The pilots who flew it into combat called it "The Unbreakable" and "The plane that can do anything." They were not far from wrong.
P-47's often came back from combat shot full of holes, their wings and control surfaces in tatters. On one occasion a Thunderbolt pilot, Lieutenant Chetwood, hit a steel pole after strafing a train over Occupied France. The collision sliced four feet off one of his wings--yet he was able to fly back safely to his base in England.
Story of the
P-47 began in the summer of 1940. At that time Republic was building the P-43 Lancer and had plans to produce a lightweight fighter, designated the P-44 Rocket. In view of combat experience in Europe, however, the Air Corps decided that if the United States became involved in the war something larger and better than the P-44 would be required.
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Alexander Kartveli,
Republic's chief engineer, quickly prepared a rough sketch of a new
fighter. It was a daring concept. He planned to use the new Pratt &
Whitney Double Wasp , 2,000 h.p. XR-2800-21 eighteen-cylinder
two-row radial engine. It which was largest and most powerful
aircraft engine ever developed in the United States. He also
envisioned that his plane would have eight .50-caliber machine guns
and enough armor plating to protect the pilot from every direction.
These features added up to an airplane weighing about 4,000 pounds,
more than any existing single-engine fighter. |
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Without such power of the new 2,000 h.p. Pratt & Whitney Double Wasp , Kartveli could see no way of meeting the performance and load carrying demands being made by the U.S.A.A.F. From an engineering standpoint, the requirements presented some enormous problems, but far more problems were presented by the engine.
The first of these was the need for an efficient super-charging duct system that would offer the least interrupted airflow. Kartveli therefore adopted the unorthodox method of designing this feature first and then building up the fuselage around it; the large turbo-supercharger was stowed internally in the rear fuselage, with the large intake for the air duct mounted under the engine, together with the oil coolers. Exhaust gases were piped back separately to the turbine and expelled through a waste gate in the bottom of the fuselage, and ducted air was fed to the centrifugal impeller and returned, via an intercooler, to the engine under pressure. Surprisingly, all this ducting of gases under temperature and pressure did not prove very vulnerable in combat, for the fighter was to become renowned for its ability to absorb battle damage and return home.
The first tasks of the Thunderbolt,
which began on April 8, 1943, were high-altitude escort duties and fighter
sweeps in which the new aircraft acquitted itself well, despite the
inexperience of its pilots. P-47's flew more than 546,000 combat sorties
between March 1943 and August 1945, destroying 11,874 enemy aircraft, some
9,000 locomotives, and about 6,000 armored vehicles and tanks. Only 0.7 per
cent of the fighters of this type dispatched against the enemy were to be
lost in combat.
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Lt. Col. Glenn E. Duncan:
LTC Glenn E. Duncan - I was leading the Group flying
with Pipeful Squadron on Area Support for heavy bombers near Ans,
Germany. We had been patrolling our designated area with the lead
Squadron at 22,000 ft., the second Squadron, Roughman as high cover at
33,000 and the third Squadron, Wakeford at 25,000 acting as a bouncing
Squadron. At 1215 Recall was given and I began a slow descent in order
to fly under a layer of cirrus. AT about 1235 hours the lead Squadron
was at 15,000ft in good combat formation and under a thick layer of
cirrus. Wakeford Squadron was to my right at about 16,000-ft. Roughman
Squadron was above the cloud at about 26,000-ft.
I was just getting the R.A. at having flown another milk run mission
when I saw two airplanes off to my left and low. They were easily
recognized as twin engines and as we closed were definitely identified
as ME 110s. By this time I was down under a lower layer of scattered
cumulus at about 7,000 ft. and could then see four ME 110s flying a
swept-back line-abreast formation. They were flying at about 5,000 ft on
a heading of approximately 230 degrees. I had pulled my handful of
throttle, turbo, and prop levers all back in order to slow down, but I
was still closing too fast. I made a sharp left return then swung around
so as to come in behind the last ME 110. Still I was closing too fast so
I threw in a few good hearted skids and then at the last moment as I
would have overshot and messed up a good shot I barrel-rolled and came
in position on the Hun''s tail. I closed up to about 250 yards, centered
the needle and ball, put the pip on the top of the cockpit, then
squeezed in a nice long burst. The ME 110 immediately began losing
excess parts and flamed up. (They burn nicely) I must have killed the
rear gunner in the first few rounds because he was not shooting. This ME
110 veered off to the left and down, then crashed.
During this time the other ME 110s had made a sweeping turn to the right
and was now in line astern formation. Incidentally, three were black and
one was all white.
I pulled over the ME 110 that I had just shot down and came in behind
the No. 3 or next in line. This rear gunner was really excited and
shooting like mad. They must be very poor gunners because I held my fire
until I pulled up to about 250 or 300 yards then gave him a goo long
squeeze. (I found later that I picked up one .303 slug in the right side
of my engine from this gunner.) He immediately burst into flames and
pieces flew everywhere. THOSE EIGHT FIFTIES SURE PACK A WALLOP! |
One shortcoming, which was even
more marked in other Allied fighters, was that of insufficient range to
permit deep penetration into Germany, but means were already being sought to
add to the P-47B's 307 U.S. gallons of internal fuel. At the time of the Thunderbolt's European debut radial-engine single-seat fighters were a rarity, the only other such fighter operational in Europe being the Fw-190A. To prevent confusion between the two fighters of the opposing sides the engine cowlings of the Thunderbolts were painted white, and white bands were painted around the vertical and horizontal tail surfaces--an appropriate comment on recognition standards appertaining at that time, as it would seem impossible to mistake the sleek and beautifully-contoured German fighter for the portly Thunderbolt.
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