The Republic F-84 Thunderjet was an early American jet fighter-bomber, widely used in the Korean War.

Gallery:

Features:

• Blueprint recreation of the real aircraft
• Fairly realistic performance
• XML edited weapons (M3 Browning and HVAR)
• Custom landing gear
• Custom airbrake
• Custom canopy view

Nonstandard Controls:

• AG 8 for lights
• VTOL for flaps
• Trim for trim

Notes:

• Fly with mouse rather than keyboard, as always
• Don’t mirror it, if you want to swap weapons do so manually
• The C variant didn’t see use in Korea, but it’s the best looking version of the aircraft without ugly canopy frames or wingtip fuel tank fins. It’s also what the Wikipedia orthographic drawing is of ;)
• I know this design isn’t really “obscure, fictional, or just never got off the drawing board” but I wanted to practice a number of things (blueprint building, realistic wings, glass canopy, custom landing gear, manually reducing drag on parts) and the F-84 seemed a simple aircraft. This is my first attempt at many of these and I’m pretty happy with the result.

Background:

Republic’s F-84 Thunderjet first flew in 1946, one of the earliest American jet fighters. However, early versions faced numerous issues and the entire program was nearly cancelled. Slowly, subsequent variants corrected these problems, but the aircraft never lived up to the reputation of its legendary predecessor, the P-47 Thunderbolt. A number of photo reconnaissance versions were also produced.

Nicknamed “The Hog” by its pilots, the F-84 saw extensive use in the Korean War by the USAF. Although nominally a fighter, the F-84 was completely outclassed in the sky by the MiG-15 and was soon relegated to ground attack duties. Performing high speed, low altitude strike missions, the F-84 found some success, destroying more ground targets than any other USAF aircraft in Korea.

After the war, the Thunderjet was replaced by the swept-wing F-84F Thunderstreak. But by this time, the basic design was outdated, and this aircraft, too, was soon replaced by the superior F-100 Super Sabre.