Republic P-47 Thunderbolt

P-47 Thunderbolt
XP-47N flying over the Pacific during World War II
Role Fighter-bomber
Manufacturer Republic Aviation
Designer Alexander Kartveli
First flight 6 May 1941
Introduction November 1942[1]
Retired 1966, Peruvian Air Force
Primary users United States Army Air Forces
Royal Air Force
French Air Force
Produced 1941–1945
Number built 15,636
Unit cost
US$83,000 in 1945[2]
Variants Republic XP-72

The P-47 Thunderbolt (also called The Jug [3]) was a fighter aircraft made by Republic Aviation. It first flew in 1941, and was introduced in 1942. It had a very big Pratt and Whitney R-2800-59 engine, which had more than 2,000 horsepower. Because of this, the P-47 could go more than 430 miles per hour. In fact, it was the biggest engine ever at the time. [4] It had 8 machine guns, 2 more than most fighters. It's shape and speed made it similar to the Fw 190.

During 1944, the P-51 Mustang was lighter, faster, and could turn better. Because of this, it started replacing the P-47 as a fighter. The P-47 was then used for bombing in late World War II. It was retired from the American Air National Guard in 1955.

Now, there is a jet called the A-10 Thunderbolt II, and it is named after the P-47.

References

  1. ↑ "Republic P-47 Thunderbolt". aviation-history. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
  2. ↑ Goebel, Greg. "The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt". airvectors.net. AirVectors. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
  3. ↑ "P47 Thunderbolt Pilots Association P-47 Thunderbolt wwii world war 2 air force pilots war stories pilot story". p47pilots.com. Archived from the original on 2019-06-30. Retrieved 2019-02-11.
  4. ↑ "Republic P-47 Thunderbolt". www.aviation-history.com.