Republic F-105 Thunderchief

what is it?

The Republic F-105 Thunderchief is an American 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 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.

🔎How to recognise it: 1 jet engine · 10.6 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 2,241 km/htop speed
• size 24 tmax take-off weight
• built 833made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 71 years ago, in 1955.
• 🏎️Top speed is 17.2× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 💥Faster than sound: up to Mach 1.8 (sea-level speed of sound ≈ 1,235 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 10.6 m: about 2 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🐘Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 4 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 🏔️Can fly 1.7× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

jet: Gas turbine pushing air out the back (turbofan or turbojet): fast and high-flying.

spec sheet

first flight

1955-10-22

introduced

1958

retired

1984

status

retired

number built

833

role

fighter-bomber

origin

🇺🇸 United States

makers

Republic Aviation Corporation

engines

1× Pratt & Whitney J75-P-19W / J75

crew

1

length

19.6 m

wingspan

10.6 m

height

6 m

max take-off weight

24 t

top speed

2,241 km/h

range

—

ceiling

14,783 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.