F-84G – Belgian Air Force – FZ-13 – War Thunder Skin

I present the very first skin that I had ever made successfully, created around the time that the Italian tech tree was released over one year ago. It includes a 2K and 4K DDS version as well as a TGA version (with minor differences in the damage model). I had a lot of doubt wether I should upload this skin as it is not the same quality as the ones I make these days. But after some tweaking in Photoshop I noticed the skin still holds up pretty well! I almost spaded my Italian F-84G using this skin so it holds a very special place in my heart, so I hope somebody will enjoy it as much as I do!

The aircraft
Presented here is Republic F-84G ‘Thunderjet’ (s/n 51-9716) FZ-13 of the Belgian Air Force as how it would have looked sometime during the 50’s. Delivered in March 1952, it carryied the ID code ‘YL-B’ as was part of N°3 squadron ‘Hulstblad’ (Holly Leaf) within the 2nd Tactical Wing based at Florennes. Sadly however its service with the Belgian Air Force was of short duration as it was sold to the Portuguese Air Force as FAP 5194 in October 1956. Its service in the Portuguese Air Force was even shorter of duration as it was written off only 17 months later in PAF service on the 4th of March 1958.

The F-84G in the Belgian Air Force
From 1952 on the Belgian Air Force accepted 213 F-84G fighter-bombers for various of their fighter wings and its N°42 recon squadron. The first batch of aircraft consisted of 140 airframes which were delivered by ship via Denmark, where they were prepared for a ferry flight to Belgium. The remaining aircraft were flown in directly from the USA, with the last 52 undergoing deep maintance before being delivered to the Belgian Air Force.

The career of the Thunderjet with the Belgian Air Force was short lived however, as most of the airframes were retired and sold off to other Nato countries by 1957, as they were replaced by the updated and more modern F-84F Thunderstreak. The introduction of the F-84F also represented the next era of the Cold War where small countries were no longer able to sustain large squadrons of aircraft.