The first YRF-84F was completed in February 1952. However, this arrangement permitted placement of cameras in the nose and the design was adopted for the RF-84F Thunderflash reconnaissance version. The second YF-84F prototype was completed with wing-root air intakes which were not adopted for the fighter due to loss of thrust. RF-84F Thunderflash, the recon version of the F-84F Thunderstreak. As the result, the F-84F was not declared operational until. A number of aircraft were also retrofitted with spoilers for improved high-speed control. Since early aircraft suffered from accelerated stall pitch-up, F-84F-25-RE introduced an all-moving tailplane. The aircraft was considered not ready for operational deployment due to control and stability problems. When the first production F-84F finally flew on 22 November 1952, it differed from the service test aircraft in having a different canopy which opened up and back instead of the sliding to the rear as well as airbrakes on the sides of the fuselage instead of the bottom of the aircraft. The YJ65-W-1 engine was considered obsolete and the improved J65-W-3 did not become available until 1954. At the time, only three presses in United States could manufacture these and the priority was given to the B-47 Stratojet bomber. To make matters worse, the F-84F utilized press-forged wing spars and ribs. Although tooling commonality with the Thunderjet was supposed to be 55 percent, in reality only 15 percent of tools could be reused. Production delays with the F-84F forced USAF to order a number of straight-wing F-84Gs as an interim measure. To accommodate the larger engine, YF-84F with a British-built Sapphire as well as production F-84Fs with J65 had a vertically stretched fuselage with the air intake attaining an oval cross-section. In the meantime, USAF arranged for the British Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire turbojet to be built in the United States as the Wright J65 in the hopes that the more powerful engine would improve high-altitude performance. The F-84 designation was retained because the fighter was expected to be a low-cost improvement of the straight-wing Thunderjet with over 55 percent commonality in tooling. Nonetheless, it was ordered into production in July 1950 as the F-84F Thunderstreak. Although the airplane was capable of 602 knots (693 mph, 1,115 km/h), the performance gain over the F-84E was considered minor. The aircraft, designated XF-96A flew on 3 June 1950 with Otto P. The last production F-84E was fitted with a swept tail, a new wing with 38.5 degrees of leading edge sweep and 3.5 degrees of anhedral, and a J35-A-25 engine producing 5,300 pound-force (23.58 kN) of thrust. In 1949, Republic created a swept wing version of the F-84 hoping to bring performance to the F-86 level. RF-84F Thunderflash, the reconnaissance version of the swept-wing F-84F. Modified F-84s were used in several unusual projects, including the FICON and Tom-Tom dockings to the B-29 and B-36 bomber motherships, and the experimental XF-84H Thunderscreech supersonic turboprop. The F-84 was the first production fighter aircraft to utilize in-flight refueling and the first fighter capable of carrying a nuclear bomb. Air Force Thunderbirds demonstration team. Over half of the 7,524 F-84s produced served with NATO nations, and it was the first aircraft to fly with the U.S. The Thunderjet became the Air Force's primary strike aircraft during the Korean War, flying 86,408 missions and destroying 60% of all ground targets in the war as well as eight Soviet-built MiG fighters. The USAF Strategic Air Command had F-84 Thunderjets (F-84s and RF-84s) in service from 1948 through 1957. In 1954, the straight-wing Thunderjet was joined by the swept-wing F-84F Thunderstreak fighter and RF-84F Thunderflash photo reconnaissance aircraft. The aircraft was not considered fully operational until the 1949 F-84D model and the design matured only with the definitive F-84G introduced in 1951. Although it entered service in 1947, the Thunderjet was plagued by so many structural and engine problems that a 1948 Air Force review declared it unable to execute any aspect of its intended mission and considered cancelling the program. Originating as a 1944 United States Air Force proposal for a daytime fighter, the F-84 flew in 1946. The Republic Aviation Company F-84 Thunderjet was an American-built turbojet fighter-bomber aircraft.