@ Santa Rosa, CA
December 2019
Among the extensive jet collection at the Pacific Coast Air Museum is this Thunderstreak, having some nose gear issues at the time. A swept-wing version of the F-84 Thunderjet was created with the hope of achieving performance comparable to the F-86 Sabre. The F-84 designation was retained because the fighter was expected to be a low-cost improvement of the straight-wing Thunderjet with planned 55% commonality in tooling which ended up to be only 15%. Entering service in 1954, engine issues resulted in premature active duty phaseout by 1958. Cold War tensions forced the reactivation of the Thunderstreak fleet where they served until 1971, lastly with ANG units. In use by many nations, Greece retired their last F-84Fs in 1991. This Thunderstreak was used as a target at China Lake after retirement before recovery by the Museum in 1997 for restoration and display in 2004. Fuji X-E2s w/18-135mm.
