North East Aircraft Museum

The North of England's premier collection of Aviation History

Old Washington Road, Sunderland, SR5 3HZ

UK Registered Charity No. 515254

Republic F-84F Thunderstreak (26541)

NAHR category - Significant
Aircraft History

The F-84F Thunderstreak was derived from the earlier F-84C Thunderjet which saw action during the Korean war. The F-84F was design as a single-seat tactical fighter-bomber and featured a sharply-swept wing, all-moving tail plane and a wide-track undercarriage enabling the aircraft to operate safely from unprepared or semi-prepared airstrips close to the frontline. A total of 2,711 Thunderstreaks were produced at Republic's plant at Farmingdale, New York between 1952 and 1957. Of these 1,310 were supplied to NATO air forces in Europe under the terms of the Mutual Defence Aid Pact (MDAP) scheme.

The F-86F had a Wright J-65-W3 turbojet engine producing 7,220lbs of static thrust and a maximum speed of 696mph (Mach .91) at sea level. It also had a radar-ranging A4 gunsight and an internal armament of six .5in (12.7mm) Colt-Browning M-3 machine guns and could carry twenty-two different combinations of weapons and drop tanks externally up to a total weight of 6,000lbs (approx 3 tonnes). This included rockets, napalm and nuclear or conventional (high explosive bombs). The standard combat radius was between 450-810 miles with a ferry range of up to 2,140 miles.

26541 History

Our F-84F was delivered to the USAF as 52-6541 on 23rd August 1954. It served with the following units :-

  • September 1954 - Mobile Air Material Area (MAML), Alabama
  • October 1954 - Ribatejo, Portugal for contract modification
  • April 1955 - Returned to MAML
  • April 1956 - 401st Fighter-Bomber Group (Tactical Air Force), England AFB, Louisiana
  • June 1956 - 366th Fighter-Bomber Group (Tactical Air Force), England AFB, Louisiana
  • January 1957 - Returned to Republic for modifications
  • April 1957 - 401st Fighter-Bomber Group (Tactical Air Force), England AFB, Louisiana
  • June 1957 - 366th Fighter-Bomber Group (Tactical Air Force), England AFB, Louisiana
  • November 1957 - Short term storage at MAML
  • March 1958 - Transferred to Warner-Robbins AML and withdrawn from use. Assigned to Mutual Defence Aid Pact (MDAP) and allocated to the Greek Air Force as 26541
  • April 1958 - 340th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron (Greek AF)
  • August 1975 - 344th Fighter-Bomber Squadron
  • August 1983 - Stored at Elefsis AFB near Athens
  • June 1986 - Allocated to NEAM in a deal involving both US and Greek governments (along with our NA F-86D Sabre) and moved by road to Sunderland.

    • NOTE : In 1996 the remaining F84F's in storage in Greece were finally scrapped under the terms of the CFE treaty agreement as they were still considered to be a threat to world peace!

    Photo credited to Andy Court.