@ Speyer, Germany
December 2022
Greeting visitors at the excellent Speyer Technik Museum is this Thunderstreak. This ex-USAF aircraft (52-6816) never served with the Italian Air Force but flew with the West German Air Force, and now wears the livery of the Italian Air Force aerobatic display team ‘Getti Tonanti’ (Thundering Jets). The team took part in the opening ceremonies of the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, the reason that the Olympic rings appear on the tail. The swept-wing version of the F-84 Thunderjet was created with the hope of achieving performance comparable to the F-86 Sabre. 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.
