The Republic P47 Thunderbolt, also known as the Jug, was the largest single engined fighter of its day, and a vast improvement over its predecessor. It was one of the main United States Army Air Force (USAAF) fighters of World War II. The Thunderbolt also served with a number of other Allied air forces. The P47 was effective in air combat but proved especially adept in the ground attack role. Its modern day equivalent in that role, the A10 Thunderbolt II, takes its name from the P47.

 

The P47 Thunderbolt was the product of Russian immigrant Alexander de Seversky and Georgian immigrant Alexander Kartveli, who had left their homelands to escape the Bolsheviks.

Initial deliveries of the Thunderbolt to the USAAF were to the 56th Fighter Group, which was also on Long Island. The 56th served as an operational evaluation unit for the new fighter. Teething problems continued. A Republic test pilot was killed in an early production P47B when it went out of control in a dive, and crashes occurred due to failure of the tail assembly. The introduction of all metal control surfaces and other changes corrected these problems. In spite of the problems, the USAAF was interested enough to order an additional 602 examples of the refined P47C, with the first of the variant delivered in September 1942.

Beginning in January 1943, Thunderbolt fighters were sent to the joint Army Air Forces civilian Millville Airport in Millville, NJ in order to train civilian and military pilots.

 

All P47's had an inherent ground handling challenge exacerbated by torque of the large propeller and the large nose that was difficult to see over during taxiing. Ground crewmen sometimes sat on the wing and used hand signals to provide directions to the pilot. The heavy weight resulted in a long takeoff run and, once in the air, the P47 was not particularly maneuverable, though it became more agile, in comparison to most other fighters, at high altitudes. It did possess a good roll rate and climb/dive performance. Its success in combat depended on utilizing energy conserving "dive and zoom" tactics. One Thunderbolt pilot compared it to flying a bathtub around the sky. On the positive side, the P47 was rugged and well armed. It could sustain a large amount of damage and still be able to get its pilot back to base. Quentin C. Aanenson documented his experiences flying the Thunderbolt on D Day and subsequently in the European Theater in his video documentary A Fighter Pilot's Story, aired on PBS in 1994.

 

The Thunderbolt was also one of the fastest diving aircraft of the war - it could reach speeds of 480 knots (550 mph, 885 km/h). Major Robert S. "Bob" Johnson described the experience of diving the big fighter by writing, "the Thunderbolt howled and ran for the earth". Some P47 pilots claimed to have broken the sound barrier, but later research revealed that due to the pressure buildup inside the pitot tube at high speeds, airspeed readings became unpredictably exaggerated.

 

Charactaristics

Performance