Republic AF-105 Thunderchief

The AF-105 Thunderchief was the Royal Air Force of Albion designation for the Republic F-105J Thunderchief in Alban service. They were manufactured by Republic Aviation of Farmingdale, New York utilizing the Manitou PS.13 Haida engine manufactured in Albion. Initially procured in the role of high-speed interceptor and based at Quick Reaction Alert facilities in the Alban north, the AF-105 served in combat mainly in a strike role.

Procurement
The procurement of the AF-105 emerged from a series of complex political and military needs in the late 1950s. The cancellation of the Avro Albion AF-105 Arrow, aside from putting thousands of Avro Albion employees out of work, left the country with a need to find new replacements for its aging fleet of CGA Sabre day fighters and Avro Albion AF-100 Columbian interceptors. Further, the Alban government chose not to cancel the development of the Manitou Haida engine, hoping to make the most of Albion's investment by farming the engine out into an off-the-shelf aircraft.

While the Day Fighter Aircraft program would lead to the procurement of the Avro Albion AF-104 Archer, the choice of interceptor would come first. The United States initially offered Albion 56 used F-101B Voodoo interceptors and 10 F-101F trainers, along with nuclear Genie rockets. However, the deal was conditional upon American control over the weapons. The prospect of ceding Alban sovereignty even in part to the United States Air Force severely divided the Perks government and led to the rejection of this initial offer and the opening of the Fighter Bomber Aircraft procurement program, intended to replace the Columbian.

The RAFA's requirements called for the integration of the Haida engine into an existing airframe. Proposals included Haida-equipped versions of Republic's F-105 Thunderchief, the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, The Grumman F-11F-1F Super Tiger, the Convair F-106 Delta Dart and the Dassault Mirage III. Rumours persisted that the RAFA went into the procurement favouring the Haida-equipped Thunderchief, which Republic proposed based on the F-105D. The variant, flagged as the F-105J, would include interceptor capability, an addition Albion considered necessary to deal with the belief that a heavy bomber threat still existed despite the clear transition to ICBMs on the part of the Soviet Union.

The quick procurement process ended with the RAFA selecting the Thunderchief over the F-104. The decision led to strong protests from executives at Lockheed, who accused the Perks government of rigging the competition in favour of Republic. While Lockheed would attempt to sue the Alban government over the decision, the case was ultimately thrown out following years of appeals even as development of the AF-105 proceeded. It would be revealed in the 1970s that the Perks government refused bribes from Lockheed executives to rig the competition in favour of the Starfighter.

The marriage of the AF-105 to the Haida engine was not an easy one. The engine, designed for the Arrow interceptor, delivered exceptional performance at high altitude but made the aircraft more difficult to control in the low-level strike role. Nevertheless, the AF-105s were delivered in 1961 and slated to equip five squadrons, primarily in the north.

Operational history
Albion was the sole operator of the AF-105. They operated primarily from Quick Reaction Airfields across the north, headquartered at AFB Cold Lake with secondary airstrips located at Comox, Fort St. John, Churchill and Nakanuk.

As with American F-105s, the AF-105's early service history was plagued with problems. Difficulties with maintenance, particularly with the avionics and weapons control system, resulted in the entire fleet being temporarily grounded in 1964. The most high-profile accidents came in March 1964, when an AF-105 of 609 Squadron experienced an engine burnout a ways outside of AFB Cold Lake. The pilot was able to glide the aircraft to an unpowered belly landing in a snowy farm field outside the town of Bagley, Athabasca, much to the surprise of local farmers. The so-called Bagley Bellyflop made headlines, much to the humiliation of the RAFA, leading to questions about the wisdom of cancelling the Avro Arrow and going with the single-engine AF-105.

The AF-105 fleet's only combat deployment came during the Guyana War. Beginning in late 1969, RAFA AF-105s operated from bases in Guyana in support of Operation Body Check, the Commonwealth's effort to establish a "no-go zone" through eastern Colombia to cut off attack routes into Essequibo. The most notable of these missions came in 1970, when 16 AF-105s and 16 AF-104 Archers attacked the Angostura Bridge and other industrial targets in Ciudad Bolivar as part of a series of strikes in concert with British and Australian forces. The strike over Ciudad Bolivar encountered strong resistance, but all 16 Thunderchiefs returned home from the mission after successfully destroying the bridge and striking most of the priority targets in the city.

The Guyana War took its toll on Albion's Thunderchief force: Seven AF-105s were lost to enemy fire during the conflict, five to surface-to-air missiles and two to enemy aircraft. A handful of others were lost to accidents. The aircraft were nevertheless successful in destroying priority targets throughout eastern Colombia and achieving the objectives of Operation Body Check, helping to set the conditions for a ceasefire and an eventual treaty guarantee of Guyana's independence.

In the wake of the Guyana War, a recognition emerged that the AF-104 was the superior high-altitude performer, resulting in the transfer of much of the AF-105 fleet to Alban forward bases in Europe. The aircraft were repainted in olive colour schemes and upgraded to make the most of their natural role as low-level interdictors. Two squadrons continued to operate from Quick Reaction Airfields at Cold Lake and Nakanuk, supplementing the AF-104.

The arrival of the Grumman AF-144 Tomcat saw the AF-105 fleet gradually transitioned into retirement and replaced in the northern patrol and ground attack roles by the subsonic AA-160 Intruder II.