The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
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Republic P-47D Thunderbolt
| Crew | 1 | ||
| Dimensions | 40’9.25”
by
36’1.25” by
14’2” 12.43m by 11.00m by 4.32m |
||
| Wing area | 300 square feet 27.9 square meters |
||
| Weight | 10,700-19,400 lbs 4850-8800 kg |
||
| Maximum speed | 433 mph (802 km/h) at 30,000
feet (9150 meters) 353 mph (654 km/h) at 5000 feet (1500 meters) |
||
| Cruise speed | 305 mph 491 km/h |
||
| Landing speed | 100 mph 161 km/h |
||
| Climb rate | 30 feet per second 9.1 meters per second |
||
| Service ceiling | 42,500 feet 13,000 meters |
||
| Power plant | 1 2300 hp (1715 kW) Pratt
&
Whitney R-2800-59
Double Wasp 18-cylinder two-row radial engine driving a
four-blade
propeller |
||
| Armament | 8 0.50
Colt-Browning M2 fixed wing machine guns with
267, 350, or 425 rounds each |
||
| External stores | 3 to 5 racks for up to 2500 lbs (1100 kg) of drop tanks, bombs, or 4.5" M8 rockets | ||
| Range | 1000 miles (1600 km) on 305
gallons (1150 liters) internal fuel 1900 miles (3100 km) with 2 108-gallon (409 liter) drop tanks |
||
| Fuel | 305 gallons 1155 liters |
||
| Production | 15,660 of all types from 3/42 to 9/45 at Republic Aviation Corporation, Farmingdale, NY: | ||
| 1 | XP-47B | ||
| 171 | P-47B | ||
| 602 | P-47C | ||
| 12,602 | P-47D | ||
| 354 | P-47G built by Curtiss-Wright (otherwise identical to the D) | ||
| 1 | XP-47J | ||
| 130 | P-47M | ||
| 1816 | P-47N | ||
| Variants |
The
P-47B used a
2000 hp (1491 kW) R-2800-21
engine and lacked provisions for a drop tank or
bombs. The P-47C added drop tanks (but not bombs) and improved the maneuverability by shifting the engine slightly. The P-47D introduced the bubble
canopy. The P-47N introduced the 2800 hp (2088 kW) R-2800-57 engine and increased the range to 2300 miles (3700 km.) |
||
The P-47 Thunderbolt, also known as
the “Jug,” was one of
the best fighter-bombers of
the
war. Though huge for a fighter,
it was very fast,
had excellent high-altitude performance, could drop like a rock,
had a
surprisingly
good roll rate for such a large airframe, and was extremely
rugged,
with its large air-cooled
engine acting almost as a thick layer of armor
protecting the pilot.
The design dated to 1940, when Republic's chief
engineer, Alexander Kartveli, scrapped existing plans for a
lightweight
fighter, the P-10, and began designing a fighter built around the
new
turbocharged R-2800 engine and incorporating the early war lessons
of
the Allies in Europe.
The
design proved challenging, particularly with respect to the long
landing gear required to give sufficient clearance for the large
propeller, and the prototype was not complete until 6 May 1941 and
the
design was not approved for production until early 1942.
The fighter was initially met with
skepticism by RAF
pilots who were used to
dogfighting in
cramped but nimble fighters like the Spitfire,
and
the joke went around that the only way to take evasive maneuvers
in a
P-47 was
to unstrap and run in circles in the cockpit. However, the P-47
excelled
at the hit-and-run tactics that were already proving superior to
traditional
dogfighting. It could also carry a heavier bomb load than
most
light bombers could
at the start of the war. It had an effective combat radius of
almost 450 miles with two 108-gallon (409-liter) drop tanks.
The cost of production dropped from $105,594 in 1942 to $83,001 in 1945.
The Thunderbolt played
both
the roles of high-altitude escort and
low-level attack aircraft with success. Though its greatest
successes were in Europe
and the Mediterranean, it played a significant role in the Southwest
Pacific as
well. Some remained in service with smaller air forces until the
1950s. About 28% of Thunderbolt crews were deployed to the
Pacific.
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References
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2007-2009, 2014, 2019 by Kent G. Budge. Index
