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General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: pipz on July 26, 2014, 02:55:15 PM

Title: I am a Thud pilot.
Post by: pipz on July 26, 2014, 02:55:15 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MR2F677wYm0
Title: Re: I am a Thud pilot.
Post by: Gman on July 26, 2014, 03:06:25 PM
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.
Title: Re: I am a Thud pilot.
Post by: Cthulhu on July 26, 2014, 04:00:16 PM
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.
Title: Re: I am a Thud pilot.
Post by: Shifty on July 26, 2014, 04:00:56 PM
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.
Title: Re: I am a Thud pilot.
Post by: pipz on July 26, 2014, 04:17:27 PM
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/
Title: Re: I am a Thud pilot.
Post by: WWhiskey on July 26, 2014, 06:11:25 PM
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.
Title: Re: I am a Thud pilot.
Post by: eagl on July 27, 2014, 09:25:03 PM
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.
Title: Re: I am a Thud pilot.
Post by: cpxxx on July 28, 2014, 09:47:15 AM
Hermaphrodite maybe?  :cool:

Title: Re: I am a Thud pilot.
Post by: GScholz on July 28, 2014, 10:02:46 AM
Metrosexual...  :lol
Title: Re: I am a Thud pilot.
Post by: tmetal on July 28, 2014, 10:39:39 AM
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?
Title: Re: I am a Thud pilot.
Post by: pipz on July 28, 2014, 03:26:52 PM
Tmetal try this site.

http://burrusspta.org/thud.html
Title: Re: I am a Thud pilot.
Post by: WWhiskey on July 28, 2014, 03:58:58 PM
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!
Title: Re: I am a Thud pilot.
Post by: Shifty on July 28, 2014, 07:14:40 PM
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?
Title: Re: I am a Thud pilot.
Post by: tmetal on July 29, 2014, 03:19:01 PM
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
(http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q569/bryguyw/1326922662.jpg) (http://s1164.photobucket.com/user/bryguyw/media/1326922662.jpg.html)

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:
(http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q569/bryguyw/1326922664.jpg) (http://s1164.photobucket.com/user/bryguyw/media/1326922664.jpg.html)
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.
Title: Re: I am a Thud pilot.
Post by: mike8318 on July 29, 2014, 03:37:12 PM
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.
Title: Re: I am a Thud pilot.
Post by: Plawranc on July 30, 2014, 02:22:12 AM
I do love me a good thud
Title: Re: I am a Thud pilot.
Post by: Shifty on July 30, 2014, 06:09:05 AM
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
(http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q569/bryguyw/1326922662.jpg) (http://s1164.photobucket.com/user/bryguyw/media/1326922662.jpg.html)

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:
(http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q569/bryguyw/1326922664.jpg) (http://s1164.photobucket.com/user/bryguyw/media/1326922664.jpg.html)
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.

Very Cool!  :aok
Title: Re: I am a Thud pilot.
Post by: Brooke on August 03, 2014, 11:45:08 PM
Thanks for the link -- it was a great documentary. <S>
Title: Re: I am a Thud pilot.
Post by: Brooke on August 04, 2014, 03:48:31 PM
I had heard that the F-105 was not a very good plane as evidenced by loss rate in Vietnam.  This documentary has the opposite point of view, so it was especially interesting to me.