Delaware Valley Historical Aircraft Association

History

Beginning in August of 1954 the United States Air Force’s Strategic Air Command initiated the transfer of its Republic F-84Fs to Air National Guard units nationwide. The aircraft was intended to be an upgraded version of the straight-wing F-84 Thunderjet; a design with a clear linage to Republic’s P-47 Thunderbolt of WWII fame. The change to swept wing and tail surfaces and the addition of the more powerful J65 engine were all intended to produce an aircraft that would be on par with North American’s swept wing F-86.

 Early model F-84s and F-86s served alongside one another in combat during the Korean War. It was during the time that certain inadequacies of early F-84s began to show and work by Republic engineers on the F-84F began to intensify. The problems during flight test were quick to manifest themselves and were lengthy in their resolution. Many of these problems were due in part to the fact that jet was thought of by many as a new version of an existing airframe rather than a distinct type unto itself. (Demonstrative of this was Republic promised a tooling commonality of 55 percent, yet when initial production finally commenced it was much closer to 15 percent.)

After a brief period of service with the Strategic Air Command, a majority of F-84Fs were transferred to Air National Guard service. During this period of post-war aviation, advances were so rapid that technological advancement saw units moving in and out of airframes in the span of years rather than decades. Even still, most units were operating types that were on the verge of becoming obsolete when compared with those of their active duty counterparts. 

The Pennsylvania ANG 111th Wing and the New Jersey ANG 108th Wing both flew the F-84F. The 111th Wing operated out of Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) and they flew the F-84F from 1954 to 1956 before transitioning into the F-89 Scorpion interceptor, a move typical of the period.

The 108th Wing transitioned into the F-84F in 1958. These guardsmen took these aircraft with them to an airbase located in Chaumont, France as part of their activation during the Cuban Missile Crisis. This deployment was documented by author, and then guardsmen, Richard Bach in his book Stranger to the Ground. Upon completing their deployment, they returned to New Jersey without their F-84Fs and transitioned into F-86s. It is interesting to note that the unit would come to be the primary operator of the F-105B Thunderchief which was the next in the lineage of Republic’s combat aircraft.

The F-84F on display at the Harold F. Pitcairn Wings of Freedom Aviation Museum was airlifted in early 2006 from the Quakertown Aviation and Technical school via CH-47, provided by MAG 49, to AGA farms in Bedminster. Work was begun there before being transported to Willow Grove NAS where the restoration was completed in early 2010. It has been placed on display in the colors of the PA Air National Guard’s 111th Fighter Wing 103rd Fighter Squadron.