How old am I? A short history of an airplane I flew that was as old as me.

[trof]

Or damn near.

OK, stay with me here.
I was born in 1941.

In 1946 the first prototype of the F-84, a USAAF (U.S Army Air Force, later to become a separate military branch, the U.S. Air Force) turbo-jet fighter/bomber was flown at Muroc, the USAAF flight test base in the California high desert. The same base featured in "The Right Stuff".

I was not yet 5 years old.

When I was eleven and assembling non-flying model aircraft like the P-38 Lightning and the P-51 Mustang (both hot stuff during WWII) the first variant of the airplane I would later fly rolled out.
The venerable RF-84/F.


And twelve years later, at age 23 (1964), I checked out in the 84 in the 106th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, Alabama Air national Guard, Birmingham, Alabama.

I flew it for the next 6 years.
It had been obsolete since about 1957.
We called it 'The Lead Sled'.
Woefully underpowered.
Back then the guard always got the hand-me-downs.
But it was a fun ride.
:-)

[Captain Hilts]

1. Cool! Ever ride in or fly a Sabre? P-51?

[trof]

2. P-51, yes.

Long story short...
I knew a guy who had a P-51 he'd had converted to a two seater.
I think it was a company if Tallahassee that did it.
We went up a couple of times.
Way cool.
The torque was amazing
They said Mustang drivers all had overdeveloped muscles in their left legs.
Or right.
I forget which way the torque went.

[Captain Hilts]

5. I've heard that you have room for an extra seat if you take out the archaic, large

radio equipment.

Cool!!

[trof]

6. Yeah, it was a tandem seat.

No controls in back.
Just a passenger.

[trof]

3. Oh yeah, I was 'shot down' by an F-86 once.

Joint exercise in Puerto Rico in the 60s.
The 84 was no match for the 86.
He got on my ass and there was no way I could shake him.

[bluedigger]

4. I've seen static displays like your photo

of F-84s at airfields across the country. They must have dumped them en masse.

[trof]

7. Yeah, they were gutted. Just the airframe and skin.

[trof]

8. Funny story about a static display at Keesler AFB in Biloxi.

Hurricane Camille hit the MS gulf coast in 1969.
At one of the entrances to Keesler was a static F-86.
It was lifted by high winds and tidal surge far inland and discovered by sheriff's deputies in the woods the next day.

They thought it was a downed aircraft and immediately instigated a search for 'the pilot'.
:rofl:

[bluedigger]

10. You find strange things out in the woods sometimes.

Some of them, you just can't explain. :D

[trof]

9. There were no F-84 'trainers'.

Most tac fighters had a trainer version with two seats.
One for instructor and one for student.
They were designated 'TFs'.
Trainer Fighters.

Not so with the F-84.
Your very first ride was solo.

You studied the dash-one (aircraft handbook), visited the actual aircraft in the hangar in various stages of disassembly and repair while that particular technician (hydraulics, electrical, fuel, etc.) showed you the innards and how they worked.

And then you picked up your helmet and parachute at the parachute shack, walked out to your bird, cranked it up, took off, and then hoped you could land it in one piece.

Most of us did.
It was an 'enlightening' experience.
;-)