History of the P-47 D Thunderbolt

During the year 1940 the study of this aircraft began after the invasion of France by the German armies. Drawing lessons from the failures of the French air counter-attacks, the Americans wanted to establish a robust and powerful aircraft able to carry out ground attack.

The firm Republic produced in early 1941 a prototype which was successfull during its first test flight on May 6, 1941. Very fast but with an average maneuverability, it is still considered as one of the best aircrafts of the Second World War. The production of this fighter started and the first units were delivered to the Air Force in November 1942.

Under the colors of the 8th Air Force Division the American P-47 Thunderbolt took off for its first operational mission in England, on April 8, 1943, to provide close support for Allied bombers.

While the first versions of the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt had an average maneuverability, the next models (for example the new aircraft model P-47 B) appeared to be extremely robust and capable of almost all the maneuvers. 14 different versions of the P-47 were built, the latter being the model P-47 N, which production started at the end of 1944.

Between March 1943 and August 1945, nearly 546,000 operational missions were carried out by P-47 aircrafts and 11,874 enemy planes have been destroyed.

P-47 D Thunderbolt sheet

Country creator/user: USA
Name: Republic P-47 D Thunderbolt

Lenght: 11,02 m
Wingspan: 12,42 m
Height: 4,47 m
Curb weight : 4,510 kg
Maximum speed: 690 km/h
Range: 3,000 kilometers with additionnal tankers
Ceiling: 12,500 m

Armament: eight 12,7 mm Browning machine guns and place for 1,135 kg of bombs

Engine: Pratt & Whitney R-2800-59, 2,535 hp

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