rare Thud... on a reallly looooonnnggg link

[sabredriver]

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0515832/M/

Fixed it - Scott WRG Editor

[Chad Veich]

Just FYI, right above the picture you will see the following:

URL (link) to this photo: http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0515832/M/

That much shorter link will take you to the same place.

[tom d. friedman]

what's with the snipped off nose????

[Scott Rose]

what's with the snipped off nose????

My guess, since it was slated as a RF prototype that the snipped nose would eventually house a camera, like the RF-101

[sabredriver]

whats rarer is that its in 1974 the photo.. very intriguing why it still survived that long as a mock up....

[CAPFlyer]

It's not a mockup. It is a real, flying aircraft. It was used as a testbed after it did its stint as the RF-105 prototype. That's why it survived.

[BTBackseater]

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0515832/M/
Republic JF-105B-2-RE Thunderchief
originally ordered as RF-105B

[Mr Widgeon]

There's another one in the collection at Lackland AFB.
Don't know about the 3rd airplane though.

[RMAllnutt]

You should check out the other images by the photographer. His name is Steve Williams, and he has an exceptional collection dating back to the 1950's. His work, and the types covered are extraordinary.

Richard

[Ztex]

He has some great pics!

Like this....
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0694672/L/

and this!

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0515827/M/