Republic RF-84K 52-7265

RF-84K 52-7265 was completed at the Republic, Farmingdale plant on August 17, 1955 as an RF-84F at a unit cost of$667,608.00. After acceptance by the United States Air Force Strategic Air Command on October 26, 1955, 52-7265 was immediately flown to Larson, AFB in Washington state where it was one of 25 RF-84F’s modified to RF-84K-17 standard in early 1956.

52-7265’s first assignment was to the 71st Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, 91st Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron. The 91st Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron at this time was heavily involved in the FICON project. FICON stood for Fighter Conveyor program in which heavy bombers, in this case GRB-36’s would carry their own reconnaissance RF-84k’s into the combat zone. At this time the fighter aircraft would detach from the conveyor aircraft and proceed to either protect the bomber or alternately the fighter would proceed into the combat zone in order to perform a reconnaissance mission the return to the conveyor aircraft for the return trip to base. These trials were conducted before the advent of aerial refueling.

FICON trials began on January 9, 1952, and ended on April 27, 1956. Obviously 52-7265 was involved in the FICON project for only a few months before the project was terminated but it was fully converted to RF-84K Standard. The most obvious modifications performed on the aircraft during the conversion process were the addition of the trapeze hook mounted on the nose of the aircraft in front of the windscreen and the addition of 23 degree anhedral horizontal stabilizer in order to accomplish better recessment  of the RF-84K inside the rear bomb bay of the GRB-36 transport aircraft. One of the pilots known to have flown this aircraft during this time was WWII ace Clarance “Bud” Anderson.

With the conclusion of the FICON project, 52-7265 was briefly reassigned to Hill AFB in Utah in late 1956 for maintenance before returning to Larson AFB in Washington state in June 1957. In late 1957, 52-7265 was transferred to Mc Clellan AFB in Sacramento California and from there was forwarded to San Francisco, California with the ultimate destination being Misawa AFB in Japan via Kisarazu AFB. 52-7265 saw service with the 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing, 45th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron known as the “Polka dots”.

While based in Japan, the 45th TRS was briefly based at Yokota AFB near Tokyo. It is believed that while at this location, missions that penetrated into Soviet and Communist Chinese airspace were flown that remain classified to this day. In December 1958, with the 45th TRS reequipping with RF-101 Voodoos, 52-7265 left Japan and was transferred back to the United States to Brookley AFB near Mobile, Alabama in early 1959. At this location 52-7265 went through depot level maintenance before proceeding to its next assignment.

In December 1959, 52-7265 was transferred to Detroit Wayne Airport in Michigan for service with the 127th Tactical Reconnaissance Group, 107th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron as part of the Michigan Air National Guard. Although the 107th TRS operated RF-84K’s between 1958 and 1972, 52-7265’s tenure with this squadron was relatively short. 52-7265’s final military assignment  was to be transferred  to a California Air National Guard base at Norton AFB in California for use as an instructional airframe and in late 1961 after being declared as excess to United States Air Force needs 52-7265 finished its military career serving as a gate guard at Norton AFB. Its entire service life spanned only six years.

From Norton AFB, 52-7265 was acquired by Edward Maloney for his The Air Museum where it may be viewed today. Of the original 25 aircraft that were converted to RF-84K configuration, only three are known to exist today. The first one is located at National Museum  of the United States Air Force in Dayton Ohio, the second is with the Wings over the Rockies air museum in Denver, Colorado. The third is 52-7265 on display at the Planes of Fame Air Museum in Chino, California.