The F-84G Thunderjet is s/n 10676, USAF s/n 51-3181. It was one of 219 Thunderjets supplied to Yugoslavia. Apparently both the F-84G and the T-33A has both been at Rijeka since August 2001, at least.

Regards,

Jan

Jan,

This info is wrong
1.) 51-3181 does not exist as a USAF s/n (not allocated)
2.) 52-3181 was delivered to the USAF 27.04.53, to MDAP on 03.09.53 and arrived in Turkey on 10.10.53, to fly with the Turkish Air Force.

Further, it looks like the JRV had 229 F-84G instead of 219.

pvde67, many thanks for unearthing the thread and adding your great knowledge to it, much appreciated!:)

Thank you, much appreciated. Hope someone will add more information and not simple loan (ie,steal) my information :-)….

Any more pics on the JRV F-84G (not that I dislike the F-86 🙂 )

The F-84 thread has got to look at some pictures of F-84 Thunderjets and F-86 Sabres of the Yugoslavian airforce.
Does anyone here know the politics of how Yugoslavia was able to procure Western and Eastern Bloc aircraft during the cold war?
I can only think of Finland as being another nation in a similar position.

As Tito kept a strict “neutral” course, away from the Soviet Doctrine, Yugoslavia was also open to contacts with the west. Therefor, it was decided to grant (military) aid to Yugoslavia, to keep that country, for at least partially, influenced by and friendly to the western powers.

Regarding the Repblic F-84G Thunderjet, extracts from my manuscript, chapter Yugoslavia:

Military assistance by the United States of America for Yugoslavia was discussed during 1951, and an agreement signed on November 14, 1951. During early 1952, a United States Aid Mission was present in Yugoslavia, mainly instructing and advising the Yugoslavia Armed Forces with their modernisation campaign(……)
On the 10th of March 1953, the United States Air Force delivered the first jet aircraft to the Yugoslavia Air Force, a total of 4 Lockheed T-33A Shooting Stars. This was to be followed by delivering the first jet fighter to the Yugoslavia Air Force, a decision which raised some question marks on the political front in the United States of America. Via the United States funded Mutual Defence Assistance Program (MDAP), an initial number of 25 Republic F-84G Thunderjet aircraft were allocated to the Yugoslav Air Force. All of these aircraft were former 48 Tactical Fighter Wing aircraft, based at Chaumont Air Base, France. (……)
The initial F-84G type conversion training for 3 senior Yugoslav Air Force pilots was staged at Chaumont Air Base, France. These 3 Yugoslavia Air Force Pilots were Steva Leka, Borivoje Petkov and Dinko Radman. They had their conversion training on the Republic F-84G Thunderjet with the 493 Tactical Fighter Squadron during September, 1952. The result was satisfactory, that another 10 Yugoslavia Air Force pilots were converted at Chaumont Air Base, France, in December, 1952.(……)
On June 9th, 1953, the first Republic F-84G Thunderjets were delivered to the Yugoslav Air Force, ferried by United States Air Force Europe pilots. A total of 8 aircraft were flown to Batajnica JRV base, arriving from Erding Air Base, West-Germany. In that time, Erding Air Base served as a United States Air Force Mutual Defence Aid Program Depot. During July ( 31 in total? ) and October 1953 ( 22in total? ), additional former United States Air Force Republic F-84G Thunderjets were delivered to the Yugoslav Air Force.(……)
grand total : 229
service : 06.53 – 1974
serials : 10501 – 10729
10501 – 10556 : all former USAFE aircraft, delivered 1953
10557 – 10636 : all former USAFE aircraft, delivered 01.54 – 01.55
10637 – 10669 : mainly former BAF/RNLAF aircraft, delivered 1957
10670 – 10729 : all former HAF aircraft, delivered 1959-1960tbc

Hi Joao

This link is no longer active, but might be of interest to me.
Can you contact me about it?

Thank you

Paul

Do you need a hand with the potuguese F-84s?

Here you can see a list of losses:http://callsignafp.blogspot.com/2007/03/f-84g-thunderjet-aeronaves-destrudas-em.html

Regards:
João

An interesting picture, given the time frame is correct. Or, may I presume, it is ‘estimated 1955-160’? Might it be one of the Danish Commercial Ships, which were used to tranfer aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean? If so (and I think so) it must be a circa 1952-1953 photo.

Besides, aircraft were also flown acress the AO
An extract from my manuscript, general text:
“A project named “Dropkick” was established for the purpose of flight delivery of the Republic F-84G Thunderjet across the North Atlantic to various Mutual Defence Assistance Program (MDAP) countries in Europe. This “Project Dropkick” was to have been completed by December 15, 1953. However, problems with bad weather and absence of pre-planning and coordination between various commands slowed down the pace of delivery of aircraft. “

Many Republic F-84G Thunderjets were transferred by sea to European Air Forces via Copenhagen/Kastrup. At least the aircraft initially intended for Norway, Denmark, The Netherlands and Belgium were (in the beginning) transferred via Copenhagen.

An extract from my manuscript, Chapter Belgium:
“140 Republic F-84G Thunderjets for the Belgium Air Force were delivered via Kastrup Air Base, Denmark. All of these deliveries had to be coordinated by the Scandinavian Airline Systems Deprocessing Center (SAS/DC). After being transported across the Atlantic Ocean by either Danish commercial ships, or United States Navy (USN) Carriers, the brand new Republic F-84G Thunderjets were unloaded from these ships in the harbor of Copenhagen. Subsequently, they were transported, by road, towed by tractors, to Kastrup Air Base, and readied for flight at the SAS/DC F-84 deprocessing line. After this work had been done, a test flight was flown, for acceptance of that particular aircraft. Usually, these flights were flown by Captain Bouzin, Belgium Air Force, who was stationed at Karup Air Base for this purpose. After completing this acceptance process, aircraft were ready to be flown to Belgium.”

Besides this, the (later well known) USAF Captain Joe Kittinger was also stationed at Kastrup Air Base, and also involved in the early training program of the Danish Air Force for the F-84G. Besides this, he (also) flew many testflights, among others, on the Dutch F-84G’s – have copies of forms he signed.

Regarding the link between Portugal and Norway, yes, several Norwegian F-84G’s were delivered to the Portugese Air Force.
There is also a link between Copenhagen/SAS and Portugal:
An extract from my manuscript, chapter Portugal:
“Further deliveries of the Republic F-84G Thunderjet to the Portugese Air Force were staged via Scandinavian Aircraft Services (SAS) at Kastrup Air Base, Copenhagen, Denmark. After the ‘Inspect and Repair, if Necessary’ (IRAN) program, 5 Republic F-84G Thunderjets were delivered on May 21, 1954. These aircraft were to be operated by the second Portugese Air Force Republic F-84G Thunderjet squadron, being Esquadra 21.”