Beginning in late 1944, the drive for greater speed and range from jet propulsion led to the Republic XP-84, the first new fighter of the post-World War II period. In 1949, Republic experimented with the swept-wing YF-84, powered by the British Armstrong-Siddeley Sappfire engine rated at 7,200 pounds of thrust, which Curtis-Wright built under license as the YJ-65-W1. Because the J-65 Sapphire was larger and needed more air, Republic widened the nose intake by seven inches and carried that increase through the fuselage, adopted a full clamshell canopy with a flat armored windscreen, and added a large spinal fairing to the tail. Armament remained four M3 .50 caliber machine guns in the upper nose and two more in the wing roots, and the redesigned J-65-W3 engine powered the aircraft that became the F-84F Thunderstreak. Its Low Altitude Bombing System automatically calculated the release of a tactical nuclear bomb to improve accuracy and allow the pilot to escape. Although production and design problems troubled the Thunderstreak throughout its career, F-84Fs set a 1955 transcontinental speed record of 2,445 miles in 3 hours, 44 minutes and a nonstop jet fighter distance record of 5,118 miles from London, England, to Austin, Texas, using in-flight refueling. The first operational unit was Strategic Air Command's 506th Strategic Fighter Wing at Dow AFB, Maine, in 1954, because the F-84F combined long-range escort capability with the speed to fight MiG aircraft defending the USSR. F-84Fs also served with the armed forces of France, Belgium, the Netherlands, West Germany, and Turkey, and it was the first combat aircraft to enter the revived West German Bundesluftwaffe. This particular F-84F Thunderstreak was built by Republic Aviation Corporation in Farmingdale, New York, delivered to the U.S. Air Force on 1 November 1954, assigned first to the 6515th Maintenance Group at Edwards Air Force Base, then used by General Electric in Schenectady, New York, from 1955 to 1957 to test electronic equipment, transferred in September 1957 to Wright-Patterson AFB, and given its final assignment in January 1958 to the 128th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron of the Georgia Air National Guard at Dobbins AFB, where it flew until August 1958 before transfer to museum status.