()

Joe Schuppe ©Stars and StripesFrankfurt, West Germany, November, 1963: Birds scatter as a U.S. Air Force F-105F Thunderchief deploys its drag chute on landing at Rhein-Main Air Base. Riding in the back seat of the fighter-bomber was Stars and Stripes photographer Red Grandy, the first journalist to fly in such an aircraft. "The 18-ton Thunderchief maneuvered without a vibration or flutter," Grandy noted after Republic Aviation test pilot Harry Evans performed a couple of rolls over the Alps.

RELATED MATERIAL: Red Grandy's account of his 1963 Thunderchief flight.