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Reviewed by Dave Coward
Thanks to Vintage Fighter Series for providing our review sample
Background info…
Republic Aviation’s P-47 Thunderbolt, also known as the “Jug”, was the largest, heaviest, and most expensive fighter aircraft in history to be powered by a single reciprocating engine. It was one of the main United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) fighters of World War II, and served with other Allied air forces. The P-47 was effective in air combat but proved especially adept at ground attack. It had eight .50-caliber machine guns, four per wing. When fully loaded the P-47 could weigh up to eight tons.
Refinements of the early Thunderbolts led to the P-47D, of which 12,602 were built. The “D” model actually consisted of a series of evolving production blocks, the last of which were visibly different from the first. The P-47D-15 was produced in response to requests by combat units for increased range. The internal fuel capacity was increased to 375 U.S. gal and the bomb racks under the wings were made “wet” (equipped with fuel plumbing) to allow a jettisonable drop tank pressurized by vented exhaust air to be carried under each wing, in addition to the belly tank.
The tanks made of plastic-impregnated (laminated) paper could not store fuel for an extended period of time, but they worked quite well for the time it took to fly a single mission. These tanks were cheaper, lighter in weight, and were useless to the enemy if recovered after being dropped—not only did they break apart, but they did not provide the enemy with any reusable materials that could be scavenged for their own war effort. With the increased fuel capacity, the P-47 was now able to perform escort missions deep into enemy territory. A drawback to their use was that fighters could not land with the tanks in place because of the hazard of rupture and explosion. Fighters recalled from a mission or that did not jettison for some reason were required to drop paper tanks into a designated “dump” area at their respective fields, resulting in substantial losses of aviation fuel.
Beginning with the block 22 aircraft, the original narrow-chord Curtiss propeller was replaced by propellers with larger blades, the Evansville plant switching to a new Curtiss propeller with a diameter of 13 ft (3.96 m) and the Long Island plant using a Hamilton Standard propeller with a diameter of 13 ft 2 in (4.01 m). With the bigger propellers having barely 6 in (152 mm) of ground clearance, Thunderbolt pilots had to learn to be careful on takeoffs to keep the tail down until they obtained adequate ground clearance, and on landings to flare the aircraft properly. Failure to do so damaged both the propeller and the runway. A modification to the maingear legs was installed to extend the gear legs via an electric motor (un-extending before retract) to accommodate the larger propeller diameter.
All the P-47s to this point had a “razorback” canopy configuration with a tall fuselage spine behind the pilot which resulted in poor visibility to the rear. The British also had this problem with their fighter aircraft, and had devised the bulged “Malcolm hood” canopy for the Spitfire as an initial solution. This was fitted in the field to many North American P-51 Mustangs, and to a handful of P-47Ds (and far more on P-47Bs and P-47Cs). However, the British then came up with a much better solution, devising an all-round vision “bubble” canopy for the Hawker Typhoon. USAAF officials liked the bubble canopy, and quickly adapted it to American fighters, including the P-51 and the Thunderbolt. The bubble canopy resulted in the block 25 P-47D and first deliveries to combat groups began in May 1944.
Initial response to the P-47 praised its dive speed and high-altitude performance, while criticizing its turning performance and rate of climb (particularly at low altitudes). Some British assumed the American P-47 nickname “Jug” was short for “Juggernaut” and began using the longer word as an alternate nickname. Another nickname that was used for the Thunderbolt was “T-bolt”.
The P-47 first saw action with the 4th Fighter Group. The Group’s pilots were mainly drawn from the three British Eagle Squadrons who had previously flown the British Supermarine Spitfire Mark V. They viewed their new fighter with misgivings, at first. It was huge. The British joked that a Thunderbolt pilot could defend himself from a Luftwaffe fighter by running around and hiding in the fuselage. Optimized for high altitude work, the Thunderbolt had 5 feet more wingspan, a quarter more wing area, about four times the fuselage volume and nearly twice the weight of a Spitfire V. One Thunderbolt pilot compared it to flying a bathtub around the sky. When his unit was equipped with Thunderbolts, ace Don Blakeslee said, referring to the P-47’s vaunted ability to dive on its prey, “It ought to be able to dive. It certainly can’t climb”.
The P-47’s initial success in combat was primarily due to tactics, using rolls (the P-47 had an excellent roll rate) and energy-saving dive and zoom climbs from high altitude to outmaneuver German fighters. Both the Bf 109 and Fw 190 could, like the Spitfire, out-turn and out-climb the P-47. But whereas both German fighters could break hard downwards, and leave all but the fastest models of the Spitfire trailing,no German piston-engined plane could out-dive the Thunderbolt. In a bounce, with their rapid acceleration downhill coupled with the pulverizing effect of eight .50s, these aircraft were deadly. The Thunderbolt was the fastest-diving American aircraft of the war—it could reach speeds of 550 mph . Some P-47 pilots claimed to have broken the sound barrier, but later research revealed that because of the pressure buildup inside the pitot tube at high speeds, airspeed readings became unpredictably exaggerated. But German pilots learned soon to avoid diving with a Thunderbolt. Kurt Bühligen, a high-scoring German fighter ace with 112 victories, recalled:
“The P-47 was very heavy, too heavy for some manoeuvres. We would see it coming from behind, and pull up fast and the P-47 couldn’t follow and we came around and got on its tail in this way”.
The arrival of the new Curtiss paddle-blade propeller significantly increased climb rate at lower altitudes, and came as a shock to German pilots who had resorted to steep climbs to evade pursuit by the P-47. Other positive attributes included the P-47’s ruggedness; it could sustain a large amount of damage and still be able to get its pilot back to base. With eight .50 in machine guns, the P-47 did not lack for firepower. German aircraft caught in a well-aimed burst tended to fly apart from the impact of so many armor-piercing projectiles.
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