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 ...

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) ...

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.