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#SP206 F-105D Thunderchief

F-105D Thunderchief
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£10.00 €11.71 $12.46
43.8 cm x 29.2 cm
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F-105D Thunderchief
62-4357
80 TFS
US - Air Force
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Description

Squadron Prints Lithograph No. SP206 - 62-4357, F-105D Thunderchief, Captain Vic Vizcarra's 'Pussy Galore', 80th Tactical Fighter Squadron. Tail number 62-4357 was one of the most illustrious F-105s of the Vietnam conflict thanks to the artwork which was applied to it. As an incentive for KC-135 boom operators, Captain Vic Vizcarra decided to paint a naked woman on the nose of his Thunderchief. The artwork was strategically placed so that the boom operators had something to aim for! This seemed to work extremely well and apparently this F-105, which became affectionately known as 'Pussy Galore', became something of an attraction for the KC-135 crews. The artwork remained on the aircraft until it received a camouflage paint scheme together with the rest of the F-105 fleet in the latter part of 1965. Many F-105s were destroyed during the conflict and 62-4357 was one of them. On 10 April 1967, Major John O'Grady was shot down over Mu Gia Pass whilst flying 62-4357 and remains Missing in Action to this day. Captain Vizcarra was assigned to the 80th Tactical Fighter Squadron (TFS) at Yokota AB, Japan and flew all his combat missions while assigned on Temporary Duty (TDY) to South East Asia. He made three such deployments and on 27 June 1965, during his second tour, he was one of 46 pilots to take part in the first ever attack on a Surface to Air Missile (SAM) site in the history of aerial combat. On his third deployment, while attached to the 354th TFS at Takhli Royal Thai Air Force Base, he opted to decorate another F-105 with very similar artwork as the original 'Pussy Galore', this time on a camouflaged Thunderchief, tail number 62-4364, and was christened 'Pussy Galore II'. However, this nude artwork was short-lived, as his commanding officer ordered that it be removed immediately. On 6 November 1966, Captain Vizcarra was flying his 55th mission over North Vietnam when he experienced an engine failure and was forced to eject from his aircraft, tail number 60-0487. He was subsequently rescued by a Navy helicopter, hence his 54 1/2 mission patch. After his rescue, he flew four more F-105 missions, bringing his cumulative total missions over North Vietnam to 59 during his three TDY deployments. In 1970, Captain Vizcarra volunteered to return to South East Asia and was assigned to the 352nd Tactical Fighter Squadron, 35th Tactical Fighter Wing at Phan Rang AB, where he flew a further 120 combat missions in the F-100 Super Sabre over South Vietnam. He retired from the United States Air Force as a Colonel in 1984.
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