Quote:
Originally Posted by Bubblehead1980
F-105 Thunderchief, the combat losses were well, outrageous.The Thud lacked the more advanced bomb sights and thus was forced to dive bomb, much like a WW II era dive bomber.The Thud, while very fast was large and not that agile, pilots had a difficult time evading SAMs and clouds of flak that other planes dealt with but did not suffer the loss rates.
Brave me they were, to go into battle in a plane like that...
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I would agree with Xabbarus. The F-105 was designed to carry a single nuclear bomb against tactical targets, In Vietnam it was asked to carry out a job it was not designed to do.
It turned out to be able to carry a high bomb load and be a decent combat aircraft as well, shooting down many Mig-17s which were more agile , but slower. Its only real enemy was the MIG-21 which totally outclassed the Thud.
The high combat losses had more to do with the Air defences over North Vietnam than the plane's design. The Soviets used Vietnam to test and refine their air defence network. By 1968, Hanoi was the most heavily defended target in the world.