Hobby Master Archive

Hobby Master 1/72 Air Power Series HA2502 Republic F-105B Thunderchief USAF Air Demonstration Team Thunderbirds 1964

Die-cast metal. Pre-painted with pad applied markings. Fully assembled. Comes with crew figure Display stand included. Option to display model with wheels up or down. Minimum use of plastic. Hobby Master doesn’t flood the market with huge numbers of each model and with the pre-production interest shown world wide this definitely will be a very rare bird and extremely sought after.

The “B” variant of the Republic F-105 Thunderchief was the initial production version and became operational in May 1958 replacing the F-84 Thunderjet. On December 11, 1959 an F-105B set a world speed record of 1,216.48 mph over a 62 mile course. The F-105B never saw combat and only 75 were produced before the all-weather “D” variant became available in 1964. The F-105Bs were transferred to ANG and AFRES units with their last flight in 1981 when they were sent to be scrapped. At least five aircraft were spared and sent to museums.

On June 1, 1953 the 3600th Air Demonstration Team was activated and later named “Thunderbirds”. In 1964 the USAF Thunderbirds selected the F-105B as their new aircraft replacing the F-100C. Nine specially modified Thunderchiefs arrived for the new season. After the sixth show of the season tragedy struck when Capt. Gene Devlin died when his F-105 broke apart while performing a high-G climbing maneuver prior to landing. Later that year the team returned to the F-100D variant and flew this until 1969 when they switched to the F-4 Phantom II.

Crew - (1) pilot First Flight - May 26, 1956 Dimensions Length - 63 ft 1 in (19.23 m) Height - 19 ft 8 in (5.99 m) Wingspan - 34 ft 11 in (10.64 m) Wing Area - 385 sq ft (35.76 sq m)

Weight Empty - 25,855 lb (11,728 kg) Normal Combat - 34,870 lb (15,817 kg) Maximum Take-off - 46,998 lb (21,318 kg)

Performance Engine - (1) Pratt & Whitney J75-P-3/J75-P-5 turbojet, rated at 17,200 lb.s.t. (7,802 kg) dry and 23,500 lb.s.t. (10,659 kg) with afterburner.

Fuel Internal - 900 US gal (3,407 L). Maximum With External Tanks - 2,510 US gallons (9,500 l).

Speed Maximum “clean” - 1,376 mph (2,214 km/h) @ 36,000 ft (10,973 m) Sea Level - 864 mph (1,390 km/h) Normal Cruise - 585 mph (941 km/h) Stall - 204 mph (328 km/h) Time to 35,000 ft (10,668 m) - 1 minute Service Ceiling - 32,750 ft (9,982 m) Combat Ceiling - 48,100 ft (14,661 m) Combat Range - 744 miles (1,197 km) Maximum range - 2,228 miles (3,586 km)

Armament (regular F-105B) (1) 20-mm M61A1 rotary cannon with 1028 rounds. Up to 8,000 lbs (3,628 kg) of ordnance in the internal weapons bay. Plus an optional 6000 lbs (2,721 kg) of ordnance on external weapons racks (2) under each wing (1) center-line of the fuselage belly.

The Thunderbird’s aircraft were stripped of all weapons.