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BAF Thunderstreaks: aircraft in active service

(1) A short history

Belgium received -like Holland and other NATO countries- its Thunderstreaks as a loan from the US Government under the MDAP plan. They were replacing the F-84G and E Thunderjets that were operated by the 2nd Wing at Florennes and the 10th Wing at Kleine Brogel. The first of the total batch of 197 Thunderstreaks arrived in August 1955.

The 10th Wing at Kleine Brogel flew Thunderstreaks till 1964 when the F-104 Starfighter took over. All remaining aircraft were gathered at Florennes; here the best ones were selected to remain in service with the 2nd Wing and the less lucky ones were transported to the Aircraft Storage Parc at Koksijde. Here at Koksijde they were gradually sold and scrapped.

No. 2 Wing flew its Thunderstreaks till 1971; replacement was found in the Mirage V. Again all remaining Streaks were flown to Koksijde and eventually scrapped. A few escaped and ended their lives as decoys (disguised as Mirages) at various Belgian air force bases.

(2) Colours and Coding

When the Thunderstreaks arrived in 1955 they were in metal finish; large squadron codes were applied on the nose with on the tail in smaller lettering an FU- registration (FU-01 till FU-197). Each of the six F-84F squadrons had its unique code:

2nd Wing Florennes:

  • 1 Squadron used 3R-
  • 2 Squadron used UR-
  • 3 Squadron used YL-A
 10th Wing Kleine Brogel:

  • 23 Squadron used Z6-
  • 27 Squadron used RA-
  • 31 Squadron used 8S-

In 1958 the machines were camouflaged, but kept their squadron codes. These codes eventually disappeared in 1959, when they were replaced by a very large (FU-) registration.

And this is the way we remember the Belgian Streaks at best. Below picture was used by the Belgian Air Force as a publicity postcard. They must have sent thousands of them:

(3) Spotters notes
Belgian Thunderstreaks frequently visited Dutch airbases such as Eindhoven. We also often saw them at nearby Kleine Brogel in Belgium. Below are a few examples (click to enlarge photo):

A FU-12 visiting Eindhoven in the late sixties
FU-177 in an overshoot

FU-37 taxiing over the "first lane" at Eindhoven
FU-106 and FU-91 parked at Florennes

(4) Aerobatics
FU-52 was one of the aircraft that often could be seen in the mid-sixties while performing aerobatics at local airshows. It had a special colour scheme that changed somewhat over the years. Here are two examples of those colourschemes:

FU-52 colourschemes
FU-52 colourschemes

And by the way, here is that same FU-52 a few years later, in its standard “Vietnam-style” camouflage scheme:

FU-52 Vietnam-style camouflage

(5) Our pictures of Belgian Thunderstreaks in active service