Republic XF-84H Thunderscreech
By Chris Banyai-Riepl
Air Force Legends Number 219
Author: Steve Ginter
Publisher: Ginter Books
ISBNs: 978-0-9968258-1-8
Binding: Softcover
Pages: 40
The transition from piston-engined aircraft to jet-powered types was not without problems. While those early jet engines gave tremendous advantages in speed, they had shortcomings elsewhere, most notably in rapid throttle changes at slow speeds. As a potential solution to this problem, aircraft designers looked to the constant speed turboprop. Republic stepped up with the XF-84H, which mated the RF-84F airframe with the Allison T40 turboprop. The latest title in the Ginter Air Force Legends series provides a detailed look on this plane and its short-lived career.
Like other titles in the Air Force Legends series, this book provides a very detailed and thorough technical history of the XF-84H and the T40 engine. The challenges of mating the engine to the aircraft are documented, as well as the flight characteristics once the prototypes were built. Alongside the text, the book also contains plenty of photos showing details of all aspects of the XF-84H, including the cockpit, landing gear, and the large Aeroproducts propeller. A short look at the supersonic McDonnell XF-88B propeller test bed is also included, as is a short summary of the available model kits of the XF-84H.
For those interested in interesting US Air Force testbed aircraft, this is a great book to have. Not only does it fill a gap in the story on the F-84, it also helps tell the story of the evolution of aircraft propulsion in the 1950s. My thanks to Ginter Books for the review copy.