Republic F-84 Thunderjet

The Republic F-84 Thunderjet was an early turbojet fighter-bomber built by Republic Aviation. It grew out of a 1944 Army Air Forces requirement for a day fighter, which Republic received without a competition, and it first flew on 28 February 1946. Designed around the General Electric TG-180 axial turbojet, which Allison built as the J35, it entered service in 1947 but suffered so many structural and engine problems that a 1948 Air Force review judged it unable to do its intended job. The F-84D of 1949 and the definitive F-84G of 1951 put that right, and the type became the Air Force main strike aircraft of the Korean War, flying 86,408 sorties. About 4,450 were built, many of them for NATO air forces, and it was the first aircraft flown by the Thunderbirds demonstration team.