Out of Republic’s ‘thunder factory’ came some of the most adventurous and successful warplane designs in the history of flight. From the outstanding P-47 of World War Two, through the Thunderjet and Thunderceptor to the F-105 Thunderchief which saw vigorous action in Vietnam and today’s A-10 Thunderbolt, the ‘titanium tankbuster’, the Republic Aviation Corporation, in its various guises, has been at the forefront of technological advance. To study its output is to track the history of military aviation itself.