Republic P-47D Thunderbolt
The P-47 Thunderbolt, which would become one of the most successful and widely produced fighters in history, began as the brainchild of two Russian aircraft designers who fled the Soviet Union—Alexander de Seversky and Alexander Kartveli. Kartveli had begun designing fighters for Seversky, including the P-35, and staying on with Seversky Aircraft after it was renamed Republic Aviation. Kartveli had designed the radial-engined P-43 Lancer and P-44 Rocket, and was working on the inline-engined XP-47 when the US Army Air Force cancelled all three programs in 1940, citing that they were inferior to the German Messerschmitt Bf 109.
Kartveli then proposed a new design based on the P-43/44, but much larger, with a turbocharged R-2800 Double Wasp engine, one of the most powerful radials available at the time. The size of the turbocharger and the engine meant that the fuselage had to be much larger as well; as the USAAF wanted an eight-gun fighter along the lines of the Supermarine Spitfire and Hawker Hurricane, the new design was equipped with elliptical wings containing eight .50 caliber machine guns. The resulting design, designated XP-47B Thunderbolt, was huge: it was 65 percent heavier than the P-43 and nearly twice the weight of the Spitfire. Even Kartveli himself referred to it as a “dinosaur.” When pilots saw it, they thought that its size and shape (and likely, its flying characteristics) resembled that of a milk jug, forever earning the Thunderbolt its moniker of “Jug.” Though the first XP-47B prototype crashed soon after its first flight in May 1941, its speed and performance were impressive.
Minor problems with the P-47B production version led to the P-47C, the first combat-ready version of the Thunderbolt, which arrived in England in January 1943. Assigned to the 4th Fighter Group, whose pilots were used to flying Spitfires, initially the Thunderbolt seemed a failure. It could not turn with either the Bf 109 or the new Focke-Wulf 190, and its climbing ability left much to be desired. Pilots hated the Thunderbolt’s size, its lack of performance as compared with the Spitfire, and its low ground clearance, though they did appreciate the comfortable and roomy cockpit, and especially the armor around it.
The indifferent performance of the P-47C and high accident rate led Republic to refine the design in the definitive P-47D variant, which introduced better cooling for the engine and, most importantly, paddle-bladed propeller blades. Now the Thunderbolt began to prove Kartveli’s faith in the fighter. The 56th Fighter Group, led by Hubert Zemke, had been trained from the start in the P-47 and benefited from earlier experience. Zemke, assisted by future aces Francis Gabreski and Robert Johnson, developed ambush tactics that emphasized the Thunderbolt’s advantage in weight; the P-47D’s improved engine and propeller gave it an edge over the Luftwaffe over 15,000 feet that the Germans were not able to equal until the introduction of the Messerschmitt 262 jet in 1944. This was a huge advantage for USAAF pilots, as the majority of air combat over Germany took place at altitudes of 20,000 feet. While the P-51 Mustang was more maneuverable, longer-ranged, and better in the vertical, it was Gabreski and Johnson, in their P-47s, who became the top American aces in Europe. In response to pilots complaining about the lack of rear vision in the “razorback” P-47D, Republic introduced the “bubbletop” version, which cut down the rear fuselage and added a P-51 style bubble canopy, giving the Thunderbolt pilot superb visibility.
What endeared the Thunderbolt to its pilots, however, was its legendary toughness. Since it was far more survivable than the inline-engined P-38 and P-51, much of the European Theater’s P-47s were shifted away from bomber escort and to 9th Air Force’s ground-attack force. Armed with rockets, bombs, and their eight machine guns, Thunderbolts proved to be devastating in this role, attacking anything that moved in Western Europe: by war’s end, ground attack P-47s had destroyed over 6000 tanks; it was especially deadly to trains, accounting for 9000 locomotives. 3752 German fighters became victims of P-47 pilots in the air. P-47Ds also served in the Pacific theater, though in fewer numbers compared to the P-38; nonetheless, they also turned in a stellar combat record, and the third highest ranking ace in the Pacific, Neel Kearby, was a Thunderbolt pilot. Allied air forces also flew P-47s, including the RAF (mainly in the Pacific), and expeditionary units of the Brazilian and Mexican Air Forces.
After war’s end, though more advanced “Pacific” versions of the Thunderbolt had been introduced in the P-47M/N, it was rapidly retired from service in favor of jets (namely the F-84 Thunderjet) and the P-51. A few lingered on until 1953 in Air National Guard service, when it was retired. France used a few P-47s during the Algerian War of Independence in the mid-1950s, while it persisted in South American air forces into the late 1960s. In 1993, Croatia seriously considered returning a museum-piece P-47 to active service during the Croat-Serbian War. 15,686 P-47s were produced, making it second only to the P-51 in US service; today, about 47 survive.
Though not much to look at for the moment, this is P-47D 42-8074, once assigned to the 348th Fighter Group at Finschafen, New Guinea. In September 1943, it was badly damaged in a landing accident at the airfield, and used as a spare parts source. When World War II ended, it--along with several other aircraft--was simply bulldozed into a pit at Finschafen and abandoned.
With all the "easy" restorations of World War II-era aircraft largely completed by the 1990s, warbird collectors turned to looking for wrecks that could be, with considerable cost and work, still be restored to at least display status, and possibly flyable status. A group of Australian warbird collectors located the Finschafen pit in 2002, and this proved to be a gold mine: three P-47s and two P-38s were recovered. They were shipped to Australia, where they were bought by Microsoft co-founder (and legendary warbird collector and explorer) Paul Allen for his Flying Heritage Collection. Allen turned over 42-8074 to Westpac Restorations of Colorado Springs for restoration in 2004.
Despite being buried in New Guinea for over 60 years, 42-8074 is in remarkable condition, with faint hints of the 1943-era red-surround national insignia still intact. Paul Allen's passing and the closure of the FHC in 2020 have left 42-8074's future somewhat in limbo; it will likely remain at its present location, the National Museum of World War II Aviation, for the foreseeable future. The plan is to fully restore the aircraft.
Republic P-47D Thunderbolt
The P-47 Thunderbolt, which would become one of the most successful and widely produced fighters in history, began as the brainchild of two Russian aircraft designers who fled the Soviet Union—Alexander de Seversky and Alexander Kartveli. Kartveli had begun designing fighters for Seversky, including the P-35, and staying on with Seversky Aircraft after it was renamed Republic Aviation. Kartveli had designed the radial-engined P-43 Lancer and P-44 Rocket, and was working on the inline-engined XP-47 when the US Army Air Force cancelled all three programs in 1940, citing that they were inferior to the German Messerschmitt Bf 109.
Kartveli then proposed a new design based on the P-43/44, but much larger, with a turbocharged R-2800 Double Wasp engine, one of the most powerful radials available at the time. The size of the turbocharger and the engine meant that the fuselage had to be much larger as well; as the USAAF wanted an eight-gun fighter along the lines of the Supermarine Spitfire and Hawker Hurricane, the new design was equipped with elliptical wings containing eight .50 caliber machine guns. The resulting design, designated XP-47B Thunderbolt, was huge: it was 65 percent heavier than the P-43 and nearly twice the weight of the Spitfire. Even Kartveli himself referred to it as a “dinosaur.” When pilots saw it, they thought that its size and shape (and likely, its flying characteristics) resembled that of a milk jug, forever earning the Thunderbolt its moniker of “Jug.” Though the first XP-47B prototype crashed soon after its first flight in May 1941, its speed and performance were impressive.
Minor problems with the P-47B production version led to the P-47C, the first combat-ready version of the Thunderbolt, which arrived in England in January 1943. Assigned to the 4th Fighter Group, whose pilots were used to flying Spitfires, initially the Thunderbolt seemed a failure. It could not turn with either the Bf 109 or the new Focke-Wulf 190, and its climbing ability left much to be desired. Pilots hated the Thunderbolt’s size, its lack of performance as compared with the Spitfire, and its low ground clearance, though they did appreciate the comfortable and roomy cockpit, and especially the armor around it.
The indifferent performance of the P-47C and high accident rate led Republic to refine the design in the definitive P-47D variant, which introduced better cooling for the engine and, most importantly, paddle-bladed propeller blades. Now the Thunderbolt began to prove Kartveli’s faith in the fighter. The 56th Fighter Group, led by Hubert Zemke, had been trained from the start in the P-47 and benefited from earlier experience. Zemke, assisted by future aces Francis Gabreski and Robert Johnson, developed ambush tactics that emphasized the Thunderbolt’s advantage in weight; the P-47D’s improved engine and propeller gave it an edge over the Luftwaffe over 15,000 feet that the Germans were not able to equal until the introduction of the Messerschmitt 262 jet in 1944. This was a huge advantage for USAAF pilots, as the majority of air combat over Germany took place at altitudes of 20,000 feet. While the P-51 Mustang was more maneuverable, longer-ranged, and better in the vertical, it was Gabreski and Johnson, in their P-47s, who became the top American aces in Europe. In response to pilots complaining about the lack of rear vision in the “razorback” P-47D, Republic introduced the “bubbletop” version, which cut down the rear fuselage and added a P-51 style bubble canopy, giving the Thunderbolt pilot superb visibility.
What endeared the Thunderbolt to its pilots, however, was its legendary toughness. Since it was far more survivable than the inline-engined P-38 and P-51, much of the European Theater’s P-47s were shifted away from bomber escort and to 9th Air Force’s ground-attack force. Armed with rockets, bombs, and their eight machine guns, Thunderbolts proved to be devastating in this role, attacking anything that moved in Western Europe: by war’s end, ground attack P-47s had destroyed over 6000 tanks; it was especially deadly to trains, accounting for 9000 locomotives. 3752 German fighters became victims of P-47 pilots in the air. P-47Ds also served in the Pacific theater, though in fewer numbers compared to the P-38; nonetheless, they also turned in a stellar combat record, and the third highest ranking ace in the Pacific, Neel Kearby, was a Thunderbolt pilot. Allied air forces also flew P-47s, including the RAF (mainly in the Pacific), and expeditionary units of the Brazilian and Mexican Air Forces.
After war’s end, though more advanced “Pacific” versions of the Thunderbolt had been introduced in the P-47M/N, it was rapidly retired from service in favor of jets (namely the F-84 Thunderjet) and the P-51. A few lingered on until 1953 in Air National Guard service, when it was retired. France used a few P-47s during the Algerian War of Independence in the mid-1950s, while it persisted in South American air forces into the late 1960s. In 1993, Croatia seriously considered returning a museum-piece P-47 to active service during the Croat-Serbian War. 15,686 P-47s were produced, making it second only to the P-51 in US service; today, about 47 survive.
Though not much to look at for the moment, this is P-47D 42-8074, once assigned to the 348th Fighter Group at Finschafen, New Guinea. In September 1943, it was badly damaged in a landing accident at the airfield, and used as a spare parts source. When World War II ended, it--along with several other aircraft--was simply bulldozed into a pit at Finschafen and abandoned.
With all the "easy" restorations of World War II-era aircraft largely completed by the 1990s, warbird collectors turned to looking for wrecks that could be, with considerable cost and work, still be restored to at least display status, and possibly flyable status. A group of Australian warbird collectors located the Finschafen pit in 2002, and this proved to be a gold mine: three P-47s and two P-38s were recovered. They were shipped to Australia, where they were bought by Microsoft co-founder (and legendary warbird collector and explorer) Paul Allen for his Flying Heritage Collection. Allen turned over 42-8074 to Westpac Restorations of Colorado Springs for restoration in 2004.
Despite being buried in New Guinea for over 60 years, 42-8074 is in remarkable condition, with faint hints of the 1943-era red-surround national insignia still intact. Paul Allen's passing and the closure of the FHC in 2020 have left 42-8074's future somewhat in limbo; it will likely remain at its present location, the National Museum of World War II Aviation, for the foreseeable future. The plan is to fully restore the aircraft.