No less than 450 F-84F’s were delivered to the Luftwaffe (that is to say the West German Air Force) commencing in 1956 with assignments to the Fighter Training School and Weapons School at Fürstenfeldbrück and Erding respectively.
In 1957 the first operational Wing was formed , being JagdBomberGeschwader 31 (JBG31) at Büchel, later Nörvenich with squadron-code DA , followed by 5 more during the period 1958 to 1961, these being JBG32 (Lechfeld , code DB), 33 (Büchel , code DC),34 (Memmingen , code DD) , 35 (Husum , code DE) and 36 (Rheine-Hopsten , code DF). The last Thunderstreaks went out of service in December 1966, although already from 1961 the F-104 Starfighter gradually took over its role. More than 230 German Streaks were transferred to the Turkish and Greek Air Forces and some still survive today as monuments or in museums .
Leave a Reply