Country of origin:

United States of America

Description:

Single-seat fighter-bomber

Power Plant:

[P-47D-22]

One 1,716 kw (2,300 hp) Pratt & Whitney R-2800-2 Double-Wasp 18-cylinder two-row air-cooled supercharged radial engine

Specifications:

Armament:

Six 12.7 mm (0.5 in) Browning machine guns in wings; one 227 kg (500 lb) bomb

History:

Designed by Alexander Kartveli, Republic Aviation’s chief engineer, the P-47 was one of the outstanding designs of World War II, being the mount of some of America’s top scoring aces, undertaking some 546,000 combat sorties between March 1943 and August 1945, during which 1,934,000 operational hours were accumulated.  Using the most powerful engine then available, the Double Wasp, and being twice the weight of its contemporaries, the prototype (the XP-47B) made its first flight on 6 May 1941, production commencing in the following year. Operations in the European Theatre soon commenced, the type being used for high altitude escort and fighter sweeps.

Development continued, and by the time the P-47D entered service, it was operating escort duties in both the European and Pacific Theatres. The P-47D model had extra fuel tankage and, with wing and fuselage mountings, long-range fuel tanks and up to 1,134 kg (2,500 lb) of bombs, operations reaching as far as Berlin.

No less than 12,602 P-47Ds alone were built, total production of the Thunderbolt being 15,677.  Three production lines were set up for production of the P-47: Republic’s Farmingdale and Evansville facilities in New York and Indiana; and the Curtiss Wright plant at Buffalo in New York.  Final production model was the P-47N, but fastest was the P-47M, a sprint version built to combat the V-1 flying bomb and early German jet fighters. Fitted with an R-2800-57(C) engine, and a CH-4 turbo-blower with water injection, providing 2,089 kw (2,800 hp) at 9,906 m (32,500 ft), it could attain 756 km/h (470 mph).  Perhaps the fastest variant was the experimental XP-47J which, with the R-2800-57 engine, a special cooling fan, a 3.96 m (13 ft) four-blade Curtiss propeller, and a General Electric CH-5 supercharger, reached the highest speed by a propeller-driven aeroplane during the war, 812.69 km/h (505 mph) at 10,500 m (34,450 ft).

The type was also used during the War by Brazil, the Free French Air Force, and the RAF. Some numbers were supplied to the Soviet Union. After the war it soldiered on with US Air National Guard units, being phased out of service in 1955.  Subsequently it saw service with many air forces, particularly in South America. It is the survivors of these that have been obtained by warbird enthusiasts in the US and Europe for restoration to airworthiness.

In the Pacific Theatre fighter operations were dominated by naval aircraft but the P-47, because of its range, achieved some success, although General George Kenney wanted Lockheed P-38 Lightnings rather than P-47s as many operations were outside the range of the P-47D. Wing drop tanks were fitted to the P-47s of the 348th FG at Port Moresby, NG in July 1943, special lift shackles being devised so 416 litre (92 Imp gal) tanks could be installed under the fuselage. Later a ‘flat tank’ was developed in Brisbane, QLD holding 757 litres (167 Imp gals) and this was very successful in operational use.

To meet requirements P-47s were shipped from the United States to Australia, aircraft arriving at Bretts Wharf in Brisbane and being towed to Eagle Farm aerodrome where they were assembled by the 81st Air Depot Group and test flown, records indicating more than 100 examples were delivered.

The P-47s met Japanese Ki-43, Ki-84, Ki-61 and A6M fighters over New Guinea and, because the P-47 was at a disadvantage with these aircraft as far as manoeuvrability and dog fighting were concerned, ‘dive, fire and away’ tactics were devised.

The US 35th FG, encompassing the 39th, 40th and 41st Squadrons, used P-47s from Nadzab in the Markham Valley from November 1943 and, to make up for the lack of P-38s, single squadrons of the 8th and 9th Squadrons were equipped with P-47s, the other squadrons operating the P-38.  By December 1943 300 P-47s were on charge in Australia and New Guinea, enough to equip the 35th and 58th FGs, thus making eleven USAAF Squadrons with the P-47 in the Pacific Theatre.

During the invasion of Cape Gloucester on New Britain, P-47s provided air cover and, during battle with the Japanese forces, P-38s, P-40s and P-47s accounted for 47 enemy aircraft, including 22 Mitsubishi ‘Vals’ and 25 Mitsubishi A6M ‘Zeros’, the fighters later claiming 14 of a force of 15 Mitsubishi G-3M ‘Bettys’ making a torpedo attack.  In February 1944 the 58th FG moved from Australia to Dobodura in western New Guinea with camouflaged ‘razorback’ P-47s and, as Japanese forces withdrew, new bases were secured for the fighter units. P-47s of the 348th covered landings on New Britain and regularly gave cover for Allied bombers. By October 1944 Allied forces had invaded Leyte in the Philippines. P-47 units moved into that area and the war continued towards its ultimate conclusion.

In June 1943 the USAAF 348th Fighter Group was sent to New Guinea and began operations with the US 5th Air Force.  Shortly after the 35th and 58th FGs, along with a squadron from each of the 8th and 9th FGs, joined them.  As the war progressed the units were equipped with P-47D-28s. The 35th FG aircraft operated from Morotai Island in Indonesia carrying out fighter sweeps to Borneo carrying three 284 litre (62 Imp gal) drop tanks and thus achieving a radius of action of 1,344 km (835 miles).  From January 1945 the P-47s were used in the ground attack role, mainly in the Philippines.

Early in its time in New Guinea the 348th FG was commanded by Col Neel E Kearby who, on 11 October 1943, in P-47 Firey Ginger, one of four P-47s returning from a reconnaissance mission over Wewak, shot down seven Japanese aircraft, six of these being recorded on the gun camera.  He later received the Congressional Medal of Honour.  He went on to be the highest scoring P-47 pilot in the Pacific Theatre, with a total of 22 victories before being killed in March 1944.

P-47s also saw service in the central Pacific with the US 7th Air Force, operating from Saipan Island in the northern Mariana Islands escorting B-29 Superfortresses, and with both US and RAF groups in the China – Burma – India Theatre with the 10th and 14th Air Forces. By 1944 the P-47 was active in all theatres of the war, and examples were supplied to Free French and Russian units. Some 590 were supplied to the RAF, nearly all being operated in the Far East until replaced by North American P-51s. From D-Day to VE Day P-47s were recorded as destroying 86,000 railway coaches, 9,000 locomotives, 68,000 motor vehicles and 6,000 armoured vehicles on continental Europe.

The P-47N was developed for the Pacific Theatre, where range was paramount. This model used the P-47M fuselage but had a strengthened undercarriage, an increase in wingspan of 55.9 cm (22 in), wing area increased by 2.04 m² (22 sq ft), a max fuel capacity of 4,792 litres (1,054 Imp gals), and a gross weight of 9,276 kg (20,450 lb) giving a ferry range of 3,781 km (2,380 miles), the maximum speed being 740 km/h (460 mph) at 9,144 m (30,000 ft).

The Thunderbolt did not see service with the RAAF or the RNZAF as such, although pilots from both countries flew the aircraft with other air forces. However, it was extensively used by US forces operating from Australia and through the Pacific islands.  Parts of one (42-75921) were recovered from Cape York, QLD and placed in storage at the Australian War Memorial’s Duntroon facility awaiting restoration. Another (42-8068), salvaged by the Kokoda Track War Memorial Museum at Port Moresby, NG in 1972, was partially restored for display at the Museum of Transport & Technology in Auckland.  In 1992 it was transferred to the RNZAF Museum but in turn in February 1995 was exchanged for a replica Sopwith Pup and has been undergoing restoration at the HARS facility at Albion Park, NSW.

Another two ex-New Guinea wrecks were obtained in 1999 and are being used in the restoration of another P-47, also at Albion Park, NSW. Parts of another are held by an enthusiast in Queensland for eventual restoration. The wrecks of two ex-USAAF aircraft have been located at Duyfken Point on Cape York; and other wrecks have been located in New Guinea.  In late 2005 a Victorian collector obtained a P-47G (N47DG – 42-25068) from the United Kingdom for operation as a warbird in Australia but on arrival in Melbourne, VIC it was sold and immediately exported to the United States.