Subject: Number 105 in the Series--Republic F-105 Thunderchief (9 of 9)

From: [email-masked]
Date: 17 Feb 94 17:50:38 GMT

>From [email-masked]

The F-105G was the designation given to Wild Weasel F-105Fs which were 
fitted with greatly improved avionics.  Additional electronic 
countermeasures equipment was housed in blisters mounted on the side 
of the fuselage.  The designation EF-105F was temporarily applied to 
these aircraft, but their designation was eventually changed to 
F-105G.  

The F-105G could be externally distinguished from the F by the 
presence of two long, cylindrical pods faired into the sides of
the lower fuselage.  These carried the Westinghouse AN/ALQ-105
electronic countermeasures jamming transmitters.  A cooling scoop
for the associated electronics is mounted on the fuselage belly
just ahead of the weapons bay.  The F-105G was fitted with the
AN/APR-35, AN/APR-36, AN/APR-37, and AN/ALR-31 Radar Homing and 
Warning (RHAW) systems.  The F-105G also carried extra sensing 
antennae mounted on the wings and on nose.  Among these are
four triangular-shaped antennae located on the nose just behind 
the main radome.  Most F-105Gs were fitted with a combat camera
mounted in a protrusion fitted underneath the nose just behind 
the radome.

Fourteen of the F-105Gs were further modified to carry and launch
the General Dynamics AGM-78A Standard ARM ModO anti-radar missile. 
The Standard was an anti-radiation missile designed to have a
higher performance, longer range, and larger warhead that that
of the Shrike, which was at that time giving indifferent results.
It was based on the Standard RIM-66A ship-based surface-to-air
missile.  It flies on a dual-thrust motor and steers with tail
controls and very low aspect ratio fixed wings.  The missile was
180 inches long, had a wingspan of 43 inches, and had a diameter
of 13.5 inches.  Launch weight was about 1400 pounds, maximum
speed was Mach 2.5, and range was up to 35 miles.  The Mod0 was fitted
with the T1 seeker used by the Shrike, but this was replaced by the
Maxson broad-band seeker of the main(Mod1) production version, the
AGM-78B.  This seeker is designed to attack search, GCI, SAM and
other radar systems and is intended to give the launching aircraft
to attack from any direction and to turn away and get outside the
lethal radius of enemy SAMs.  Between November 1968 and June 1969,
another 16 F-105Gs were modified to launch the AGM-78B.  The
Standard was typically carried underneath the inboard underwing
pylons or underneath the centerline pylon.  Sometimes, both 
Standards and Shrikes were carried, with the smaller Shrike being
carried on the outboard underwing pylons.

Because of the additional electronic equipment, the F-105G had a
slightly smaller internal fuel capacity than the F-105F.  Total 
internal fuel capacity was 1051 US gallons, as compared to 1160
US gallons for the F-105F.

The F-105G remained in service with the USAF long after the F-105D and 
F had been withdrawn.  The F-105Gs remained in Vietnam until the end 
of US involvement in that unhappy conflict.  Following the US 
withdrawal from Vietnam, two F-105G squadrons served with TAC's 35th 
TFW until they were replaced by F-4Gs in 1980.  This marked the end of 
Thunderchief service with the USAF.  The surviving F-105Gs were passed 
on to the Air National Guard, which operated them until 1983.  

Sources:

  United States Military Aircraft Since 1909, Gordon Swanborough and
  Peter M. Bowers, Smithsonian, 1989.

  The American Fighter, Enzo Angelucci and Peter Bowers, Orion, 1987.

  Fighters of the United States Air Force, Robert F. Dorr and
  David Donald, Temple Press Aerospace, 1990.

  American Combat Planes, Third Enlarged Edition, Ray Wagner, Doubleday,
  1982.

  Post-World War II Fighters, 1945-1973, Marcelle Size Knaack,
  Office of Air Force History, 1986. 

  The Thunder Factory, Joshua Stoff, Motorbooks, 1990.

  F-105 Thunderchief in Detail and Scale, Bert Kinzey, Kalmbach 
  Books, 1993.

  The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft Armament, Bill Gunston,
  Orion Books, 1988.

Joe Baugher		AT&T Bell Laboratories   	
2000 North Naperville Road      Naperville, Illinois 60566-7033