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At the Dawn of the Jet Age, the F-84 Thunderjet was a Rumbling Presence
Designed by Republic Aviation Corporation engineer Alex Kartveli — progenitor of the P-47 Thunderbolt — the F-84 Thunderjet became the US Air Force’s second operational jet fighter but the first to enter service after World War 2. Overshadowed by the debonair F-86 Sabre during the Korean War and dubbed The Hog in tribute to their sluggish take off behaviour, F-84s provided diligent service as ground attack jets, possessing superior range, speed and survivability to the F-51D Mustang and F-80C Shooting Star. Thunderjets and the successor swept wing F-84F Thunderstreaks were the prevalent aircraft in Strategic Air Command’s little known strategic fighter squadrons, as well as the air forces of America’s European allies who urgently needed to rearm for the Cold War. Since the F-84 was in service when jet technology had just passed its infancy, it was a test subject for a variety of quirky, sometimes fatal aerial experiments.
The F-84 almost did not achieve production status. When the then P-84 (its classification before 1948) made its first test flight in 1946, Republic was nearing bankruptcy. The wartime success of the P-47 Thunderbolt notwithstanding, the company only had enough money to function for three weeks. Reprieve for the nascent jet was achieved when the US Army Air Force agreed to advance payment on the aircraft…
