Capt. Gene Devlin, second from right, is shown with other Thunderbirds pilots in this undated photo. Devlin was killed in a 1964 crash of an F-105 Thunderchief in California. (COURTESY) ...

While not as prestigious as some of its fellow aircraft from the same era, the F-105 Thunderchief was a huge contributor on the U.S. side in the Vietnam War.

The F-105's Development and Design In the early 1950s, Republic Aviation aimed to succeed its F-84F Thunderstreak with a supersonic fighter bomber optimized for nuclear strikes. The Thunderchief ...

But once the F-105 was up, she was smooth and stable; the jet was designed to fly straight. Putting the Thunderchief into a spin required a deliberate effort on behalf of the pilot.

But in fact, the F-105 — like the F-35 — turned too slowly to reliably beat the Russian-made MiG-21, the Thunderchief’s main potential rival at the time.

The Republic F-105 Thunderchief — which was also known as the "Thud," according to the United States Air Force — is fighter-bomber, meaning that it can shoot down other aircraft, and drop ...

DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. — Former F-105 Thunderchief pilots held a reunion at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, Nov. 2-5.