The F-105 Was the F-35 of the Vietnam Era

[Windjammer]

At over 64 feet, it was both longer and taller than say the F-15 Eagle. For a single engine that's a massive aircraft.
It was infamously called the ''Thud'' which interestingly had nothing to do with it's designation...Thunder Chief.

 

[OrionHunter]

The U.S. military’s new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter can’t turn fast enough to defeat a much older F-16 in mock air combat, according to an official test pilot report that War Is Boring obtained.

The F-35 wasn't designed for dog fights!

 

[alaungphaya]

Didn't the F-105 invent SEAD warfare when they developed the F-type Wild Weasel variant? It may have been a failure but it found its niche.

 

[C130]

The F-35 wasn't designed for dog fights!

it's a multi-role fighter designed to replace the A-10,F-15,F-16, and F-18.

but dog fighting isn't it's forte though.


Flanker,Eurofighter,Rafale,F-16,F-18 all would smoke it

 

[MilSpec]

Bad analogy . The F-111 might be compared but the F-105 has nothing to do with the F-35.

I was about to say the same

 

[IND151]

Its engine thrust was 11,793 KG.

 

[Broccoli]

it's a multi-role fighter designed to replace the A-10,F-15,F-16, and F-18.

but dog fighting isn't it's forte though.


Flanker,Eurofighter,Rafale,F-16,F-18 all would smoke it

F-35 can launch AIM-9's at any direction so going to dog fight it is going to be dangerous. Rafale pilots do not have helmet mounted sights right now (reason not known).

As long pilots know F-35's strengths and enemy's limitations they are good to go. F-4 was not most nimble fighter (designed to shoot down bombers in BVR) but after it's pilot managed to get their act together it become one of the most dangerous fighters in the sky.

 

[BoQ77]

F-4 v MIG-21

Operation Bolo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The F-4 was inferior to the MIG-21 in most aspects of what make an air combat fighter, and yet in Operation Bolo, the gun-less F-4s shot down 7 North Vietnamese MIG-21s.

Yes, you do not fight a on someone else's terms. Or as I have said before...

In combat, you win not by fighting under the other guy's rules, but by forcing him to fight under yours.

Any advantage is a rule. If you have more powerful engines, that is a rule that your opponent do not have. If you can out turn your opponent, that is also a rule. The MIG-21 have so many rules over the F-4, and yet the Americans outwitted and out fought the North Vietnamese pilots.

But no matter, when the F-35 and its pilots prove everyone wrong, none of you clueless ones will be around to admit your errors anyway.

In the eyes of Northern pilot,
at first they prefer the Mig-17 over the Mig-21.
Some pilots could master the Mig-17 control to shoot down F-105, F4 ... only with his a/c gun.
Is it understandable? Mig-17 has no missile, and subsonic , they're rivalry of F-105.

Some American pilots hate F4 because they have no gun at initial, only missile. Same to Mig-21

Nowaday, something changed.

F-35 is AB Destroyer on air. They are joint strike.
And more important, the nuclear B61 bomb tested successfully, could mount onto F-35.

F-35 isn't for dogfight, agree.

 

[Penguin]

Unlike the F-105 the F-35 will be exported to friendly countries

The F-105 had a rather short life in the American Air Force because so many were lost in action during the Vietnam war

Really?

Introduction 27 May 1958
Retired 25 February 1984
Produced 1955–1964
Number built 833

The F-105B entered USAF service with the Tactical Air Command's 335th Tactical Fighter Squadron of the 4th Tactical Fighter Wing in August 1958.
...
As production of F-105s had ended, the type was replaced in the Vietnam War by other aircraft, primarily the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II. In October 1970, the 355th Tactical Fighter Wing, based at Takhli RTAFB, Thailand, the last F-105D unit in Vietnam, began to return to the U.S. The F-105G Wild Weasel versions soldiered on until the end of the war. They were gradually replaced by F-4G Wild Weasel IVs.
The Thunderchief was rapidly withdrawn from USAF service after the end of the Vietnam War. Of the 833 F-105s built, a combined 395 F-105s were lost in Southeast Asia, including 334 (296 F-105Ds and 38 two-seaters) lost to enemy action and 61 lost in operational accidents. Following the war the U.S. Air Force began transferring the remaining aircraft to Air Force Reserve (AFRES) and Air National Guard (ANG) units. By the late 1970s, these aging Thunderchiefs were becoming difficult to maintain. The last F-105Gs with the 128th Tactical Fighter Squadron of the Georgia ANG were retired on 25 May 1983. The last flight of the F-105 Thunderchief was by the AFRES 466th Tactical Fighter Squadron with F-105Ds on 25 February 1984.

Republic F-105 Thunderchief - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1958 through 1978 is still 20 years of [very] active service, not considering reserve years.

JSF

joint

strik

fighter

Note:

• strike plus fighter
• strike comes before fighter

It is not intended to be a dogfighter, which the F-16 clearly was

F-16:

• single-engine multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF)
• Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it evolved into a successful all-weather multirole aircraft..

F-4 v MIG-21

Operation Bolo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The F-4 was inferior to the MIG-21 in most aspects of what make an air combat fighter, and yet in Operation Bolo, the gun-less F-4s shot down 7 North Vietnamese MIG-21s.

Yes, you do not fight a on someone else's terms. Or as I have said before...

In combat, you win not by fighting under the other guy's rules, but by forcing him to fight under yours.

Any advantage is a rule. If you have more powerful engines, that is a rule that your opponent do not have. If you can out turn your opponent, that is also a rule. The MIG-21 have so many rules over the F-4, and yet the Americans outwitted and out fought the North Vietnamese pilots.

But no matter, when the F-35 and its pilots prove everyone wrong, none of you clueless ones will be around to admit your errors anyway.

Agree, you're out there to kill the opponent, not to give them a fair fight. In a real battle, the turkey shoot is preferred over the equal fight.