{"id":2044,"date":"2011-02-28T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-02-28T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/?p=2044"},"modified":"2011-06-24T13:26:01","modified_gmt":"2011-06-24T17:26:01","slug":"look-ma-no-propellers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/?p=2044","title":{"rendered":"Look Ma! No Propellers!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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F-84 Thunderjet<\/p><\/div>\n

Today, the jet age truly turns 65 years old. It was born when the prototype XP-84 Thunderjet<\/em> flew for the first time at Muroc Army Airfield on this day in 1946. Current jets are far more powerful than the first jet, they fly faster, farther, and higher; and Muroc is no longer under control of the Army, it is now Edwards Air Force Base.<\/p>\n

Originally, the engineers and designers at Republic simply thought of installing a turbojet engine in their P-47 Thunderbolt<\/em> design. This idea, however economical, proved unfeasible. The Thunderbolt<\/em> airframe turned out to be an inadequate host for the jet engine. The lead designer at Republic, Alexander Kartveli, directed his team to start designing an original aircraft. This work\u00a0first began in 1944, even before the end of the war.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0XP-84 was terribly underpowered, as were all the first jets of the new jet age. The Thunderjet<\/em> consisted of one seat, one engine, and limited provisions for armament and weapons. On the first airplanes, the engine was of dubious character, with a full operational lifetime of only 40 hours. Another problem of the J-35-GE-15 engines was\u00a0a lack of power\u2014they produced only 3745 pounds of thrust.<\/p>\n

After the National Security Act of 1947 created the United States Air Force, the military services eliminated the \u201cP\u201d designation for pursuit aircraft replacing it with the \u201cF\u201d designation for fighter. Late that same year, the 14th<\/sup> Fighter Group of Bangor, ME became operational with the new F-84B fighter.<\/p>\n

From the start, the airplane had problems. Like all new technology, the pilots and technicians had to learn this new system. At first, because of wrinkling in the fuselage skins, the Air Force limited the operational loading of the airplane to 5.5 g\u2019s. Moreover,\u00a0due to\u00a0problems with the phenomenon of control reversal<\/em>, the Air Force\u00a0set the maximum speed\u00a0at .8 Mach. The airplane obviously had more growing pains to work through, but before Republic could accomplish their work with redesigning the airplane, the Air Force grounded the entire fleet of F-84Bs.<\/p>\n

Republic further refined the airplane developing it into the F-84E. When the E-model became operational, it was a tougher airframe with a more powerful engine. The F-84 served the Air Force well in Korea, in roles\u00a0of interdiction, escort, and ground support.<\/p>\n

The F-84 was\u00a0also the first operational jet to\u00a0have aerial refueling capability. It was also the first airplane flown by the Air Force demonstration team, the Thunderbirds. When the airplane reached the G-model variant, it was the first fighter equipped with swept wings.<\/p>\n

While the airplane was not as glorious as some of\u00a0the more famous jets\u00a0that followed, the Thunderjet\u2019s<\/em> place in aviation history proved more important in teaching the aeronautical engineers, pilots, and technicians about jets. The aviation industry learned\u00a0a great deal\u00a0about jet aviation because of this one aircraft.<\/p>\n

The Thunderjet later became the F-84F Thunderflash,<\/em> which remained actively flying with the Air National Guard until 1971. The last of the F-84s flying operationally was with the Hellenic Air Force as late as 1991.<\/p>\n

-30-<\/p>\n

\u00a9 2011 J. Clark<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today, the jet age truly turns 65 years old. It was born when the prototype XP-84 Thunderjet flew for the first time at Muroc Army Airfield on this day in 1946. Current jets are far more powerful than the first … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,8],"tags":[278,299,329,352,990,1247,1302,1468,1733,1977,2008,2030,2096,2098,2232,2391,2446,2486,2697,3038,3552,3900,3907,4320,4331,4359],"class_list":["post-2044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aviation","category-aviation-history","category-life-in-general","tag-aerial-refueling","tag-air-force","tag-airplanes","tag-alexander-kartveli","tag-control-reversal","tag-edwards-air-force-base","tag-escort","tag-flying","tag-ground-support","tag-interdiction","tag-j-35-ge-15-engines","tag-jet-age","tag-korea","tag-korean-war","tag-look-ma-no-propellers","tag-military-service","tag-muroc-army-airfield","tag-national-security-act-of-1947","tag-p-47-thunderbolt","tag-republic-aviation-corporation","tag-the-air-force-demonstration-team","tag-the-thunderbirds","tag-the-united-states-air-force","tag-world-war-ii","tag-wrinkling-fuselage-skins","tag-xp-84-thunderjet"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t