Era timeline · 1965 → today
Timeline
Key dates for collectors: the TV series and its revivals, the toys and models that followed, and the other two Thunderbirds — the USAF display team and the Ford car. Every date comes from a source listed with it.
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1953
1953USAF Thunderbirds
The USAF Thunderbirds are formed
The U.S. Air Force’s air demonstration team is activated at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, flying the F-84G Thunderjet.
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1954
22 Oct 1954Ford Thunderbird
The Ford Thunderbird goes on sale
Sold as a 1955 model: an upscale, sporty two-seat convertible.
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1956
June 1956USAF Thunderbirds
The team moves to Nellis and the F-100
The Thunderbirds move to their current home, Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, and take up the F-100 Super Sabre, which serves the team for 13 years.
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1965
30 Sept 1965TV series
Thunderbirds premieres on ITV
The first episode, “Trapped in the Sky”, is shown in the ATV Midlands, Westward and Channel regions; other ITV regions follow the next month.
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1966
1966TV series
Production ends after 32 episodes
Filming ends in August 1966 with the sixth episode of Series Two. AP Films is renamed Century 21 Productions the same year.
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1966
12 Dec 1966TV series
Thunderbirds Are Go reaches cinemas
The first feature film, directed by David Lane and distributed by United Artists.
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1968
29 July 1968TV series
Thunderbird 6 is released
The second film. Its poor box-office performance rules out further sequels.
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1969
1969–73USAF Thunderbirds
Thunderbirds fly the F-4E Phantom II
The team flies the Air Force’s front-line fighter, then switches to the T-38 Talon trainer in 1974.
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1983
1983USAF Thunderbirds
The F-16 arrives
The F-16A Fighting Falcon becomes the team’s display aircraft; the F-16C follows in 1992.
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1991
Sept 1991TV series
BBC2 brings Thunderbirds back
The BBC shows the series nationwide on BBC2; the first run averages more than six million viewers per episode.
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1997
1997Ford Thunderbird
Thunderbird production pauses
Production ends with the 1997 model year after ten generations.
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2002
2002–05Ford Thunderbird
The two-seat Thunderbird returns
The eleventh and final generation is a two-passenger convertible, built until July 2005.
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2004
July 2004TV series
The live-action Thunderbirds film
Directed by Jonathan Frakes and distributed by Universal Pictures, the film uses live action and CGI rather than puppets.
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2015
4 April 2015TV series
Thunderbirds Are Go premieres
ITV Studios and Pukeko Pictures, with Weta Workshop, launch a new series combining computer animation with physical models — in the original’s 50th anniversary year. It runs to 78 episodes over three series, ending on 22 February 2020.
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2015
2015TV series
The Anniversary Episodes are crowdfunded
Three new Supermarionation episodes built around 1960s Thunderbirds audio records are funded on Kickstarter and filmed on the former AP Films site in Slough.
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2025
2025TV series
The 60th anniversary
Anderson Entertainment announces a restored 4:3 Blu-ray collector’s edition of the complete series under its licensing agreement with ITV Studios, alongside new books, audio and models.