F-105
To understand the fighting spirit of the Wild Weasels.....one might read this article about Thorsness and his back seater on a mission to Hanoi area.
http://www.afa.org/magazine/valor/0485valor_print.html
http://www.afa.org/magazine/valor/0485valor_print.html
The Bucc when compared to the Thud comes second by far.
A very quick comparison of various aircraft can be done at the following site....
http://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft_comparison.asp
A very quick comparison of various aircraft can be done at the following site....
http://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft_comparison.asp
As already mentioned Red Flag was born out of the Thud loss rates and proved to be an arena in which the Bucc performed spectacularly well, much to the surprise of the hosts. I guess they had been playing "Top Trumps"
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Thud mission audio
Wiki has some mission tapes and transcripts on some Thud wild weasel missions over Hanoi:
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Category:Vietnam_War
Pretty enlighting stuff!!!
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Category:Vietnam_War
Pretty enlighting stuff!!!
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The photos in Posts 57 & 59 show just how much the F-105 benefitted from its protruding tailpipe. Remember how the Israeli Air Force added tailpipe extensions to some of its fighters (Mirages and A-4s, I think) so that any heatseekers that got 'up their chuff' exploded more or less in empty space without doing significant damage to the main workings of the aircraft.
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SASless,
Interesting site, but the adage 'Rubbish in, rubbish out' holds true.
The Bucc would happily exceed 561 knots and, indeed, I suspect that the 938 miles quoted as max range must be AT 561 kts, AT 100 ft and WITH at least 8 x 10000lb'ers (disregarding twin and triple store carriers and clearly exceeding the max 7 stores quoted).
That said, I would love to get my hands on a Thud - one cool ac, and I suspect that the Thud and the Bucc were of the same stable.
Interesting site, but the adage 'Rubbish in, rubbish out' holds true.
The Bucc would happily exceed 561 knots and, indeed, I suspect that the 938 miles quoted as max range must be AT 561 kts, AT 100 ft and WITH at least 8 x 10000lb'ers (disregarding twin and triple store carriers and clearly exceeding the max 7 stores quoted).
That said, I would love to get my hands on a Thud - one cool ac, and I suspect that the Thud and the Bucc were of the same stable.
F-105 v Bucc - low level range
Anybody any info on a typical low level range for the Thud? I'm tempted to think that the two-turbofans of the Bucc should give a greater range over the Thud's single turbojet...
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You are correct although I never dragged a basket for any Thuds.. only RB and EB-66s.
We did refuel the Thuds awfully low.. we were in the "Fruit Bowl" (refueling anchors in Thailand were named Apple, Peach, Cherry, etc) and picked up some Thuds down around 14-16,000...but they were fast. As I remember, Thuds refueled at 315IAS.
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Buccaneer v Thud
Graham Pitchfork's "The Buccaneers" seems to have no listing of performance or specs. However page 28 instances an unrefuelled flight from Goose Bay to Labrador of 1950 nm.
On the other hand, on the same page, a standard hi-lo-hi Beira patrol with refuelling seems to have extended to only 500 nm radius.
On the other hand, on the same page, a standard hi-lo-hi Beira patrol with refuelling seems to have extended to only 500 nm radius.
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I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
Graham Pitchfork's "The Buccaneers" seems to have no listing of performance or specs. However page 28 instances an unrefuelled flight from Goose Bay to Labrador of 1950 nm.
On the other hand, on the same page, a standard hi-lo-hi Beira patrol with refuelling seems to have extended to only 500 nm radius.
On the other hand, on the same page, a standard hi-lo-hi Beira patrol with refuelling seems to have extended to only 500 nm radius.
OTOH the RN did a Hi-Lo-Hi attack on Gibraltar from the Ark while the Ark was in the south west approaches. Haven't worked out the distance and I am not sure if they used buddy-buddy refuelling.
