lethal... the word "bisexual" never, ever came to mind.

[Shifty]

If you want to read a great F-105 book I recommend When the Thunder Rolled by Ed Rasimus. A fantastic book about his tour flying F-105s out of Thailand during the Vietnam War.
He also wrote a sequel titled Palace Cobra about his second tour flying F-4s.

[pipz]

http://www.amazon.com/Thud-Ridge-Thunderchief-Missions-Vietnam/dp/0859791165/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1406409386&sr=8-1&keywords=thud+ridge

Meant to post this at first. Click on the bar above the lyrics to get the song going.
http://www.fighterpilotuniversity.com/music-and-theater/songs/i-m-a-thud-pilot/

[WWhiskey]

I am a Thud fan as well from reading Thud Ridge

From Wiki
Thud Ridge is a 1969 memoir by Jack Broughton about flying the F-105 "Thud" for the United States Air Force in the Vietnam War during Operation Rolling Thunder. The title Thud Ridge derives from the nickname given by F-105 pilots to the Tam Dao range (21°30′22.20″N 105°36′31.02″E), which was both a waypoint during air attacks in the vicinity of Hanoi, North Vietnam, and a terrain masking feature for ingressing fighters.

[eagl]

Interestingly it was bisexual, with both types of refueling capabilities, the probe and the USAF port.

I believe the word you were looking for was androgynous.

[cpxxx]

Hermaphrodite maybe? 

[GScholz]

Metrosexual... 

[tmetal]

My only info on the F105 came from my Grandfather.  He referred to it as the "thunder chicken", and would tell a story were he witnessed a fellow pilot killed by the wings snapping off of the F105 as the pilot did a victory roll over the airfield in celebration of completing his final sortie before going back stateside.

Guess what I'm saying is that besides some none-too-kind anecdotal information, I'm ignorant of the F105 and its capabilities. Anybody got some preferred web links besides wikipedia?

[pipz]

Tmetal try this site.

http://burrusspta.org/thud.html

[WWhiskey]

My only info on the F105 came from my Grandfather.  He referred to it as the "thunder chicken", and would tell a story were he witnessed a fellow pilot killed by the wings snapping off of the F105 as the pilot did a victory roll over the airfield in celebration of completing his final sortie before going back stateside.

Guess what I'm saying is that besides some none-too-kind anecdotal information, I'm ignorant of the F105 and its capabilities. Anybody got some preferred web links besides wikipedia?

the utube link up top is pretty good!

[Shifty]

My only info on the F105 came from my Grandfather.  He referred to it as the "thunder chicken", and would tell a story were he witnessed a fellow pilot killed by the wings snapping off of the F105 as the pilot did a victory roll over the airfield in celebration of completing his final sortie before going back stateside.

Guess what I'm saying is that besides some none-too-kind anecdotal information, I'm ignorant of the F105 and its capabilities. Anybody got some preferred web links besides wikipedia?

TM,

Any idea what unit your Grandfather flew with?

[tmetal]

Not sure shifty; i could probably find out easy enough. I do know that he was not a thud pilot (which probably has a good deal to do with why he didn't like the F105)  In Vietnam my grandfather flew the C47 as both a pamphlet bomber and the gunship version.

Here he is with the pamphlet bomber


Later he continued to fly for the USAF in SAC.  One day while flying a training mission (I think), his radio squawked with instructions to divert to a new flight path in order to assist a Boeing PR team with an airborne photo shoot of the B47.  He did as instructed and the result was this:

This huge photo hung in the lobby of Boeing's HQ for years; then was gifted to my grandfather once Boeing no longer had a use for it. It sat over his piano in his living room long before I can remember and was there until he passed away. Now my father has it in his den sitting over the same piano.


I know I've posted these pictures before but this was the first time I posted some of the story with them. If you're still interested shifty, I'll see what I can dig up about his unit postings and actual timeline.

[mike8318]

I used to live near Dobbins AFB in the early 80's. The 116th had the last remaining F-105G's in service. On a nice hot day they would use up most of that runway to get airborne. One pilot told me be below 160kts,the 105 takes on the aerodynamic characteristics of a greased tool box.