Republic F-84F Thunderstreak

In the meantime, the USAF, hoping for improved high-altitude performance from a more powerful engine, arranged for the British [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] turbojet engine to be built in the United States as the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

To accommodate the larger engine, YF-84Fs with a British-built Sapphire as well as production F-84Fs with the J65
had a vertically stretched fuselage, with the air intake attaining an oval cross-section.

Production delays with the F-84F forced USAF to order a number of straight-wing F-84Gs as an interim measure.

Production quickly ran into problems. Although tooling commonality with the Thunderjet was supposed to be 55 percent, in reality only 15 percent of tools could be reused.
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To make matters worse, the F-84F utilized press-forged wing spars and ribs.

At the time, only three presses in the United States could manufacture these, and priority was given to the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] bomber over the F-84.
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The YJ65-W-1 engine was considered obsolete and the improved J65-W-3 did not become available until 1954.

When the first production F-84F finally flew on 22 November 1952, it differed from the service test aircraft.

It had a different canopy which opened up and back instead of sliding to the rear, as well as airbrakes on the sides of the fuselage instead of the bottom of the aircraft.

The aircraft was considered not ready for operational deployment due to control and stability problems.

The first 275 aircraft, equipped with a conventional stabilizer-elevator tailplane, suffered from accelerated stall [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]
and poor turning ability at combat speeds.

Beginning with Block 25, the problem was ameliorated by introduction of a hydraulically-powered one-piece [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

A number of aircraft were also retrofitted with [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] for improved high-speed control.

As a result, the F-84F was not declared operational until 12 May 1954.

YF 84F

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Operational history

Project Run In completed operational tests in November 1954 and found the aircraft to be to USAF satisfaction and considerably better than the F-84G. However, ongoing engine failures resulted in the entire fleet being grounded in early 1955.

Also, the J65 engine continued to suffer from [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] when flying through heavy rain or snow.

As the result of the problems, the active duty phaseout began almost as soon as the F-84F entered service in 1954, and was completed by 1958.

Increased tensions in Germany associated with construction of the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in 1961 resulted in reactivation of the F-84F fleet.

In 1962, the fleet was grounded due to corrosion of control rods.

A total of 1,800 [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] was expended to bring each aircraft to full operational capacity.

The aircraft were retired from active service in 1964.

Stress corrosion forced retirement of ANG F-84Fs in 1971.