Dutch F-84F

Dutch Thunderstreaks tries to present a pictorial overview of every F-84F that was registered with the Royal Netherlands Air Force (or KLu, Koninklijke Luchtmacht). In total the Klu had 180 Thunderstreaks, registered P-101 till P-277 and P-298 till P-300. The type entered service in 1955 and the last ones were phased out in 1970.
The album holds two “galleries”: the first deals with Thunderstreaks in active operational service, the second shows photographs of obsolete ones.

Dutch Thunderstreaks: Period of active service

The Dutch F-84F's were in service from 1955 to 1971 ; from 1955 to 1959 they wore squadron-codes and from 1959 to 1971 they carried P-regs. on the nose ; from circa 1961 onwards camouflage was gradually applied. Keep in mind that a lot of these pictures - especially the ones taken near landing-lights and alongside taxy-tracks - were made under difficult circumstances !

163 Photos

Dutch Thunderstreaks: KLu F-84Fs out of service

A lot of Streaks ended their service life as decoys at bases of the KLu: every base had about 4 aircraft as decoys. They were removed and scrapped in 1980. A few still survive today as gate-guards, monuments or museum aircraft. Here is an overview. Note that not all withdrawn aircraft depicted here are still present at the given location.

32 Photos

Service history:
The first Thunderstreak entered service with the KLu with 311 squadron at Volkel; as such the type replaced the F-84G Thunderjet. Subsequently 312, 313, 314, 315 and 315 squadron reequipped. In the early days the Streaks were finished in metal colours. The P- registrations were not directly applied on the aircraft; instead they wore a specific code on the nose, indicating their respective squadrons:

The P- registration was applied on the Thunderstreaks in 1959; pictures of Thunderstreaks wearing the squadron codes are not very common, but you will find some in the gallery.

The F-84Fs were phased out of Dutch services in two batches. The first half involved the Streaks of 311 and 312 squadron at Volkel. From October 1964 onwards these squadrons started converting to the Starfighter and this was completed around the end of 1965. Their Thunderstreaks were either returned to the USAF (and subsequently sent to Greece and Turkey), taken in use for spareparts/decoy purposes or transferred to 314 and 315 squadrons at Eindhoven.

At Eindhoven the type remained in service till 1970, when the conversion to the Northrop NF-5 was completed.

The majority of the Thunderstreaks were scrapped. A number of them were allowed to stay in Holland for decoy and museum purposes, and some 20 aircraft were transferred to Greece where they soldiered on till the early 1980s.

A site with very interesting pictures of Dutch Streaks is www. milavation.nl of Gijs Hiltermann.