[ad_1]
Of all the aircraft built by Republic in WWII, 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 turbo-charged R-2800 Double Wasp engine. This save the P-47 excellent performance and a large load-carrying capability. The US Army Air Corps started flying it in the European Theater soon after first deliveries were accepted in June 1942.
Even though it was an excellent airplane, as production continued, several 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 tough airplane. It was able to take incredible amounts of damage and still return its 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. Mostly, though, they excelled in the ground-attack role, strafing and bombarding their way across the battlefields of Europe. Early versions, up through the P-47C, had "razorback" fuselages, while the popular P-47D featured a bubble canopy which had the pilot increased rearward visibility.
The P-47D with the P & W R-2800 radial engine weighed at at 9,950 lbs empty, with a full load of fuel and bombs, it could manage takeoff with 17,500 lbs. Its length was 36 ft, wing span 40 ft 9 in, with a height of 14 ft 8 in. Performance wise its maximum speed was 433 mph with a ceiling of 41,000 ft and a range of 1900 (with drop tanks). For armament it carried four 50 caliber machine guns in each wing and up to 2500 lbs of externally mounted bombs, rockets or other free-fall ordinance.
Sometimes it looks like every manufacturer of WWII fighters claimed their was the fastest, but there may have been some truth to the P-47'c claim. The P-47J was equipped with the P & W R2800-57 and at 81% of rated power could maintain 435 mph. At military power (100%) it could sustain 470 mph, with the settings at War Emergency Power (133%) the P-47 actually attained 507 mph. All speed tests were carried out at an altitude of 34,300 ft. The P-47 was also especially good at climbing. At sea level its climb rate was 4,900 fpm, four minutes and 15 seconds later it at 20,000 ft it was maintaining 4,400 fpm. Time to 30,000 was 6 min minutes; this with full internal tanks and fully armed. It had also been flown to 46,500 and the pilot claimed it was capable of a bit more.
The first of Germany's rockets appeared in the summer of 1944. The sudden appearance of the V-1 flying bomb caused a serious uproar in Britain. Flying at speeds right around 400 mph., The V-1 was not easy to intercept prior to flying over populated areas where knocking it down could have a worse effect than leaving it alone. Many of the RAF's latest fighters were thrown into intercepting the "Buzz Bombs", preferably over the English Channel. Tempests, Spitfires and even the jet powered (but not very fast) Meteor were put to work intercepting the deadly missiles.
Naturally the British government called upon its allies to aid in this duty. Having already logged hundreds of flights with the XP-47M, beginning in mid 1943, Republic had a big leg up in terms of development time. This was about the time when the P-47M series was just going into production. Upon being informed of the P-47M's performance an initial order of three was immediately placed but never fulfilled; instead the improved P-47N was produced with its clipped wings, which for the first time was a "wet wing" containing self-sealing fuel tanks. By the time the first aircraft were ready to be delivered to Europe, the ground forces in Europe had already over-run the V-1 launching sites. The P-47N with its speed of 465 mph and range in excess of 2,300 miles, was instead deployed to the Pacific and was assigned escort duties with the 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 for nine more years in the US while being flown by the Air National Guard. It continued to serve for many additional years with the air forces of over 15 nations around the world. Of the 15,677 built, only 9 are known to be airworthy today.
[ad_2]
Source by Michael Russell