Republic F-105 Thunderchief

The Republic F-105 Thunderchief was the largest single-seat, single-engine combat aircraft ever built and the principal U.S. Air Force strike bomber of the early Vietnam War. Conceived in the early 1950s as a supersonic nuclear-strike fighter-bomber, the "Thud" carried its primary bomb load internally and could exceed Mach 2 with its powerful Pratt & Whitney J75 turbojet. First flown on October 22, 1955, it entered service late in the decade and then flew the bulk of the dangerous bombing missions against North Vietnam, where its size, speed and heavy payload were assets but its losses to flak and missiles were severe; more than 20,000 sorties were flown and hundreds of aircraft lost.

Specialized two-seat F-105F and F-105G "Wild Weasel" versions hunted enemy radar and surface-to-air missile sites. Built by Republic Aviation, the F-105 is remembered as a brave and hard-hit workhorse of the air war over Southeast Asia.