Thundercheif world

And, what about THIS aircraft in service of Australia as long-range interceptor?

800px-F-106_Delta_Dart_5th_IS.JPEG


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convair_F-106_Delta_Dart
And what about this one? 25% of the price, all of the performance. Hundreds just sitting in the desert waiting for a new life at the time. F-106 only went to procurement because they had too much money into it to walk away. Billion $ boondoggle personified. Time to climb...? (the "hallmark" of an interceptor in that era)...the Voodoo kicked it's butt. Also in manoevering accelleration at high altitudes, if the truth be known.

On topic? The Voodoo also covered both the 105's butt in Europe (F-101A/ F-101C) and the 106 (with ADC/NORAD), when neither could meet their IOC dates.

voodoo11.jpg
 
I seem to recall that F-104s were just under a million and a half. The fraction of $ 2.3 million is not 33%.

Ummm...To buy a "made in USA" F-105 off of Republic's assembly line costs 2+ million US Dollars.

That was the only way to get one.

The 104 programme was entwined in the nebulous world of MAP financing. Disregarding the MAP monies contributed to the construction/improvements to production facilities and tooling, I've found a fly-away cost of about 850K ($Ca) from Canadair @ Cartierville PQ.

Regardless...even if a 104 costs the equivalent of 1.5M USD to produce at MBB, it's being built by German workers, paid in Deutsche Marks, paying taxes to the FRG...

BIG difference there.
 
Last edited:
That French F105 looks great and so plausible. With UK advanced aircraft projects cancelled in the late 1950's might it have made sense to the RAF in the early 1960s as a tactical strike fighter based in Germany? What about service with the Nationalist Chinese? Could that be possible? Australia as a Canberra replacement?
 
That French F105 looks great and so plausible. With UK advanced aircraft projects cancelled in the late 1950's might it have made sense to the RAF in the early 1960s as a tactical strike fighter based in Germany? What about service with the Nationalist Chinese? Could that be possible? Australia as a Canberra replacement?

The problem with a lot of these countries, in particular Britain and to a lesser extent, Australia is that throughout the cold war period they constantly teneded to push for the uber new and advanced aircraft. Take the British TSR-2 debacle or the Australian F-111's. At least for the Aussies they got their wonder weapon. Even though the Brits took delivery of more, old and subsonic Bucc's, I don't know if either would accept relatively old and obsolete F-105's.

Russell
 
An aircraft that was also short-listed as a Canberra replacement was the Mirage IV. Another nuclear strike bomber that was not expected to return from it's target, a variant, the IVB was to be powered by a pair of J-75s and possessing more range, but the project was considered too expensive. It is cheaper to send a pilot on a one-way mission.

The old Buccaneer, carrying internal stores, was as fast as a Phantom at low level. Like the F-105, the internal weapons stowage never seems to be used in real life.

The F-105 never got to be old and obsolete. It died while still current. The Vietnam conflict was very good at using up old weapons before the stale date.
 
Canada. Canada have bought Thuds and called them "CF-105B", and built Avro Arrow as "CF-105A". Just to confuse ABSOLUTELY EVERYBODY.... :D
 
Canada. Canada have bought Thuds and called them "CF-105B", and built Avro Arrow as "CF-105A". Just to confuse ABSOLUTELY EVERYBODY.... :D

Yup, importing Thunderchiefs was one of the options put forward once it was decided not to go forward with the CF-105 Arrow project. Apparently according to several sources, the RCAF's preferred option was to have a limited run of Arrows supplemented by some Thunderchiefs (Equipped with an Orenda Iroquois engine and built in Canada). When it became apparent that the government wasn't willing to put any more money into the Arrow (not that I entirely blame them...by that point the Arrow had become such a white elephant it probably deserved to be cancelled) the RCAF/Avro fought to have Thunderchiefs built under licence in the Avro plant. That too was shot down in favour of purchasing the Voodoo/Starfighter.

I have a feeling that the Canadian Thunderchiefs would be a very different animal, especially if produced under licence. Not only would they have a much bigger powerplant, but they could conceivably benefit from a number of other improvements as well. Properly modified, I'm inclined to think that the Thud could have served the RCAF's needs well during the Cold War, and unless the government's attitudes towards the military change I'd imagine they'd have to...
 
Last edited:
Top