Website covering the (R)F-84F Thunderstreak / Thunderflash as well as airshow reports, base visits, aircraft museums and lots of aircraft-spotting pictures taken from the sixties to present days
Home > RF-84F
RF-84F
The Thunderflash was the very successful reconnaissance version of the Thunderstreak ;
within NATO it saw service with the US Air Force (+ Air National Guards), the R.Netherlands Air Force (KLU), the Belgian Air Force (BAF), the German Luftwaffe, the French Air Force (FAF), the Italian Air Force , the Hellenic Air Force of Greece (HAF), the Turkish Air Force, the R.Danish Air Force and the R.Norwegian AF.
Outside NATO Taiwan made use of the RF-84F.
The Thunderflash first entered service with the U.S. Air Force (and later with some U.S. Air National Guards); after that the aircraft was also supplied to other NATO partners. The Belgian Air Force received 34 Thunderflashes in total (including 4 ex W.German AF-machines); in 1972 they were succeeded by Mirage 5BR's. The R.Netherlands AF got 24 Thunderflashes, for use by nr.306 squadron at Deelen. As was the case in Germany, Italy, Denmark and Norway ,the Dutch Flashes were replaced by the Lockheed RF-104G Starfighter. The last Thunderflashes were those of the Hellenic Air Force; till 1974 these aircraft flew with 348 Mira (squadron) based at Larissa, but some of them could still be seen flying in the early eighties.
95 Photos
By the end of the Sixties most Thunderflashes had left active service (exception was the Hellenic AF, some of whose RF-84F's were still operational in the early 1980s). Most aircraft were scrapped (the Belgians did so at Koksijde, where large quantities of Thunderflashes were kept in open storage for a while), but some are being preserved as monuments or in museums.
56 Photos
