The P-47 Thunderbolt fighter/bomber

Of all the planes built by Republic in World War II, the P-47 Thunderbolt was the most famous. The P-47 first flew in 1941. It had been designed as a large (for that time) high performance fighter/bomber and was powered by the large Pratt and Whitney turbocharged R-2800 Double Wasp engine. This gave the P-47 excellent performance and high cargo capacity. The US Army Air Corps began flying it in the European Theater shortly after the first deliveries were accepted in June 1942.

Although it was an excellent aircraft, as production continued various improvements were made with each improvement adding power, maneuverability and range. The Thunderbolt, or “Jug” as it was affectionately called, gained a reputation as the war progressed as a reliable and extremely rugged aircraft. He was able to take incredible amounts of damage and still return his pilot home safely. During the war, P-47s logged almost 2 million flight hours. They were responsible for the destruction of over 7,000 enemy aircraft in the air and on the ground in the European Theater alone. Later in the war in the Pacific theater, Jugs served as escort fighters for B-29 bombers. For the most part, however, they excelled in the ground attack role, strafing and shelling the battlefields of Europe. Early versions, up to the P-47C, had “razorback” fuselages, while the popular P-47D featured a bubble canopy that gave the pilot greater visibility to the rear.

The P-47D with the P&W R-2800 radial engine weighed 9,950 lbs empty, with a full load of fuel and bombs it could handle takeoff at 17,500 lbs. Its length was 36 feet, the wingspan 40 feet 9 inches, with a height of 14 feet 8 inches. Performance-wise, its top speed was 433 mph with a ceiling of 41,000 feet and a range of 1,900 (with drop tanks). For armament, it carried four 50-caliber machine guns in each wing and up to 2,500 pounds of externally mounted bombs, rockets, or other free-fall munitions.

It sometimes seems like every WWII fighter manufacturer claimed theirs was the fastest, but there may be some truth to the P-47’c’s claim. The P-47J was equipped with the P&W R2800-57 and at 81% of rated power it could maintain 435 mph. At military power (100%) it could sustain 470 mph, at the War Emergency Power setting (133%) the P-47 actually hit 507 mph. All speed tests were carried out at an altitude of 34,300 feet. The P-47 was also especially good at climbing. At sea level its rate of climb was 4,900 feet per minute, four minutes and 15 seconds later at 20,000 feet it was maintaining 4,400 feet per minute. The time to 30,000 was 6 ¾ minutes; It is with full internal tanks and fully armed. It had also flown at 46,500 and the pilot claimed that it was capable of slightly more.

The first of the German rockets appeared in the summer of 1944. The sudden appearance of the V-1 flying bomb caused quite a stir in Britain. Flying at speeds of around 400 mph, the V-1 was not easy to intercept before flying over populated areas where shooting it down might have a worse effect than leaving it alone. Many of the last RAF fighters were launched to intercept the “buzz bombs”, preferably over the English Channel. Storms, Spitfires, and even jet-propelled (but not very fast) Meteors went to work intercepting the deadly missiles.

Naturally, the British government asked its allies for help in this duty. Having already logged hundreds of flights with the XP-47M, beginning in mid-1943 Republic had a huge head start in terms of development time. This was the time when the P-47M series was just entering production. Upon being informed of the P-47M’s performance, an initial order for three was immediately placed, but never fulfilled; instead the improved P-47N with its clipped wings was produced, which for the first time was a “wet wing” containing self-sealing fuel tanks. By the time the first aircraft was ready for delivery to Europe, ground forces in Europe had already overrun the V-1 launch sites. The P-47N, with its speed of 465 mph and a range of over 2,300 miles, was deployed to the Pacific and assigned escort duty with B-29 Superfortresses during the last months of the war.

The Air Forces of Brazil, England, France, Mexico, and the Soviet Union also used the P-47 during the war. After the war, the Jug served an additional nine years in the US while flown by the Air National Guard. He went on to serve for many more years with the air forces of more than 15 countries around the world. Of the 15,677 built, only 9 are known to be airworthy today.