The P-47 Thunderbolt

Just finished a book about a Mosquito pilot. He said a P-38 had no chance against a Mosquito. He chased a few 190's as well, caught at least one. The speed was very similiar on the deck. Flypast is doing a big D-13 article for next months issue for those interested.

 

In reference to the accomplishments of the P-47 Thunderbolt in escort duty, General Kepner writes: " It is perhaps the moment to point out the following fact -- by far the larger proportion of our escort fighters to date have been P-47 Thunderbolts and their share of the 2321 enemy planes destroyed by this Command in combat, with 1496 probably destroyed amd damaged, is in ratio to their numbers. If it can be said that the P-38s struck the Luftwaffe in it's vitals and the P-51s are giving it the coup de grace, it was the Thunderbolt that broke it's back."

http://www.78thfightergroup.com/history/8thFCpublications.html

 

One of the parishoners at my church flew P-47s in support of Anzio operations and the rest of the Italian Campaign. I need to keep after him for more stories and information. He gives the impression that he liked the plane a lot but that military fighter pilot life had more danger than just the enemy fighter pilots. He hasn't told me any stories about engaging enemy planes, but he has told a lot of stories about his plane being damaged/wrecked because of other circumstances.

 

Keep at it, B.I.M. ! Opportunities to speak with such people are getting scarcer....

 

My old man was in 353rd fighter squadron, 354th fighter group, 9th Army Air Force. Pioneer Mustange Group.
At one time their mustangs were taken away to the Pacific (I presume for bomber escort) elsewhere. Their replacement planes were P-47s.
It was love/hate from start to finish. Many of their missions started as escort, and ended as ground attack, not all. Many were ground attack all the way.
The mustang was a dogfighter no doubt, but suffered in ground attack because of it's radiator (oil cooler) exposed below. The pilots who came back without their planes said you had 3 minutes to engine failure if hit here. 6-50 cal and 2 500lb bombs in glide (mild dive attacks). Neither plane was a Stuka/Dauntless.
On the other hand the "Jug" (air cooled) which the pilots said took half the sky to turn around (after flying Mustangs) could take a beating and a half.
It was said to bring down a B-17 it took either 100 machine gun bullets, or 20 20mm cannon hits. One P-47 came back with 22 20mm cannon hits, and over 100 machine gun hits. Obviously this is not standard..what is?
The pilot reported he could not shake the 109. It pecked away at him as he ducked behind his armored seat. When the German ran out of ammo he flew up along side and made eye contact with the 47 pilot. The german looked at him and just shook his head side to side and flew off.
The 47 had excellent lift capabilities, climb performance, and firepower. 2 1,000lb bombs and 8-50 cal. It could not easily pull out of a dive either, so glide bombing (not as accurate) but much safer was adopted.
As a fighter it could climb above, dive through, cut to pieces the enemy, and then run to do it again. It could dish out, and if forced to dogfight it could take punishment and bring you home.
As with any new (to you) weapon, a change in tactics is required to be successful. A good (enough) weapon it was.

 

Dear forum members,

I'll give you a link to the page I've dedicated to the P-47 in a moment to be forgiven the dumb question I'm going to ask you first: could someone explain to the clueless newbie that I am where the medals under your alias are from?

Many thanks!

Christian

P.S.: Here's the link to my Thunderbolt page: www.world-war-2-planes.com/p-47.html

 

Hello Christian - welcome aboard the Forums and thank you for the P-47 link, which I'll soon be reading through at my leisure !

Now, as to the medals, I'm embarrassed to say that I only know about half of them ( not being an awards collector or student ). I was going to say 'look in the FAQs' but the explanation which used to be there seems to have gone AWOL

So, you'll have to give us a little time on this one

 

Welcome to the forum Christian. Don't know if this answers your question.

http://www.ww2forums.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=faq#usertitles

 

Thanks PzJgr!

CL

 

A nice little video clip...

YouTube - WW2 Shocking P-47 video,coloured and real

 

Afternoon rogues,

In doing some further reasearch on the P-47 Thunderbolt... I have found that the agility, firepower, and the Thunderbolts reliability label this fighter a true contender. My question is this: On the opponents side, which fighters would this plane have met eye to eye?? and which plane had the advantage??

 

Greg's aircraft videos are really worth watching. This is the first of a series of 8 he does on the P-47