Sun shining through leaves and fog. Strange sounds and rustles. The soft steps of the partisans on the moss-strewn ground. And a thunderous roll over the green of the jungle! Down the hillside, just above the crowns, 16 silvery lightning bolts swept through. The Thunderchief squadron followed its usual course for Hanoi …
One of the most powerful and sophisticated aircraft of its time, the founder of the class of maneuverable tactical bombers capable of holding up for themselves in aerial combat.
"Shilo with nuclear filling", equipped with an aiming and navigation system for high-speed low-altitude breakthroughs through the enemy's air defense system.
The largest single-engine combat aircraft in the history of aviation (only the F-35 surpassed it in terms of weight, and none in terms of overall dimensions).
The main striking force of the United States Air Force in the Vietnam War.
The name of this miracle is Republic F-105 Thunderchief ("Thunderer") or simply, "Thug" ("Thad").
A unique car was built by our former compatriot, aircraft designer Alexander Kartveli (Kartvelishvili). Together with another Russian émigré, Alexander Seversky, he founded the Republic Aviation firm and created such masterpieces as the heavy escort fighter P-47 Thunderbolt, the main destroyer of the Korean War F-84 Thunderjet, its swept-wing version F-84F Thunderstreak, RF-84F Thunderflash reconnaissance aircraft and F-105 Thunderchief fighter-bomber. The latest creation of the Kartveli firm was the A-10 Thunderbolt II anti-tank attack aircraft.
Kartveli built his monsters according to a single principle: he chose the most powerful and high-torque of the existing engines, attached a wing and "stuffed" the resulting platform with the most high-tech (at that time) equipment. As a result, very large, unusual machines were born, well suited for strike missions and raids deep into enemy territory.
Research on Project No. 63 (the future "Thunderchief") was carried out by the Republican firm on a proactive basis, without any tenders or applications from the Air Force. Even 10 years before the high-profile incident with Mr. Powers (the destruction of U-2 over Sverdlovsk), Kartveli realized that flying at high altitudes was a sure and inevitable death. The rapid evolution of air defense systems and the development of radar did not leave any other choice. Rescue - at low and extremely low altitudes, where the radar beams could not reach. The concept of the new bomber assumed the rejection of the idea of slow "flying fortresses". The new striker was supposed to have all the habits of a fighter and, if necessary, be ready to independently engage in a maneuverable air battle.
Predatory oblong silhouette. Protruding "teeth" of the air intakes. Max. takeoff weight 23.8 tons. Max. speed 2.08 M. 1 motor. 1 pilot.
Aiming and navigation complex NASARR R-14A as part of the AN / AGC-19 centimeter radar for detecting radar-contrast ground targets (roads, river meanders, buildings, bridges) and correcting the Doppler navigation system. In addition, the station could determine the slant range to the target, signal obstacles along the course when flying at low altitude, and aim in air combat. Also in the avionics "Tada" was an AN / ASG-19 Thunderstick bomber sight-computer, connected with a navigation machine, providing automatic blind bombing from level flight, from pitching and "over the shoulder".
Armament: Vulcan six-barreled cannon with an ammunition capacity of 1028 rounds. Internal bomb bay 4, 5 meters long and 5 external hardpoints. Combat load 6, 7 tons. Combat radius with a Mk.28 thermonuclear bomb and three PTBs is 1252 km. Conventional: from the 16th 750-lb. with general-purpose bombs and a fuel tank in the bomb bay, the Tada's combat radius reached 500 km. There was an in-flight refueling system.
Alexander Kartveli had something to be proud of.
The first prototype YF-105A flew in 1955. Serial production began in 1958 and lasted 6 years, until the Thunderchif replaced the more versatile Phantom. 833 built fighter-bomber in three main modifications (F-105B, F-105D and F-105F) and two modernization programs (EF-105F and F-105G).
By the beginning of the 60s. fighter-bombers (carriers of nuclear weapons) were deployed at air bases in Zap. Europe, North. Africa and the Far East, ready at any moment to become the main force for an attack on the USSR. But the real "hour of truth" for "Tads" was the war in Vietnam. It was the modest heroes of the F-105, and not the overly popular Phantoms and B-52s, that were the main striking force in the early years of the war (75% of all strike missions). They also distinguished themselves later, when they were already replaced by their successors - Phantoms and the new generation F-111 bombers.
They flew the most, they were entrusted with the most dangerous missions and the attack of the most protected objects. The main oil depot in the suburbs of Hanoi, the metallurgical plant in Taingguen, the railway bridge over the Red River on the border with China, the Katbi airfield, where the helicopters delivered from the USSR were assembled, the main "lair of MiGs" - the Fukyen airbase … Powerful bomb strikes did not succeed break North Vietnam. The Yankees ran into frenzied resistance: in the Hanoi region, an unprecedented air defense system was built in the entire history of world wars: more than 7,000 anti-aircraft guns with a caliber of over 37 mm, anti-aircraft missile systems (during the war years North Vietnam received 60 divisions of the S-75 air defense system and to them 7500 anti-aircraft missiles), MiG fighters.
"Thunderchif" caught an anti-aircraft missile
The losses of the Yankees turned out to be monstrous - according to official data, the Yankees lost 382 Thunderchifs in Vietnam (according to other sources, 395) - almost half of the built fighter-bombers of this type. Of these, 17 were shot down by anti-aircraft missiles, 11 - by MiG fighters, the rest of the losses - from the fire of barreled anti-aircraft artillery. In turn, the Tads flew about 20,000 sorties over Vietnam; according to the US Air Force, they were credited with 27.5 aerial victories.
The MiG-17 was hit by a burst from the six-barreled Tada cannon, an air battle on June 3, 1967.
The heaviest losses were not the result of any miscalculations in the Thunderchif's design. Rather, on the contrary, the F-105 had amazing survivability for a single-engine aircraft. There is a known case of the return of "Tada" with 87 holes in the planes and fuselage - despite being wounded in the arm and leg, the pilot managed to refuel the damaged vehicle from the KS-135 air tanker and fly to a base in Thailand. Another time, a vehicle returned to the base with a broken tail section - the result of erroneous guidance of the Sparrow missile launcher launched by its own Phantom fighter. There is an episode with the burst of an 85 mm anti-aircraft projectile inside the wing plane - despite extensive damage to the power set, Tad managed to fly another 500 miles.
Pilots and those. airbase personnel noted such problems as an unusually high noise level, high landing speed, difficulties in servicing numerous and still "raw" radio electronics (labor costs at first - up to 150 hours per hour of flight!), as well as possible engine surge caused by firing from a rapid-fire cannon.
Avionics "Thunderchifa"
But in fact, there were two serious shortcomings. Already the first sorties showed that the Thunderchif's weak point is the insufficient fuel supply. When conducting deep raids to the North, hung with F-105 bombs, at least two refueling in flight was required: one on each side of the route. Otherwise, the fuel limitation did not allow vigorous use of the afterburner and engaging in air battles. A bomber with a damaged fuel system had no chance of returning to base.
The second problem was the lack of a backup mechanical control system. The Ripablik engineers considered it sufficient to duplicate the aircraft's hydraulics, but the real war proved the opposite: in certain cases, a stray projectile could disable both hydraulic systems - the RUS went all the way to the pilot and the unguided bomber recovered to its last dive. Based on the results of numerous complaints from the Air Force, a compromise solution was found: an emergency mechanical system that made it possible to lock the rudders in neutral and control the aircraft only with the help of trim tabs.
Super Saber aims a pair of F-105s
With the escalation of the conflict in Southeast Asia, the Thunderchiefs had to take on an even more difficult and dangerous job - Wild Weasels! Special teams, whose main task was to suppress air defense systems, primarily the positions of anti-aircraft missile systems.
At first, they acted extremely brazenly and simply. Lacking the means of early detection of the air defense missile systems' positions, the Tady flew to the area where the enemy was supposed to be, ready at any moment to dodge the missiles fired at them. While the distracting link was making vigorous maneuvers, the strike link counterattacked the position of the air defense missile system with fire from onboard cannons (4000-6000 rounds per minute), conventional cluster bombs and missiles with radio command guidance.
The next logical step was to combine the functions of both aircraft in one - a special two-seat modification of the F-105F "Combat Martin", a radar hunter based on a combat training aircraft. The onboard equipment included equipment for direction finding of radio emission sources and setting active interference in communication channels between the command post and the pilots of Vietnamese MiGs. The main weapons were AGM-45 Shrike anti-radar missiles and AGM-78 Standard ARM heavy anti-aircraft missiles (a modification of the Standard shipborne anti-aircraft missile with a new seeker, guided by radar signals).
Since 1970, even more advanced machines have entered the war in Indochina - the F-105G (Wild Weasels III). Alas, despite all its power and those. perfection, the new "Thunderchiefs" could not solve the problem of neutralizing the Vietnamese air defense. Hunters became more and more victims. There is a known combat episode (summer 1973) when one of the Tads was shot down by an S-75 anti-aircraft missile 150 km south of Hanoi. In the operation to rescue the pilots, the Yankees had to use 75 aircraft and helicopters.
The last combat missions of the F-105G took place in October 1974. More aircraft of this type did not take part in any hostilities. Not exported. The aging "Thunderchiefs" were gradually withdrawn into the reserve or transferred to the Air Force squadrons of the National Guard.
The last time "Thunderer" ascended into the sky in January 1984.
To date, not a single flying copy of the F-105 has survived, at the same time, these stylish aircraft from the 60s are on display at many aviation museums.
Nicknames characterize the attitude to any piece of technique. The F-105 aircraft had a huge number of nicknames reflecting the rather ambiguous attitude of the pilots to this aircraft: from frankly unprintable, through the disreputable "Hog" ("Hog" - a pig, hog) to the neutral-affectionate "Tad". The nickname "Lead Sled" reflected the "impressive" takeoff and landing performance of the airplane. Authoritative pilots undertook to argue that if a runway was built along the equator, then its length for takeoff and landing of the F-105 aircraft might not be enough. But ten years after it was put into service, in 1969, the plane had only one nickname - "Tad", the personnel appreciated the car, and the pilots used a new saying: than a friend."
F-105D cab
