Republic F-84F Thunderstreak

The Republic F-84F Thunderstreak was a swept-wing turbojet fighter-bomber, the successor to the straight-wing F-84 Thunderjet. It was meant to be a simple upgrade that added a swept wing and tail to compete with the North American F-86 Sabre, but the engine was changed to the more powerful Wright J65, a United States build of the British Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire, which forced a stretched oval fuselage and a new air intake, so that only a fraction of the production tooling could be reused. Production was repeatedly delayed, another run of straight-wing G models was completed in the meantime, and the F-84F entered Air Force service in November 1954. Its front-line career was brief, but second-hand aircraft went to NATO members and other friendly nations in large numbers. The same airframe was also built as the RF-84F Thunderflash photo-reconnaissance variant.