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Republic P-47D Thunderbolt
Courtesy Flying Heritage Collection, Seattle, Washington USA.
edited by David Barth, 2 March 2013. Photos taken by Dave Barth in July 2010.
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| Republic P-47D Thunderbolt. The text is transcrbed, below. |
In 1940, the U.S. Army Air Corps decided that larger fighters would be needed in the coming European war. Slated to use the most powerful Pratt & Whitney engine ever developed, the airplane would be further enhanced by being armed with eight .50 caliber machine guns and clad in enough armor plating to protect the pilot from every direction.
At a weight of 10,000 lbs., the airplane weighed 4,000 lbs. more than any existing single-engine fighter. To offset the drag indirectly caused by the aircraft's weight, its designers used a super-charging intake and exhaust duct system that boosted the engine's performance, and they gave it a four-blade propeller instead of the standard three bladed prop to take advantage of the powerful engine.
Pilots who flew the P-47 Thunderbolt into combat called it "unbreakable," and said, "the plane can do anything." The P-47 was considered the most rugged and dependable airplane in the Second World War. P-47s flew more than 746,000 combat sorties between March 1943 and August 1945.
| STATISTICS | |
|---|---|
| ITEM | SPECIFICS |
| Crew | 1 |
| Length | 36 feet, 1 inch |
| Wingspan | 40 feet, 9 inches |
| Height | 14 feet, 8 inches |
| Weight | 10,000 lbs. (4,000 more than any other single-engine fighter) |
| Engine | 1 Pratt & Whitney R-2800-59 twin-row radial |
| Engine Power | 2,535 hp (1,890 kW) |
| PERFORMANCE | |
|---|---|
| ITEM | SPECIFICS |
| Maximum Speed | 433 mph at 30,000 feet |
| Range | 800 miles combat, 1,600 ferry |
| Ceiling | 43,000 feet |
| Rate of Climb | 3,120 feet/minute |
| ARMAMENT | |
|---|---|
| ITEM | SPECIFICS |
| Guns | 8 x 0.5-inch M2 Browning machine guns |
| Bombs | Up to 2,500 lbs. |
| Rockets | 10 x 5-inch unguided rockets |
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| Republic P-47D Thunderbolt. |