Grumman sort of did the same kind of thing with the Wildcat, to come up with the Hellcat. Kept the strengths and repaired the weaknesses, to create an aircraft this was a success in the skys of reality rather than just on paper.
My father-in-law (Bob) flew the P-47 in the European theatre and he told me numerous stories of his time in the USAAF. I wish that I had recorded his stories ...but sadly I didn't and he passed many years ago. Since this vid is a documentary of the aircraft ...I will tell you a short story Bob told me about his experience learning to fly the P-47 before going to Europe. He was training one day with several of his squadron buddies and they were shooting at targets out over the ocean off of the South Carolina coast. On the way back to the air field ...they started fooling around and Bob almost ran into another P-47. Bob's plane started tumbling towards the ocean and he could hear the rest of the squadron telling him to bale out. He stuck with the plane and figured out how to recover. Once they got back to the field ...his Commander heard about the fooling around. He made Bob contact Republic and tell them about the tumble. The engineer at Republic said it was impossible to tumble the aircraft and began to argue about what took place. Bob asked him to come to the air field and he would take him up in the two seat P-47 trainer. The guy from Republic showed up the next day. Bob took him up and showed him the tumble and how he recovered from it. Once on the ground ...the guy had vomit all over him and agreed that the air craft indeed could tumble :)
@@pascalchauvet822 Most of the fighters had a trainer config. Watch Tom Cruise take James Corden up in a P-51 trainer used by the Tuskegee Airmen during WWII
A Thunderbolt pilot who lived in my area was on the Dogfights episode all about the P47. He recounted an incident a week after D-Day where his plane was badly damaged by enemy fire but he managed to make it back.
My father flew the Jug from Italy into Germany. 27th, squadron 524. He had a lot of stories of course. The Jug never got its due and even today it is totally disrespected. It is only through videos like this that people can get a grasp of just how good this plane was. Sadly, there are only a handful left that are flight worthy. Still have some of my fathers gun camera photos too along with his headgear. Just an amazing plane that should get a lot more respect than it does.
Twenty-five years after the end of WW2, I went to war fixing one of Republics grandsons of the P-47. Every bit as tough, every bit the lineage, the F-105. I spent a summer in training at McConnel AFB, then off to war in SEA, at Korat RTAFB, and the 388th Fighter Wing. I was assigned to the Avionics shop, fixing the Doppler Navigation system. The Aircraft I serviced were assigned to the then 6010 Wild Weasel Squadron, and later the 17th Wild Weasel Squadron. With both F-4E's and F-105's, I always thought the F-105 had that look of a fighter, sat tall, big, almost no wings, and could haul most anything they hung on it. A lot of work keeping the old gals working, but we did the job, and they did their job, keeping the SAMs busy on us and off the F-4s. I still think back to those days, and have gone up and looked at the one in the AF museum, I know I've worked on her at least once, might not show with my signature, but my hands were insider her avionics bay.
@@MuhammadAbdullah-LGK Then we've had our hands, heads and probably some body parts squeezed into some airplanes fixing black boxes. Hello brother avionics tech.
The P47 was a flying tank. We need to bring those and/or the Spads (A1 Skyraiders) back as CAS birds. As a former grunt, I'd love to have that much aerial ass-kicking at my disposal.
The massive turbo system was as vulnerable as any radiator, however the Jug would be able to dive to low level and carry on RTB with the supercharger while the LW fighters continued attacking their main objectives - the bombers.
I grew up in the shadow of WWII and Korea, and read tons on all the differenr aircraft. I have always loved the P-47 for its power, versatility, speed and toughness. One hell of an airplane.
I smile that many mocked the P47 for it's size. Then it ended up the fastest non-jet aircraft, best attack and a fantastic long range escort. The P47 needed the size for range, bombload and speed in one package. It was the P47 and Spitfire, not the Mustang that broke the back of the Luftwaffe in western Europe.
My grandfather was a supervisor at the Republic airplane factory building the P-47. It's the same field where the Spirit of St Louis took off from, my grandfather saw that too.
My mother and her parents all worked at the Republic Aircraft factory in Evansville, Indiana during the war, building P-47 fighter planes. They worked six days a week, 10 hours days. My dad was in the army during the war, stationed in the European theater. He told me many stories of his service, one of which was of a P-47 whose pilot bailed out near him somewhere in France. My dad said that he couldn’t believe that the plane was remotely flyable as it had a huge hole in the right wing. My dad said that the hole was right up against the fuselage, and that the pilot actually jumped through the hole in the wing when he parachuted, and the fighter plane nosedived into the ground and exploded. He said that the pilot had some light wounds, and sprained his ankle on landing, but was otherwise okay. He thought it was the most durable fighter we had. Just my family’s history about the plane. Thanks for sharing.
this is my second favorite ww2 plane. My favorite is the F6F Hellcat; it was another underrated bruiser of an aircraft. Like the Thunderbolt, it was big; had no finesse but just dared you to fight.
@@bkmeahan I believe that everything that Grumman ever designed was built to survive a crash landing on a carrier deck including those ugly little post office trucks.
Paul Poberezny, founder and President of the Experimental Aircraft Association, was a Mustang pilot in the 5th Air Force in Korea, where the task was ground attack. He was quoted as saying they often wished they had Thunderbolts instead, as they were much better suited for ground attack than Mustangs.
My dad was a Combat Veteran Flightline engineer and mechanic on the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt and he served in the 20TH USAAF, 7TH ARMY AIR CORP, 414TH FIGHTER/ BOMBER GROUP, 413TH F/ B SQUADRON in the Pacific Campaign on Tinian, Saipan and Iwo Jima from late '44 into '45 and the end of the war. He loved the Jug.
@@chrisbaker2903 I went into the Army in '71 because my draft number was very low. Coming from at least a five generation military family , I wasn't going to be drafted. I was a sophomore in college. I trained in communications electronics for the Army Security Agency...saw no combat...sent to Japan...you have nothing to be ashamed of. My son will be attending Air Force OCS later this year.
Here it is folks, the beast. It was a hockey player in a figure skating contest, and I laugh myself silly every time I think about one of those figure skaters getting slammed against the boards, body parts laying around all over the place, oh the humanity.
Bear in mind that Seversky and Kartveli were refugees from a burgeoning Soviet Union. The P-47 is the ultimate product of Russian thinking put into the hands of American craftsmanship. A battleship that flies.
Model progression took place with fighter aircraft on all sides during the war. Thunderbolts, Mustangs, Lightnings, all improved signigificantly through their periods of service.
@@salamanca1954 that is true, of course. But the P-47 often doesn't get credit for it's improvements during the war. Earlier models without drop tanks are often referenced to support the misconceived notion that it had poor range. And it is commonly stated that it had a terrible climb rate, which is only true in part. Later models had pretty good climb rates, and generally climbed better than their contemporaries up at altitude. Even early models had competitive climb rates at high altitude. All models had excellent zoom climbs, which helps a lot in dogfights.
The flying hot rod, there's an airline pilot here on RUclips that has the channel Greg's Airplane's and Automobiles, he has a series of videos on the P47 that are the most complete and detailed of any you'll ever find, he says in one part that although when it comes to the M variant's official speed being 15 MPH faster than the N variant he's pretty sure that it's only because of the different testing parameters between the two, he said most likely they actually had the same top speed or at least they were real close, after all they both had the same variant of the R2800 engine and I'm pretty sure the same turbo, if indeed that's true then the N variant would be THE one to have fought in, along with having the same speed or at least close the N had an incredible range due to it's wet wings, even further than the P51, and other features like auto pilot and a rear facing alert radar, even if it was 15 MPH slower than the M it was definitely the most advanced and refined of the P47's. There a couple of great interviews here on RUclips with a guy named Martin Jackson who flew the N variant in the Pacific, they're definitely worth your time checking them out, his account of dropping down and flying low over Nagasaki the day after the bomb was dropped is pretty good. Just enter "Martin Jackson P47 pilot" on RUclips and you should be able to find them.
Poor range on the P47 was used by senior brass refusing to import drop tanks. They saved face when the "long range" P51 came along while quietly fitting drop tanks to P47s.
So much of this is true yet a misnomer at the same time. Everyone rightly praises the P-47's strengths as a ground attack platform. However many original pilots told me it performed best at high altitude 'turning and burning with Luftwaffe fighters which struggled to turn, loop, boost and roll at that altitude. It was a dogfighter at heart...and could tolerate hits from FW 190 cannon in a way a Mustang could not!
German aces that got to test fly P47s talked about how it's performance greatly increased with higher altitude. That tells me ground attack is not it's true strength. These pilots had nearly 8 or 9 hundred sorties and experience on multiple fronts, in multiple aircraft, against multiple enemy aircraft. I would take their word seriously. Just saying ✌️
According to Hub Zemke, (56th F.G. Commander), No body had a plane that could compete with a P-47 above 25,000 feet; the P-47 was actually DESIGNED for high altitude fighting. The N model was also the FASTEST Prop-driven fighter of the war.
Close. The "M" model was, not the final "N" version. It was close, as the N could do 467 mph, but the M could do 473. Some people suspect that the P-47N is actually just as fast as the P-47M, if both were tested at the same weights. I must say I do think the P-47M would still be faster though, as if both planes had the same fuel load, the N would still be be heavier because it has more fuel tanks which raises the weight and also it has a bigger, heavier wing. This wing is wider as well, which causes a little more drag.
I was recently thinking the same thing about the redesigned/modified P-47N. For performance and capability it surpassed Germany's best prop driven airplanes and Far surpassed Japan's. Also, I didn't know the awesome P-47M was used in the European theater. Based in this great video, the P-47 had a 21 to 4 air kill ratio against the Luftwaffe using whole numbers. An outstanding and war winning airplane.
Since it really wasn't available until the last few weeks of the war, the 47M would be in the same category as the P-51H (483 mph) and Spiteful (494 mph)
No way! The P-47Mike ,all 130 went to the 56th. And it saw combat shooting down 9 Me-262's and some Me-163 Komets. P-51H and Spiteful never saw combat. P-51H didn't work out well at all. Lightweight Mustang was to delicate and finniky Merlin it had made it's availability rate less than 30%.
@@b6056tc P-47M had issues with the engine and it's new GM turbocharger. Originally intended to chase V1's, Republic as usual was late to the party (by a year). The Merlin 100 was never a problem. You're thinking of the Allisons that replaced the Merlins in the P-82, which were a maintenance nightmare requiring 33 hrs of maint for every hour of ops.
"No worries, LT. You'll be grounded for 24 hours while we straighten/weld on the framework, beat on the ductwork, patch the holes and remove the sticks out of your cowling. Good to go!
Fantastic video with amazing gun camera footage! Thanks! Always love this plane! I think my two favorite planes were the P-47 and the FW-190! If I were going for fighter kills though, I think I'd have liked to go with the P-38. Spits and Mustangs were pretty, but not really to my taste... My favorite British plane was the Typhoon.
I must ask; what do you mean by fighter kills? The P-47 had more kills than the P-38 during the war. The P-47 is definitely my favorite. I love the Tempest too (and by relation the Typhoon) and it's a fairly close second.
@@danraymond1253 My thinking is that the P-38 was introduced much later than the P-47. The 38 was clearly a better killer but the 47 did EVERYTHING well! Allied strategy during the war was to rotate aces out of the war to train and teach the newcomers... Hance no hardcore aces like Germany had! The 38 came late-ish to the fight but was a beautiful plane to fly by all accounts! It excelled in the Pacific but imagine it had been in Europe early! Still... at the end of the day, I'd fly a jug any day! They were badass!
German pilots that flew captured P47s were shocked at the lack of automation in the cockpit and how much work American pilots had to do when flying (especially having to operate the supercharger).
@@PauloPereira-jj4jv Their superchargers were automatic and didn't require the pilots to constantly adjust settings. You are correct on the instruments.
Brit Spitfire pilots introduced to the P-47 joked that if a P-47 came under fire, the pilot could simply unbuckle his harness and run around the cockpit to dodge the bullets. After being shot down, the Germans allowed Spitfire ace Douglas Bader to sit the cockpit of a Bf-109. He said his first thought was, "god, what an awful place to die." Considering the diminutive size of the Spitfire cockpit, I think the same thing could be said of it. Perhaps Bader's comment was simply a matter of national pride in his own aircraft type. One odd thing about the 109 was the canopy arrangement. Unlike most other aircraft of the era, the 109 could not be flown with the canopy open. That may have left some pilots with a feeling of being a bit trapped. The postwar Messerschmitt KR175/200 automobile was reminiscent of a 109 cockpit that had been removed from the airframe and given a set of wheels.
I'm assuming the stats are listing the earlier versions of the P47 and not including the addition of drop tanks or the modifications of the M and N models. While a range of 1030 miles (1660 km) seems quite far, that is the total range and does not allow for combat or reserve fuel. The distance from London to Berlin by air for example is 584 miles (940km) and the need for the 2 mentioned restrictions above agrees with the former P47 pilots description of having to turn back 150 miles (241km) from Berlin, not to mention that the P47s were flying from locations other than London which probably added to the total distance. The addition of two 108 gallon fuel tanks would make a big difference, and the M and N models improved fuel capacity even more so.
Anybody else heartbroken at 39:04? I know that the germans used horses(I get that) and that they may have even used them in this case masquerading as a farmer (it's possible).....but what are the chances that this is actually A FARMER? In the context of where this took place (in amongst farms....) I don't believe it is a stretch to assume that this really was a farmer.... Also, to satisfy anyone's argument that everything must be done to ensure that the Normandy landings were a success (shut down all transport) Would it not have been possible for an experienced pilot to have attempted to hit the wagon only (as opposed to destroying the animals pulling it (and hopefully it was quick and complete and that they were not left alive and in agony) Just asking, anyone?
P38's turbocharger setup was subcontracted out by Lockheed and was a temperamental bit of new tech that needed pilot adjustments at the most inopportune times . . . like during combat maneuvers at altitude.. So it was a handful for the new pilots and that's why the P38 was a fail as a high altitude bomber escort in Europe despite it's range and altitude capability. It did well in the Pacific. Leading American Aces Richard Bong and Thomas McGuire were P38 escort pilots to my dad's A20 parafrag missions and good escorts are very appreciated by bomber crews. The Jug was a helluva impressive tough performer and it's outstanding combat record speaks for itself of it's capability. But when it came to escorting the primary targets of the Luftwaffe, B24s and B17s, all the way into Germany and back out, if you ain't got the range to get to the fight then you ain't gonna be in the deadliest part of that one.
Almost everything you said is incorrect, first off the running of the turbo in a P38 wasn't any type of issue for the pilot, it worked exactly the same as the turbo in the P47, B17, B24, B29 and other USAAF aircraft that used a turbo to compound the engine's single stage supercharger, when the pilot made throttle changes at any altitude he was throttling off of the engine's single stage supercharger not the turbo, the only thing the pilot had to do with the boost lever for the turbo was inch it forward in small increments as he gained altitude to keep the inlet pressure of the engine's supercharger the same and that's if he was running it manually, at any given altitude should the pilot engage in combat his throttle changes were being done to the centrifugal supercharger as it would respond the same at any altitude with the turbo keeping it's inlet pressure the same at all altitudes. And the P38 along with the P47 were both escorting bombers over Berlin before P51's were doing it with the P38 actually being the first of the two to do it. Every single P47 and P38 in the ETO had the ability to escort bombers all the way to the targets on every single mission the bombers flew on including the early Schweinfert and Regensburg missions, the reason the bombers went unescorted on those early missions is because the fighter's at the time were denied the use of drop tanks because the "Bomber Mafia" Generals were trying to prove their concept that the bombers could fight their way to the targets and back unescorted, after the heavy losses of the early unescorted missions for the sake of not getting drug in front of a Congressional inquiry about the heavy loss of aircraft and crews on those unescorted missions the Bomber Mafia Generals got real busy covering their asses by having war correspondents and other sources state that the early fighter's didn't have the range to escort the bombers early on all the way to the targets, it was a lie, they even went as far as to falsify the true range of the P47 variant's in the ETO at the time in a late war report on fighter ranges, over the years hack aviation writer's have repeated the myth about the early unescorted raids basing their writings on what the papers printed at the time, the falsified late war report on fighter ranges and using each other's books as source material over the years, however it's been proven time and again by modern air war historians using things like the records and reports from fighter sweep missions flown at the same time as the escort missions but using drop tanks that the fighter's in theater at the time could very well have escorted the bombers to any target they went to during the entire bombing campaign of the 8th Air Force. Starting with the P47C-2 they had the shackles giving them the ability to use drop tanks they were simply denied them, even worse starting with the P47D-15 they had the under wing pylons that could use the US made all metal pressurized drop tanks, it was this very configuration that was used to escort bombers over Berlin on the first escorted missions there weeks before P51's were doing it, delivery records show that the 56th Fighter Group received it's first P47D-15's in April of 1943, 4 months before the first Schweinfert mission. The extreme long range mission using drop tanks on P38's in the Pacific to kill Admiral Yamamoto was also done 4 months before the first Schweinfert and Regensburg missions and the range those fighter's flew on it far exceeded the range of any fighter escorted bombing mission in Europe. The fact is there wasn't a single bombing mission that the bombers went on that couldn't have been escorted all the way to the targets and back by both P47 and P38 variant's that were in theater at the time, had they been allowed to use drop tanks on those missions but they were purposely denied the use of them because the Bomber Mafia Generals were trying to prove a concept. The RUclips channel Greg's Airplane's and Automobiles has an entire series of videos on the P47, one of the is about the range of the P47 and is titled "P47 range, deceit and treachery", Greg is not only an airline pilot whose educated in the mathematics of aviation well beyond any aviation writer's but he also flew a cargo plane in the late 80's that had Pratt&Whitney R2800 engines on it, using the USAAF's own math from the time concerning fuel usage for the take off, climb out and assembly time of a flight of P47's that were in theater at the time to fly an escort mission he proves that the bombers could very well have been escorted all the way on those early missions, and he doesn't even use the fuel capacity for the P47D-15 variant, which once again flew escort missions over Berlin and was in service 4 months before the first Schweinfert mission, he only uses the earliest variant's that were in the ETO at the time to prove it could have been done.
@@dukecraig2402 All those issues I mentioned were valid until the "J" models came out and they weren't available for the 8th AF until January of '44. Guess what else was available by then. The fact is that the P38 models previous to 1944 were too dependent on pilot multitasking at the inopportune time of engaging enemy fighters to be effective at high altitude escort and if Hap Arnold wanted more of them it was because nothing else with the range (supposedly) was available then. Lemay wanted B29s that weren't near ready too and most of those losses were to overheated engine fires. . And providing all the high altitude issues were going to be corrected by 1944 you'd also need better propellers to take advantage of the power increase and the cost of that for P38s would've been prohibitive because of the complicity of that particular conversion. Meanwhile the gear driven 2 stage supercharged Merlin was ready and, in a P51, at a 2 for one cost. . I wouldn't know enough about the drop tank availability to comment other than, with the drop tanks on, it added to the P38 pilots multitask to-do list along with adjustments to do with the 2nd stage turbocharger. I will watch Greg's P47 part 6 video to catch up on that some. (update: see latest reply and thanks) . You might've noticed I'm already a subscriber to Greg's Airplanes and Automobiles and the first 3 sources are his RUclips videos. Another important print source describing the adjustments needed by pilots for the P38, models through P38G, to engage in combat at altitude follows those. Turbo vs Supercharging in WW2 Airplanes - Greg's Airplanes and Automobiles P-38 Lightning Mach Limits and Other Issues - Greg's Airplanes and Automobiles P-38 Lightning Why Not Merlin Engines? - Greg's Airplanes and Automobiles www.historynet.com/p-38-flunked-europe/
@@dukecraig2402 That 6th part of Greg's P47 series is pretty interesting. My uncle was a substitute B17 gunner for the 351st out of Polebrook England. He was killed on his 12th mission (25th mission of the 351st) to the Henschel Motor Works in Kassel Germany on July 30, '43. So thanks for the heads up. Doesn't really surprise me that the military hats covered their butts by deceit . . . Happens in every service I'm afraid. And I'll bet it's not changed much. . I don't think it changes the P38 2nd stage turbo bug timetable, J models coming too late to be effective with new pilots until the 2 stage Mustangs were ready. Here is another source explaining procedure for combat readiness in P38s through the "G" variant. . ww2db.com/aircraft_spec.php?aircraft_model_id=35 . Excerpted: "One major complaint against P-38 fighters was the many steps that it took for the fighter to go from cruising mode to combat mode, the time of which could mean life or death when P-38 fighters were jumped by enemy fighters by surprise. The steps involved were: switch gas valves to main turn on drop tank switches and press release set fuel mixture to auto-rich increase engine RPM increase manifold pressure turn on gun heaters turn on combat switch" (end of excerpt) I believe his P38 timeline has an error in identifying the aircraft that P38 ace Thomas McGuire was in combat over the Philippines with when he crashed trying a maneuver with his drop tanks on. It claims ace Navy pilot Shiochi Sugita leading a squadron of Zekes whereas post war accounts by the records are identifying Army instructor pilot Akira Sugimoto with some 3,000+ hours in the Ki43 Oscar. McGuire and Richard Bong both flew escort for my dad's A20 parafrag group for which he was a gunner, 90th Squadron, 3rd Bomb Group, 5th AAF. Oscars was what their escorts usual prey was as IJA airfields were the 90th's usual targets. .. Anyway back to the 8th in Europe: They could've used P47s with drop tanks if they could've thrown away the tanks on the missions. Other countries Air Forces were also known to deny drop tanks to throw away because of replacement issues though you'd think we'd prioritize that with our vaunted manufacturing base. Chennault didn't want the P47s because of their fuel consumption, at any rate, and Chennault was no bomber booster as Greg pointed out. But thanks again for the otherwise appreciably informative reference. My read on it is that it has at least some merit.
@@icewaterslim7260 Every single turbo on every USAAF aircraft of WW2 were all made by General Electric, not only that but all of the centrifugal superchargers on every single US aircraft engine was also made by GE, none of the aircraft manufacturers that made aircraft for the US Army like Lockheed, Republic and Boeing made the turbos themselves. Below 10,000 ft or so the turbos don't even do anything, exhaust isn't routed to them to drive them, instead it's diverted out of the wastegate dumps, if you watch a video here on RUclips of a P47 starting up you'll see a pretty good puff of blue oil smoke come from the rear of the engine cowling about a third of the way up from the bottom on each side, that's where the wastegate dump valve's are at and what is essentially the aircraft's exhaust at low altitudes, what's really considered the "exhaust" of a P47 is behind the pilot on the bottom of the fuselage, it's a rearward facing scoop that's directly under the turbo which is inside the fuselage. From take off to about 10,000 ft the engine's bolted on centrifugal supercharger (sometimes referred to as the engine's "internal compressor" in WW2 training films) is capable of providing maximum boost for the engine itself, after climbing to around 10,000 ft (or so, conditions depending) the air starts to become thin enough that the engine's supercharger can no longer provide maximum boost, on some supercharger systems the supercharger can be shifted into a higher speed at this point, but the way the supercharger/turbo configuration worked on US Army aircraft is at this point the wastegate dump valve's start to close diverting exhaust to the turbo to drive it providing air pressure to the inlet of the engine's supercharger the same as the inlets air pressure at lower altitudes, the higher the plane goes and the thinner the air gets the more the wastegate valve's close diverting more exhaust to the turbo spinning it faster so it continues to provide the engine's supercharger with the same inlet pressure it would have below 10,000 ft. But anytime the pilot needs to run throttle changes he's doing it off of the engine's supercharger which is throttle friendly, that's the beauty of the system. With a multi speed supercharger the problem is when the aircraft climbs to an altitude where the pilot has to shift the supercharger into it's high range before he can do that he has to pull the throttle back about ⅓rd of the way or the engine will overboost when he shifts the supercharger into high. The biggest advantage to the supercharger/turbo system the Army used is performance, driving a supercharger drags power off of an engine, when one is shifted into it's high range it drags even more power off of an engine, you may be adding 600 HP to the engine but you're loosing 150 to 200 HP driving the supercharger, since a turbo is a waste energy recovery system it doesn't drag anything off of the engine providing the boost needed for high altitude performance, the only power loss is driving a single stage single speed supercharger which is about half the power losses as driving a 2 stage 2 speed supercharger so you've got more power at high altitude plus the engine is still throttling off of a supercharger which is very throttle responsive. Like anything else in life though there is downsides, the biggest one's with the turbo compounded supercharger system the Army wanted in it's aircraft is it's more expensive, it takes longer to develop and it's bulky with all of the ductwork needed to route exhaust to the turbo and the compressed air from it to the engine's supercharger, but like anything else in life you get what you pay for. When you read about how they "improved" the turbos during the war it didn't have anything to do with making it easier to run the engine or anything like that, the way the systems were set up from day one they were easy for the pilot to operate, the improvements made to the turbos were better metallurgy and better oiling that allowed the turbos to spin faster, at the onset of the war they were red lining the turbos at 18,000 RPM's and by the end of the war like with the P47N they were spinning them up to 22,000 RPM's, that means that a late war P47's engine could make maximum boost at an altitude high enough that the air was so thin it could drag it's fat ass along at 470 MPH.
@@dukecraig2402 While all that is true and I stand corrected on the subcontracting part (having got that from some other video that I don't remember) the P38 variants through the "G" had intercoolers that failed to keep up with the power outputs as Greg pointed out and it caused some problems apparently resulting in issues of frozen intercoolers at altitude and engine failures that marred the record of P38s in the high altitude escort role only. That's just the record . . . it is what it is. No doubt they could've used H models on the Schweinfurt raids but only if they had them in numbers. They could've used any previous models for that matter and the carnage comparison could only be speculated. My uncle missed those but did complete half of his missions over Germany. . If they had continued to use the J models they might've cleaned that record up considerably but at that point they seem to have made the rare right decision to use the Merlins in Europe and the rangy P 38s in the Pacific where Japanese Navy pilots were doing daily missions from Rabaul to Guadalcanal and back including combat time. . The Navy of any country had their battleship mafioso and ours had Admiral King who somehow got away with ignoring British Admiralty intelligence shares for months while U boats sank our oil tankers in sight of our shoreline. Add to those all the blame games that roll downhill after any debacle and the bomber mafia and you've got wasted time and lives At least it's somewhat a relief to know we aren't the only country that has put incompetent nitwits in charge now and then and keeps them there..
In Saving Private Ryan- the tank buster planes do appear to be P-51's with the bubble canopies, but the AAF could have sent a squadron of A-36's in and the average person would not have been able to tell the difference.
there were no active squadrons of A36 in France at the time of the invasion, and anyway, this type was active only on the Italian front, ... also was soon replaced by P40 N, a much more sturdy airplane for close support!
I started out, like most people, believing that the 51 was the war winner of WW2. Once I learned more about the realities of the air war in ww2 I've come to recognize the greater contributions of the 47 (the P40 was no slouch either). Once the paddle blade and the water injection came into play they 47 could outmatch pretty much everything the Germans had. At high altitude it shined like no other. The USAAF learned how to kill the Luftwaffe in the 47. The 51 step into battle flown by appropriately trained and experienced pilots which is something most of the early 47 pilots were still trying to figure out. Still it's air 2 air ratio was impressive. to sum it up, while the 51 might have stab the Luftwaffe in the heart, the 47 broke the Luftwaffe's back.
I'm glad they got the origin of the "Jug" nickname correct. I saw a video, on one of the TV documentary channels, that claimed "Jug" was short for juggernaut. I screamed at the TV "oh, hell no it was not" ! So I'm glad this video got it right.
The old P47 pilots I've talked to, even the ones that had flown other aircraft said the P47 outflew everything, when flown at high altitudes. Which is what they were designed for. They all said with all the armour and the inherent strength of the airplane led the pilots to fly like they were invincible. At altitude, they were unmatched, and outflew everything. Easy to overlook it when you see the sexier planes, the lighter horrors of the air. But looking for a tough ugly bulldog the P47 shines like a diamond in a goat's butt.
You should view Gregg's Automobile and Airplane channel's P-47 series. 10 45 minute or longer analysis of the Jug. starting with Turbo vs Supercharging tutorial which is important to the debate. Pretty much agrees with your thoughts, maybe even a little more agreeable. Gaby Gabrowski, the highest American scoring ace in Europe flew one. Believe he flew 86's in Korea where he was again an ace. It's the old quote "You want a picture for your gal, you take it on the wing of a Mustang. You want to see her at the end of the war, you fly a Thunderbolt."
The P 47 Out flew everything at high altitude you claim . The P 47 bias is just amazing . Dream on !) Some of Gregs claims for the P 4,7, you have to take with a large pinch of salt .
@@michaelgray7847 I was under the impression the reason the Hellcat came into being was the zero was flying rings around it .Also the the Zero pilots used to lure p47 into a climb because they would stall at altitude and provide an easy target on the way down .
@@michaelgray7847 Greg presents "facts" about the performance of the P47 that are all from NACA reports and tests, you can assign the word "claims" to people like Mark Felton who come up with a bunch of fairy tales for the sake of clicks on his videos. Greg is an airline pilot who's educated well beyond the level of anyone else who makes videos about WW2 aircraft, he doesn't make claims he shows proof. Anything of his that you want to dispute go ahead and present it right now and list your sources that claim otherwise. He's the absolute best source for information about any WW2 aircraft he does a video on.
How could a carbureted engine possibly still run after having cylinders shot off? One would think that the vacuum leak it would cause would prevent any fuel mixture from reaching the other cylinders.
Has any piston engine aircraft ever shoot down a jet. I believe either during the Korean War or Vietnam War this did happen but I can't remember which airplane accomplished this.
A P51 pilot named Richard Candellaria held his own against two Me-262 jets, managing to damage one. In the early years of the Vietnam War, a pair of Skyraiders shot down a Mig-15.
Sorry that is incorrect. The M model was developed as a speedster to help combat the V1's over England. That model didnt have long range as stated here, it was basically a stripped down hotrod with LESS range than the D-15 but the fastest 47. I think the narrator is getting mixed up with the N model, the 'ultimate' 47 model, built for the pacific campaign with extra long range finally.
I don’t care about the status of the p51 and spitfire sure they were faster and more nimble than the p47 but at high altitudes the p47 shines brightly plus when you can have holes in your wings that are big enough to stick your head through it and pose for a picture and lose 3 cylinders in your engine and be filled with so many bullet holes you’d think it should be falling from the sky and still make it back to base with the pilot largely unharmed why would you care about speed and maneuverability. The p47 is my favorite plane of the Second World War simply because it was effectively a tank that could fly when you think about how much firepower it carries as a standard loadout and how much damage it could sustain and still make it back to base for repairs. To me it wasn’t the plane the US wanted but the one it needed it was durable, armed to the teeth and when used properly can easily outshine most aircraft of its day. heck when the p47 was given its new propeller it shocked German piloted who used steep climbs as a way to counter p47s by how fast it could climb with the new propeller plus the plane has been credited with 20 me262 jet fighter kills
Staryl Austin became a much respected leader of the Oregon Air National Guard and a persuasive advocate for Tactical Ground Radar / Radio based Air Battle Management.
More of these aircraft came home shot up than other aircraft, but a great many didn't come home. Still, it was far better to be a fighter pilot than any position in a bomber.
I am a pretty robust fellow. If I had been around then I would have wanted this as my primary fighter, since it would have enough room for my Barrel shaped chest. My last name explains it all
The narrorator talks alot about the 356th FG. They were great. But don't forget about the 353rd FG. Zemke left the 356th and then was CO of the 353rd FG. Great pilots like, Col Glen Duncan don't get enough credit. 20 kills, he was the one who figured out alot of the techniques for using the P47 for ground attack. Remember Bill's Buzz Boys?
With practice, looking to the side as a guide can keep a tail dragger straight, but you still can't see directly in front of you. Swinging the aircraft left and right with S-turns usually has to be done to compensate for the lack of forward vision, but having an observer on the wing makes it way more efficient, especially on a fighter as big as a P-47.
Hey the thumbnail picture that's from the 5th emergency rescue squadron their job was to fly planes that were not fit for combat searching the channel for down there crew the thing on the bottom pylon is at marker so that other planes can land on the water to help them or to help guide rescue boats to them the WW on the tail means war weary not fit for combat but still a useful aircraft it has a Malcolm Hood fitted to the razorback type canopy for improved visibility the Red White and Blue on the nose or specific to the fifth ERS squadron
Look at the Reggiane aircraft of Italy. There were 2 or 3 Italian engineers who worked for Seversky who left and joined Reggiane. The Re.2000 can be seen as a copy of the P-35. The tail and wing shapes follow the Reggiane aircraft through the various designs up to the Re.2005. Be scuffing at this compare line drawings of these aircraft and compare these surfaces to their commonality of shape.
If you run out of ammunition while dog fighting in a p47.....you can always start ramming your p47 into the enemy's plane......a p47 can safely ram at least five Mitsubishi zero's without incurring any serious damage.that would prevent you from flying home.
The 'oldjug' I'd rather have one of these beasts around me in battle,just look at the punishment they could take,and make it home I will take that all day long
So what plane would you fly in WW2? There may be 'better' planes but I would go with The Thug. "Yeah clever guy, I'm bigger and stronger and have sharper teeth!"
The biggest problem why it didn’t get the recognition it deserved was the spitfire cast a huge shadow on it since they are basically the same kind of inceptors (spitfire in Battle of Britain but the p47 was better but couldn’t compete with the history) the P51 was also an unfair comparison they are different planes the mustang had a far greater range but in fairness the plane in there category the F4 Corsair was better than the spitfire and thunder bolt ie short range fast inceptor which proved itself both as land based and carrier based weapon’s platform
@William Shaw true but it’s unfair to judge both the P47 and F4 in a ground attack role they were good but they were both designed as fast inceptors ie get of the ground get to the enemy tear them apart get back land rearm refuel get back up and so on and so on range not an issue just power and speed it’s why I said it’s unfair to judge it against the P51 a pursuit aircraft with range to follow the Germans all the way back to there base’s but WW2 was the golden age of aircraft both fighter’s and bombers it’s why it’s so hard to pick out one because there are so many
by the time the p47s got to the uk, the spitfires had shot down all the good german pilots, the p47s were just shooting down poorly trained children and old men, so lets not carried away with how good it was and how the spitfire wasnt as good as people say, the spitfire was shooting down the enemy before a p47 was even thought about, and was the savior of a nation, and the weapon of choice for winstons few,
There´s a report in the book "Senta a Pua" from General-Brigadier Rui Moreira Lima (former pilot of 1st Brazilian Fight Squadron "Senta a Pua', branch of 350th US Squadron in Italy) that describes how tough this plane is. In northern Italy, after bombing a railroad bridge, he has been shot by germans flaks. So, heavily damaged, engulfed in flames, smoke and with the stick jammed, managed to fly back and emergecy landed in the Forli´s Airfield, hundreds of miles away.
PBS series on ww2,quentin anensen laverne Mn,pilot in jug in a squadron over s france after the invasion,,,see this vid they may have taken it down,quite interesting
I saw it On PBS years ago, I've never been able to find it on RUclips even by entering the name of the documentary, or his name, as I recall the name of it is A Fighter Pilots Story, you can find references to it online but there's nothing on RUclips. And it's a real shame because that is one fantastic documentary, his first hand accounts of everything from his training to coming home is just great.
@@dukecraig2402 yt scrubs a lot of great history off here,,quent's last battle flying a jug,where he almost bought it,while ground strafing germans he was attacked by a BF 109,,a devil of a fight,, he could not shake the fighter,while taking MG and cannon rounds up, down, dive ,climb, getting ,cuts on his face hands from busted canopy glass, he thought 'this is where I die,',he did barely,,manage to escape,flying low all control surfaces damaged,,he manage a base landing,,his ground crew opened the cockpit,freed his straps,,,,then had to unpry his fingers wrapped around the joystick,he could not do it himself, lost so much salt my guess ,muscles were in clamped state,on inspecting the jug when he got out, stopping count around 200 holes,The wife said he had nightmares for years after,of seeing arms and legs flying up during the france strafing missions, ' when quent poured his coffee in the morning, most always his hand shook,best thing to do is say nothing just do the pouring myself' ptsd this guy lived it,an bore it,, the wife too
@@danilorainone406 There's a great story about him that I don't believe was in his documentary on PBS either, I'm pretty sure I read it somewhere. When he was flying ground attack there was an Infantry unit that was in big trouble from a German tank that had them pinned down and was closing on them, they called him in and he told them he was reluctant to do it because they were so close to it, they told him something like "We'll die anyways, we'd rather take our chances with you". He put a 500 pounder right on the tank saving the day, the infantry commander told him something like " We owe you our lives, I'd like to meet you one day" Years after the war he was in a bar and got to talking to a guy about their war experiences, when he told the guy he flew P47's the guy told him a story about how a P47 pilot saved his and his men's lives one day by taking out a tank that was about to kill them, turns out it was the same guy, they finally got to meet.
@@dukecraig2402 I remember that. I believe that the guy was telling the story and Quentin interrupted him and finished it and that is how they both knew. Cheers!
I understand sharpening up the world War film being it's really old and you have no way to get 4k footage per say. But the people on camera yes are extremely old as well but having the filter on them as well makes it very distracting to watch as i just can't stop noticing the not human way their skin appears. Good presentation and I'm always happy watching about war birds .. I just can't get past that lol I'm sorry.
More aviation icons at: ruclips.net/p/PLBI4gRjPKfnNx3Mp4xzYTtVARDWEr6nrT
Grumman sort of did the same kind of thing with the Wildcat, to come up with the Hellcat. Kept the strengths and repaired the weaknesses, to create an aircraft this was a success in the skys of reality rather than just on paper.
@@waltershumate5777 ⁹9⁰
Just posted a video on the Wildcat :) ruclips.net/video/aMoL8UV_JnM/видео.html
My father-in-law (Bob) flew the P-47 in the European theatre and he told me numerous stories of his time in the USAAF. I wish that I had recorded his stories ...but sadly I didn't and he passed many years ago. Since this vid is a documentary of the aircraft ...I will tell you a short story Bob told me about his experience learning to fly the P-47 before going to Europe. He was training one day with several of his squadron buddies and they were shooting at targets out over the ocean off of the South Carolina coast. On the way back to the air field ...they started fooling around and Bob almost ran into another P-47. Bob's plane started tumbling towards the ocean and he could hear the rest of the squadron telling him to bale out. He stuck with the plane and figured out how to recover. Once they got back to the field ...his Commander heard about the fooling around. He made Bob contact Republic and tell them about the tumble. The engineer at Republic said it was impossible to tumble the aircraft and began to argue about what took place. Bob asked him to come to the air field and he would take him up in the two seat P-47 trainer. The guy from Republic showed up the next day. Bob took him up and showed him the tumble and how he recovered from it. Once on the ground ...the guy had vomit all over him and agreed that the air craft indeed could tumble :)
Great story. Those early trainees were also essentially test pilots, as they learned the ways of their planes.
Thanks for sharing
There was a two-seat trainer version??? How interesting is that!!!
@@pascalchauvet822 Most of the fighters had a trainer config. Watch Tom Cruise take James Corden up in a P-51 trainer used by the Tuskegee Airmen during WWII
Hope that they checked the Republic representatives shorts and got him a new set.
Gabby Gabreski, A Polish-American P-47 pilot was my childhood hero. I have always loved the P-47.
So grateful that these stories will go on long after these brave men are gone. Thanks for posting.
Thank you
A Thunderbolt pilot who lived in my area was on the Dogfights episode all about the P47. He recounted an incident a week after D-Day where his plane was badly damaged by enemy fire but he managed to make it back.
My father flew the Jug from Italy into Germany. 27th, squadron 524. He had a lot of stories of course. The Jug never got its due and even today it is totally disrespected. It is only through videos like this that people can get a grasp of just how good this plane was. Sadly, there are only a handful left that are flight worthy. Still have some of my fathers gun camera photos too along with his headgear. Just an amazing plane that should get a lot more respect than it does.
Bless him!
Twenty-five years after the end of WW2, I went to war fixing one of Republics grandsons of the P-47. Every bit as tough, every bit the lineage, the F-105. I spent a summer in training at McConnel AFB, then off to war in SEA, at Korat RTAFB, and the 388th Fighter Wing. I was assigned to the Avionics shop, fixing the Doppler Navigation system. The Aircraft I serviced were assigned to the then 6010 Wild Weasel Squadron, and later the 17th Wild Weasel Squadron. With both F-4E's and F-105's, I always thought the F-105 had that look of a fighter, sat tall, big, almost no wings, and could haul most anything they hung on it. A lot of work keeping the old gals working, but we did the job, and they did their job, keeping the SAMs busy on us and off the F-4s. I still think back to those days, and have gone up and looked at the one in the AF museum, I know I've worked on her at least once, might not show with my signature, but my hands were insider her avionics bay.
That's cool! Thank your service.
Great,sir. I am also an avionics technician ex Pakistan air force 25 years of work on tacan,iff,ins and fire control radars in avionics shops.
@@MuhammadAbdullah-LGK Then we've had our hands, heads and probably some body parts squeezed into some airplanes fixing black boxes. Hello brother avionics tech.
Thank you
DroneScapes, I enjoyed the look back at one of my favorite planes of WW2 and loved the memories that followed.
8 .50 caliber machine guns, the ability to withstand immense damage and unbeatable in a dive. The Warthog of its day.
That’s why the warthog is officially the thunderbolt 2
Pretty much
The P47 was a flying tank. We need to bring those and/or the Spads (A1 Skyraiders) back as CAS birds. As a former grunt, I'd love to have that much aerial ass-kicking at my disposal.
The massive turbo system was as vulnerable as any radiator, however the Jug would be able to dive to low level and carry on RTB with the supercharger while the LW fighters continued attacking their main objectives - the bombers.
I grew up in the shadow of WWII and Korea, and read tons on all the differenr aircraft. I have always loved the P-47 for its power, versatility, speed and toughness. One hell of an airplane.
Those pilots were breve men. The P-47 designers must be very happy building such an incredible plane that saved so many lives. They are heros also.
Thanks!
Welcome!
미육군 항공대 전투기중 가장 믿음직하고 가장 확실한 존재... 캘리버 50 중기관총 8문의 막강한 펀치력과 중장갑의 맷집... 기종을 골라타고 전투에 임한다면 난 썬더볼트를 타고 싶다.
I smile that many mocked the P47 for it's size. Then it ended up the fastest non-jet aircraft, best attack and a fantastic long range escort. The P47 needed the size for range, bombload and speed in one package. It was the P47 and Spitfire, not the Mustang that broke the back of the Luftwaffe in western Europe.
My grandfather was a supervisor at the Republic airplane factory building the P-47. It's the same field where the Spirit of St Louis took off from, my grandfather saw that too.
👍🙂🙂👍
Thanks to your family for their defense service to our country.
My mother and her parents all worked at the Republic Aircraft factory in Evansville, Indiana during the war, building P-47 fighter planes. They worked six days a week, 10 hours days. My dad was in the army during the war, stationed in the European theater. He told me many stories of his service, one of which was of a P-47 whose pilot bailed out near him somewhere in France. My dad said that he couldn’t believe that the plane was remotely flyable as it had a huge hole in the right wing. My dad said that the hole was right up against the fuselage, and that the pilot actually jumped through the hole in the wing when he parachuted, and the fighter plane nosedived into the ground and exploded. He said that the pilot had some light wounds, and sprained his ankle on landing, but was otherwise okay. He thought it was the most durable fighter we had. Just my family’s history about the plane. Thanks for sharing.
That prat & Whitney dubble wasp was one hell of a engine!
Best at ground support. That makes it all the more appropriate to call the A10 the Thunderbolt also.
Sadly not enough we’re retained in service long enough to do ground support in Korea, sent P51’s that were vulnerable to ground fire…
@@Susy5solo - I guess the P47 would have been better for that, then. I thought they made a ton of them.
That was a tremendous mistake, the 47 was much more suitable for that role.
Agreed. I love the A10-Thunderbolt II
Best at high altitude escort, never designed to be a ground attack aircraft.
The way radial engines work is something else!
I wish someone would do an exposé of ALL the art work on the sides of every fighter planes and Bomber! I bet I could recognize 80% of them.
The Thunderbolts really had an elegant silhouette for such a tough beast.
this is my second favorite ww2 plane. My favorite is the F6F Hellcat; it was another underrated bruiser of an aircraft. Like the Thunderbolt, it was big; had no finesse but just dared you to fight.
All those Grumman Cat series aircraft were just beasts
Nice call there! I guess you could say the Hellcat was the navy equivalent of the army 'bolt.
@@bkmeahan I believe that everything that Grumman ever designed was built to survive a crash landing on a carrier deck including those ugly little post office trucks.
I just posted a F4F video: ruclips.net/video/aMoL8UV_JnM/видео.html
Paul Poberezny, founder and President of the Experimental Aircraft Association, was a Mustang pilot in the 5th Air Force in Korea, where the task was ground attack. He was quoted as saying they often wished they had Thunderbolts instead, as they were much better suited for ground attack than Mustangs.
106 bullets by second with 8 X 50 caliber guns.
Love the P-47. Rugged as hell with a massive punch. My favorite fighter, though, is the F4u Corsair.
My dad was a Combat Veteran Flightline engineer and mechanic on the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt and he served in the 20TH USAAF, 7TH ARMY AIR CORP, 414TH FIGHTER/ BOMBER GROUP, 413TH F/ B SQUADRON in the Pacific Campaign on Tinian, Saipan and Iwo Jima from late '44 into '45 and the end of the war. He loved the Jug.
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My father was a P47 pilot in '43 and retired from the Air Force in 1969.
👍❤️👍
I was made fun of for being in the Air Force recently. The guy said I was in the Chair Force. I replied "You Bet! We do our best work sitting down!"
@@chrisbaker2903 I went into the Army in '71 because my draft number was very low. Coming from at least a five generation military family , I wasn't going to be drafted. I was a sophomore in college. I trained in communications electronics for the Army Security Agency...saw no combat...sent to Japan...you have nothing to be ashamed of. My son will be attending Air Force OCS later this year.
This content is good enough to be a Drive-In movie! My girlfriend would've went once because there would've been no necking, or sparking.
Favourite WW2 American fighter BUTT! Never been able to see a ‘milk jug’ in its design.
Awesome craft.
Here it is folks, the beast.
It was a hockey player in a figure skating contest, and I laugh myself silly every time I think about one of those figure skaters getting slammed against the boards, body parts laying around all over the place, oh the humanity.
Bear in mind that Seversky and Kartveli were refugees from a burgeoning Soviet Union.
The P-47 is the ultimate product of Russian thinking put into the hands of American craftsmanship. A battleship that flies.
Grossly UNDERRATED aircraft.
Of course, there was much variation among versions.
Later versions had far greater range.
Model progression took place with fighter aircraft on all sides during the war. Thunderbolts, Mustangs, Lightnings, all improved signigificantly through their periods of service.
@@salamanca1954 that is true, of course. But the P-47 often doesn't get credit for it's improvements during the war. Earlier models without drop tanks are often referenced to support the misconceived notion that it had poor range. And it is commonly stated that it had a terrible climb rate, which is only true in part. Later models had pretty good climb rates, and generally climbed better than their contemporaries up at altitude. Even early models had competitive climb rates at high altitude. All models had excellent zoom climbs, which helps a lot in dogfights.
Never heard of the P47M before. I'll be researching it. Great video.
The flying hot rod, there's an airline pilot here on RUclips that has the channel Greg's Airplane's and Automobiles, he has a series of videos on the P47 that are the most complete and detailed of any you'll ever find, he says in one part that although when it comes to the M variant's official speed being 15 MPH faster than the N variant he's pretty sure that it's only because of the different testing parameters between the two, he said most likely they actually had the same top speed or at least they were real close, after all they both had the same variant of the R2800 engine and I'm pretty sure the same turbo, if indeed that's true then the N variant would be THE one to have fought in, along with having the same speed or at least close the N had an incredible range due to it's wet wings, even further than the P51, and other features like auto pilot and a rear facing alert radar, even if it was 15 MPH slower than the M it was definitely the most advanced and refined of the P47's.
There a couple of great interviews here on RUclips with a guy named Martin Jackson who flew the N variant in the Pacific, they're definitely worth your time checking them out, his account of dropping down and flying low over Nagasaki the day after the bomb was dropped is pretty good.
Just enter "Martin Jackson P47 pilot" on RUclips and you should be able to find them.
Poor range on the P47 was used by senior brass refusing to import drop tanks. They saved face when the "long range" P51 came along while quietly fitting drop tanks to P47s.
So much of this is true yet a misnomer at the same time. Everyone rightly praises the P-47's strengths as a ground attack platform. However many original pilots told me it performed best at high altitude 'turning and burning with Luftwaffe fighters which struggled to turn, loop, boost and roll at that altitude. It was a dogfighter at heart...and could tolerate hits from FW 190 cannon in a way a Mustang could not!
Yep! Designed as a high altitude fighter.
German aces that got to test fly P47s talked about how it's performance greatly increased with higher altitude. That tells me ground attack is not it's true strength. These pilots had nearly 8 or 9 hundred sorties and experience on multiple fronts, in multiple aircraft, against multiple enemy aircraft. I would take their word seriously. Just saying ✌️
Sometimes I think about getting into RC planes just so I can fly one of these.
👍♥️
♥️ the Jug
Yep
8:59 reminds me of the F6F Hellcat...
According to Hub Zemke, (56th F.G. Commander), No body had a plane that could compete with a P-47 above 25,000 feet; the P-47 was actually DESIGNED for high altitude fighting. The N model was also the FASTEST Prop-driven fighter of the war.
Close. The "M" model was, not the final "N" version. It was close, as the N could do 467 mph, but the M could do 473. Some people suspect that the P-47N is actually just as fast as the P-47M, if both were tested at the same weights. I must say I do think the P-47M would still be faster though, as if both planes had the same fuel load, the N would still be be heavier because it has more fuel tanks which raises the weight and also it has a bigger, heavier wing. This wing is wider as well, which causes a little more drag.
I was recently thinking the same thing about the redesigned/modified P-47N. For performance and capability it surpassed Germany's best prop driven airplanes and Far surpassed Japan's. Also, I didn't know the awesome P-47M was used in the European theater. Based in this great video, the P-47 had a 21 to 4 air kill ratio against the Luftwaffe using whole numbers. An outstanding and war winning airplane.
Since it really wasn't available until the last few weeks of the war, the 47M would be in the same category as the P-51H (483 mph) and Spiteful (494 mph)
No way! The P-47Mike ,all 130 went to the 56th. And it saw combat shooting down 9 Me-262's and some Me-163 Komets. P-51H and Spiteful never saw combat. P-51H didn't work out well at all. Lightweight Mustang was to delicate and finniky Merlin it had made it's availability rate less than 30%.
@@b6056tc P-47M had issues with the engine and it's new GM turbocharger. Originally intended to chase V1's, Republic as usual was late to the party (by a year). The Merlin 100 was never a problem. You're thinking of the Allisons that replaced the Merlins in the P-82, which were a maintenance nightmare requiring 33 hrs of maint for every hour of ops.
The mechanic's be like everytime they came back with damage - "For fuck sakes frank!. Again? I just fixed that damn thing"
"No worries, LT. You'll be grounded for 24 hours while we straighten/weld on the framework, beat on the ductwork, patch the holes and remove the sticks out of your cowling. Good to go!
I don't think the expression you attributed to the mechanics woulf have been used in those days.
@@saveyourbacon6164 what would they say tho?
Fantastic video with amazing gun camera footage!
Thanks!
Always love this plane!
I think my two favorite planes were the P-47 and the FW-190!
If I were going for fighter kills though, I think I'd have liked to go with the P-38.
Spits and Mustangs were pretty, but not really to my taste...
My favorite British plane was the Typhoon.
I must ask; what do you mean by fighter kills? The P-47 had more kills than the P-38 during the war. The P-47 is definitely my favorite. I love the Tempest too (and by relation the Typhoon) and it's a fairly close second.
@@danraymond1253 My thinking is that the P-38 was introduced much later than the P-47.
The 38 was clearly a better killer but the 47 did EVERYTHING well!
Allied strategy during the war was to rotate aces out of the war to train and teach the newcomers...
Hance no hardcore aces like Germany had!
The 38 came late-ish to the fight but was a beautiful plane to fly by all accounts!
It excelled in the Pacific but imagine it had been in Europe early!
Still... at the end of the day, I'd fly a jug any day! They were badass!
German pilots that flew captured P47s were shocked at the lack of automation in the cockpit and how much work American pilots had to do when flying (especially having to operate the supercharger).
@@PauloPereira-jj4jv Their superchargers were automatic and didn't require the pilots to constantly adjust settings. You are correct on the instruments.
I sat in one of them in Kalamazoo, MI in the air museum ... compared to a the Messerschmitt 109 it had a very spacious interior.
Brit Spitfire pilots introduced to the P-47 joked that if a P-47 came under fire, the pilot could simply unbuckle his harness and run around the cockpit to dodge the bullets. After being shot down, the Germans allowed Spitfire ace Douglas Bader to sit the cockpit of a Bf-109. He said his first thought was, "god, what an awful place to die." Considering the diminutive size of the Spitfire cockpit, I think the same thing could be said of it. Perhaps Bader's comment was simply a matter of national pride in his own aircraft type.
One odd thing about the 109 was the canopy arrangement. Unlike most other aircraft of the era, the 109 could not be flown with the canopy open. That may have left some pilots with a feeling of being a bit trapped. The postwar Messerschmitt KR175/200 automobile was reminiscent of a 109 cockpit that had been removed from the airframe and given a set of wheels.
Seversky designed the Thunderbolt. If I was a pilot than , I'd kiss his hands for saving my life with a plane that would take me home.
👍👍♥️♥️
I bet it's like sitting behind "a bale of hay with wings and a propeller'
GREATEST FIGHTER EVER BUILT !
P-47M, lightweight version, top speed about 470-475 mph, mostly in 56 Fighter Group. First time I'd heard of them.
Art by: Kurokawa Takeshi
It represent P-47D-15-RE s/n 42-75855 of 5th Emergency Rescue Squadron, 65th Fighter Wing.
Of all the aircraft of WWII the P-47 is what I would want to fly. Today? A-10 ........ another "Republic Aircraft"
The most frightening thing for an enemy pilot was seeing a p47 above you.
I often thought that for a 109 pilot looking back and seeing a P-47 behind must have been one of their nightmare moments
I'm assuming the stats are listing the earlier versions of the P47 and not including the addition of drop tanks or the modifications of the M and N models. While a range of 1030 miles (1660 km) seems quite far, that is the total range and does not allow for combat or reserve fuel.
The distance from London to Berlin by air for example is 584 miles (940km) and the need for the 2 mentioned restrictions above agrees with the former P47 pilots description of having to turn back 150 miles (241km) from Berlin, not to mention that the P47s were flying from locations other than London which probably added to the total distance.
The addition of two 108 gallon fuel tanks would make a big difference, and the M and N models improved fuel capacity even more so.
P47 pilots be like
did i get hit It was flying ok
How often were shooting pilots hit by the debris of the plane disintegrating in front of them? How many mid air collisions? Db
You can tell that mechanical aptitude is lacking when they refer to a 'turbo supercharger' lmao 🤣
Was a P-51 fan as a kid. Have to say it's the P-47 as an adult.
Anybody else heartbroken at 39:04? I know that the germans used horses(I get that) and that they may have even used them in this case masquerading as a farmer (it's possible).....but what are the chances that this is actually A FARMER?
In the context of where this took place (in amongst farms....) I don't believe it is a stretch to assume that this really was a farmer....
Also, to satisfy anyone's argument that everything must be done to ensure that the Normandy landings were a success (shut down all transport) Would it not have been possible for an experienced pilot to have attempted to hit the wagon only (as opposed to destroying the animals pulling it (and hopefully it was quick and complete and that they were not left alive and in agony)
Just asking, anyone?
The Germans transported munitions in this fashion thinking the allies would pass them up. They also did the same thing with ambulances!!!!!!!!
P38's turbocharger setup was subcontracted out by Lockheed and was a temperamental bit of new tech that needed pilot adjustments at the most inopportune times . . . like during combat maneuvers at altitude.. So it was a handful for the new pilots and that's why the P38 was a fail as a high altitude bomber escort in Europe despite it's range and altitude capability. It did well in the Pacific. Leading American Aces Richard Bong and Thomas McGuire were P38 escort pilots to my dad's A20 parafrag missions and good escorts are very appreciated by bomber crews.
The Jug was a helluva impressive tough performer and it's outstanding combat record speaks for itself of it's capability. But when it came to escorting the primary targets of the Luftwaffe, B24s and B17s, all the way into Germany and back out, if you ain't got the range to get to the fight then you ain't gonna be in the deadliest part of that one.
Almost everything you said is incorrect, first off the running of the turbo in a P38 wasn't any type of issue for the pilot, it worked exactly the same as the turbo in the P47, B17, B24, B29 and other USAAF aircraft that used a turbo to compound the engine's single stage supercharger, when the pilot made throttle changes at any altitude he was throttling off of the engine's single stage supercharger not the turbo, the only thing the pilot had to do with the boost lever for the turbo was inch it forward in small increments as he gained altitude to keep the inlet pressure of the engine's supercharger the same and that's if he was running it manually, at any given altitude should the pilot engage in combat his throttle changes were being done to the centrifugal supercharger as it would respond the same at any altitude with the turbo keeping it's inlet pressure the same at all altitudes.
And the P38 along with the P47 were both escorting bombers over Berlin before P51's were doing it with the P38 actually being the first of the two to do it.
Every single P47 and P38 in the ETO had the ability to escort bombers all the way to the targets on every single mission the bombers flew on including the early Schweinfert and Regensburg missions, the reason the bombers went unescorted on those early missions is because the fighter's at the time were denied the use of drop tanks because the "Bomber Mafia" Generals were trying to prove their concept that the bombers could fight their way to the targets and back unescorted, after the heavy losses of the early unescorted missions for the sake of not getting drug in front of a Congressional inquiry about the heavy loss of aircraft and crews on those unescorted missions the Bomber Mafia Generals got real busy covering their asses by having war correspondents and other sources state that the early fighter's didn't have the range to escort the bombers early on all the way to the targets, it was a lie, they even went as far as to falsify the true range of the P47 variant's in the ETO at the time in a late war report on fighter ranges, over the years hack aviation writer's have repeated the myth about the early unescorted raids basing their writings on what the papers printed at the time, the falsified late war report on fighter ranges and using each other's books as source material over the years, however it's been proven time and again by modern air war historians using things like the records and reports from fighter sweep missions flown at the same time as the escort missions but using drop tanks that the fighter's in theater at the time could very well have escorted the bombers to any target they went to during the entire bombing campaign of the 8th Air Force.
Starting with the P47C-2 they had the shackles giving them the ability to use drop tanks they were simply denied them, even worse starting with the P47D-15 they had the under wing pylons that could use the US made all metal pressurized drop tanks, it was this very configuration that was used to escort bombers over Berlin on the first escorted missions there weeks before P51's were doing it, delivery records show that the 56th Fighter Group received it's first P47D-15's in April of 1943, 4 months before the first Schweinfert mission.
The extreme long range mission using drop tanks on P38's in the Pacific to kill Admiral Yamamoto was also done 4 months before the first Schweinfert and Regensburg missions and the range those fighter's flew on it far exceeded the range of any fighter escorted bombing mission in Europe.
The fact is there wasn't a single bombing mission that the bombers went on that couldn't have been escorted all the way to the targets and back by both P47 and P38 variant's that were in theater at the time, had they been allowed to use drop tanks on those missions but they were purposely denied the use of them because the Bomber Mafia Generals were trying to prove a concept.
The RUclips channel Greg's Airplane's and Automobiles has an entire series of videos on the P47, one of the is about the range of the P47 and is titled "P47 range, deceit and treachery", Greg is not only an airline pilot whose educated in the mathematics of aviation well beyond any aviation writer's but he also flew a cargo plane in the late 80's that had Pratt&Whitney R2800 engines on it, using the USAAF's own math from the time concerning fuel usage for the take off, climb out and assembly time of a flight of P47's that were in theater at the time to fly an escort mission he proves that the bombers could very well have been escorted all the way on those early missions, and he doesn't even use the fuel capacity for the P47D-15 variant, which once again flew escort missions over Berlin and was in service 4 months before the first Schweinfert mission, he only uses the earliest variant's that were in the ETO at the time to prove it could have been done.
@@dukecraig2402 All those issues I mentioned were valid until the "J" models came out and they weren't available for the 8th AF until January of '44. Guess what else was available by then. The fact is that the P38 models previous to 1944 were too dependent on pilot multitasking at the inopportune time of engaging enemy fighters to be effective at high altitude escort and if Hap Arnold wanted more of them it was because nothing else with the range (supposedly) was available then. Lemay wanted B29s that weren't near ready too and most of those losses were to overheated engine fires.
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And providing all the high altitude issues were going to be corrected by 1944 you'd also need better propellers to take advantage of the power increase and the cost of that for P38s would've been prohibitive because of the complicity of that particular conversion. Meanwhile the gear driven 2 stage supercharged Merlin was ready and, in a P51, at a 2 for one cost.
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I wouldn't know enough about the drop tank availability to comment other than, with the drop tanks on, it added to the P38 pilots multitask to-do list along with adjustments to do with the 2nd stage turbocharger. I will watch Greg's P47 part 6 video to catch up on that some. (update: see latest reply and thanks)
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You might've noticed I'm already a subscriber to Greg's Airplanes and Automobiles and the first 3 sources are his RUclips videos. Another important print source describing the adjustments needed by pilots for the P38, models through P38G, to engage in combat at altitude follows those.
Turbo vs Supercharging in WW2 Airplanes - Greg's Airplanes and Automobiles
P-38 Lightning Mach Limits and Other Issues - Greg's Airplanes and Automobiles
P-38 Lightning Why Not Merlin Engines? - Greg's Airplanes and Automobiles
www.historynet.com/p-38-flunked-europe/
@@dukecraig2402 That 6th part of Greg's P47 series is pretty interesting. My uncle was a substitute B17 gunner for the 351st out of Polebrook England. He was killed on his 12th mission (25th mission of the 351st) to the Henschel Motor Works in Kassel Germany on July 30, '43. So thanks for the heads up. Doesn't really surprise me that the military hats covered their butts by deceit . . . Happens in every service I'm afraid. And I'll bet it's not changed much.
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I don't think it changes the P38 2nd stage turbo bug timetable, J models coming too late to be effective with new pilots until the 2 stage Mustangs were ready. Here is another source explaining procedure for combat readiness in P38s through the "G" variant.
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ww2db.com/aircraft_spec.php?aircraft_model_id=35
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Excerpted:
"One major complaint against P-38 fighters was the many steps that it took for the fighter to go from cruising mode to combat mode, the time of which could mean life or death when P-38 fighters were jumped by enemy fighters by surprise. The steps involved were:
switch gas valves to main
turn on drop tank switches and press release
set fuel mixture to auto-rich
increase engine RPM
increase manifold pressure
turn on gun heaters
turn on combat switch"
(end of excerpt)
I believe his P38 timeline has an error in identifying the aircraft that P38 ace Thomas McGuire was in combat over the Philippines with when he crashed trying a maneuver with his drop tanks on. It claims ace Navy pilot Shiochi Sugita leading a squadron of Zekes whereas post war accounts by the records are identifying Army instructor pilot Akira Sugimoto with some 3,000+ hours in the Ki43 Oscar. McGuire and Richard Bong both flew escort for my dad's A20 parafrag group for which he was a gunner, 90th Squadron, 3rd Bomb Group, 5th AAF. Oscars was what their escorts usual prey was as IJA airfields were the 90th's usual targets.
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Anyway back to the 8th in Europe: They could've used P47s with drop tanks if they could've thrown away the tanks on the missions. Other countries Air Forces were also known to deny drop tanks to throw away because of replacement issues though you'd think we'd prioritize that with our vaunted manufacturing base. Chennault didn't want the P47s because of their fuel consumption, at any rate, and Chennault was no bomber booster as Greg pointed out. But thanks again for the otherwise appreciably informative reference. My read on it is that it has at least some merit.
@@icewaterslim7260
Every single turbo on every USAAF aircraft of WW2 were all made by General Electric, not only that but all of the centrifugal superchargers on every single US aircraft engine was also made by GE, none of the aircraft manufacturers that made aircraft for the US Army like Lockheed, Republic and Boeing made the turbos themselves.
Below 10,000 ft or so the turbos don't even do anything, exhaust isn't routed to them to drive them, instead it's diverted out of the wastegate dumps, if you watch a video here on RUclips of a P47 starting up you'll see a pretty good puff of blue oil smoke come from the rear of the engine cowling about a third of the way up from the bottom on each side, that's where the wastegate dump valve's are at and what is essentially the aircraft's exhaust at low altitudes, what's really considered the "exhaust" of a P47 is behind the pilot on the bottom of the fuselage, it's a rearward facing scoop that's directly under the turbo which is inside the fuselage.
From take off to about 10,000 ft the engine's bolted on centrifugal supercharger (sometimes referred to as the engine's "internal compressor" in WW2 training films) is capable of providing maximum boost for the engine itself, after climbing to around 10,000 ft (or so, conditions depending) the air starts to become thin enough that the engine's supercharger can no longer provide maximum boost, on some supercharger systems the supercharger can be shifted into a higher speed at this point, but the way the supercharger/turbo configuration worked on US Army aircraft is at this point the wastegate dump valve's start to close diverting exhaust to the turbo to drive it providing air pressure to the inlet of the engine's supercharger the same as the inlets air pressure at lower altitudes, the higher the plane goes and the thinner the air gets the more the wastegate valve's close diverting more exhaust to the turbo spinning it faster so it continues to provide the engine's supercharger with the same inlet pressure it would have below 10,000 ft.
But anytime the pilot needs to run throttle changes he's doing it off of the engine's supercharger which is throttle friendly, that's the beauty of the system.
With a multi speed supercharger the problem is when the aircraft climbs to an altitude where the pilot has to shift the supercharger into it's high range before he can do that he has to pull the throttle back about ⅓rd of the way or the engine will overboost when he shifts the supercharger into high.
The biggest advantage to the supercharger/turbo system the Army used is performance, driving a supercharger drags power off of an engine, when one is shifted into it's high range it drags even more power off of an engine, you may be adding 600 HP to the engine but you're loosing 150 to 200 HP driving the supercharger, since a turbo is a waste energy recovery system it doesn't drag anything off of the engine providing the boost needed for high altitude performance, the only power loss is driving a single stage single speed supercharger which is about half the power losses as driving a 2 stage 2 speed supercharger so you've got more power at high altitude plus the engine is still throttling off of a supercharger which is very throttle responsive.
Like anything else in life though there is downsides, the biggest one's with the turbo compounded supercharger system the Army wanted in it's aircraft is it's more expensive, it takes longer to develop and it's bulky with all of the ductwork needed to route exhaust to the turbo and the compressed air from it to the engine's supercharger, but like anything else in life you get what you pay for.
When you read about how they "improved" the turbos during the war it didn't have anything to do with making it easier to run the engine or anything like that, the way the systems were set up from day one they were easy for the pilot to operate, the improvements made to the turbos were better metallurgy and better oiling that allowed the turbos to spin faster, at the onset of the war they were red lining the turbos at 18,000 RPM's and by the end of the war like with the P47N they were spinning them up to 22,000 RPM's, that means that a late war P47's engine could make maximum boost at an altitude high enough that the air was so thin it could drag it's fat ass along at 470 MPH.
@@dukecraig2402 While all that is true and I stand corrected on the subcontracting part (having got that from some other video that I don't remember) the P38 variants through the "G" had intercoolers that failed to keep up with the power outputs as Greg pointed out and it caused some problems apparently resulting in issues of frozen intercoolers at altitude and engine failures that marred the record of P38s in the high altitude escort role only. That's just the record . . . it is what it is. No doubt they could've used H models on the Schweinfurt raids but only if they had them in numbers. They could've used any previous models for that matter and the carnage comparison could only be speculated. My uncle missed those but did complete half of his missions over Germany.
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If they had continued to use the J models they might've cleaned that record up considerably but at that point they seem to have made the rare right decision to use the Merlins in Europe and the rangy P 38s in the Pacific where Japanese Navy pilots were doing daily missions from Rabaul to Guadalcanal and back including combat time.
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The Navy of any country had their battleship mafioso and ours had Admiral King who somehow got away with ignoring British Admiralty intelligence shares for months while U boats sank our oil tankers in sight of our shoreline. Add to those all the blame games that roll downhill after any debacle and the bomber mafia and you've got wasted time and lives At least it's somewhat a relief to know we aren't the only country that has put incompetent nitwits in charge now and then and keeps them there..
Excellent, thank you ! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🦅 👍👍👍👍👍
Legend
Up to rank 7 in the jets in war thunder but still have my rank 4 p47 in the lineup
So did they have a way of shutting oiling to certain cylinders? How do you have half an engine fail and keep it running?
Would like to purchase this video on DVD. Not sure where to get it.
In Saving Private Ryan- the tank buster planes do appear to be P-51's with the bubble canopies, but the AAF could have sent a squadron of A-36's in and the average person would not have been able to tell the difference.
there were no active squadrons of A36 in France at the time of the invasion, and anyway, this type was active only on the Italian front, ... also was soon replaced by P40 N, a much more sturdy airplane for close support!
I started out, like most people, believing that the 51 was the war winner of WW2. Once I learned more about the realities of the air war in ww2 I've come to recognize the greater contributions of the 47 (the P40 was no slouch either). Once the paddle blade and the water injection came into play they 47 could outmatch pretty much everything the Germans had. At high altitude it shined like no other. The USAAF learned how to kill the Luftwaffe in the 47. The 51 step into battle flown by appropriately trained and experienced pilots which is something most of the early 47 pilots were still trying to figure out. Still it's air 2 air ratio was impressive. to sum it up, while the 51 might have stab the Luftwaffe in the heart, the 47 broke the Luftwaffe's back.
I'm glad they got the origin of the "Jug" nickname correct. I saw a video, on one of the TV documentary channels, that claimed "Jug" was short for juggernaut. I screamed at the TV "oh, hell no it was not" ! So I'm glad this video got it right.
The Brits referred to it as a juggernaut, but they of course had a more expansive vocabulary. .
@@bobsakamanos4469 BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@@scottinohio701 I rest my case.
The old P47 pilots I've talked to, even the ones that had flown other aircraft said the P47 outflew everything, when flown at high altitudes. Which is what they were designed for.
They all said with all the armour and the inherent strength of the airplane led the pilots to fly like they were invincible.
At altitude, they were unmatched, and outflew everything.
Easy to overlook it when you see the sexier planes, the lighter horrors of the air. But looking for a tough ugly bulldog the P47 shines like a diamond in a goat's butt.
( DREAM ON !! )
You should view Gregg's Automobile and Airplane channel's P-47 series. 10 45 minute or longer analysis of the Jug. starting with Turbo vs Supercharging tutorial which is important to the debate. Pretty much agrees with your thoughts, maybe even a little more agreeable. Gaby Gabrowski, the highest American scoring ace in Europe flew one. Believe he flew 86's in Korea where he was again an ace. It's the old quote "You want a picture for your gal, you take it on the wing of a Mustang. You want to see her at the end of the war, you fly a Thunderbolt."
The P 47 Out flew everything at high altitude you claim .
The P 47 bias is just amazing .
Dream on !)
Some of Gregs claims for the P 4,7, you have to take with a large pinch of salt .
@@michaelgray7847 I was under the impression the reason the Hellcat came into being was the zero was flying rings around it .Also the the Zero pilots used to lure p47 into a climb because they would stall at altitude and provide an easy target on the way down .
@@michaelgray7847
Greg presents "facts" about the performance of the P47 that are all from NACA reports and tests, you can assign the word "claims" to people like Mark Felton who come up with a bunch of fairy tales for the sake of clicks on his videos.
Greg is an airline pilot who's educated well beyond the level of anyone else who makes videos about WW2 aircraft, he doesn't make claims he shows proof.
Anything of his that you want to dispute go ahead and present it right now and list your sources that claim otherwise.
He's the absolute best source for information about any WW2 aircraft he does a video on.
What a shame these and all other WW2 aircraft were not preserved. Faded into antquaty! DB DUST IN THE ROAD!!!
amazing
❤👍
24:47 what's that wreck they're sitting on? Anyone know.
I thought it looked like a chunk of a 17....but that is just a guess!
Regarding the thumbnail: I have never seen a razorback P-47D with a Malcolm hood. Very cool.
How could a carbureted engine possibly still run after having cylinders shot off? One would think that the vacuum leak it would cause would prevent any fuel mixture from reaching the other cylinders.
there are one-way valves too and a lot of other systems to solve such problems, ... read about the story of the Spitfire, ...
p-47 Thunderbolt The juggernaut of sky
its my favorite wwll air plane
watching the b17 vidio now my dad was a waist gunner on a b17 g in ww2
Corsair would of been my favorite
way better plane compared to the little fragile P51 and short-range spitfires
This is the aircraft I would have wanted to fly back in the day. Maybe it wasn’t the prettiest fighter in the sky but definitely the most rugged.
Has any piston engine aircraft ever shoot down a jet. I believe either during the Korean War or Vietnam War this did happen but I can't remember which airplane accomplished this.
yes ME262s were shot down by 51s and 47s near the end of the war
@@er84-k1x Tempests made almost a game of it....trailing around the 262's airfield and poaching them on landing or take off.
Skyraiders have shot down more than one MiG 15. You've been had by a SPAD !
A P51 pilot named Richard Candellaria held his own against two Me-262 jets, managing to damage one. In the early years of the Vietnam War, a pair of Skyraiders shot down a Mig-15.
Sorry that is incorrect. The M model was developed as a speedster to help combat the V1's over England. That model didnt have long range as stated here, it was basically a stripped down hotrod with LESS range than the D-15 but the fastest 47. I think the narrator is getting mixed up with the N model, the 'ultimate' 47 model, built for the pacific campaign with extra long range finally.
How many V1s did it shoot down ????)
Down below the Tempest 5 was Supreme
I don’t care about the status of the p51 and spitfire sure they were faster and more nimble than the p47 but at high altitudes the p47 shines brightly plus when you can have holes in your wings that are big enough to stick your head through it and pose for a picture and lose 3 cylinders in your engine and be filled with so many bullet holes you’d think it should be falling from the sky and still make it back to base with the pilot largely unharmed why would you care about speed and maneuverability.
The p47 is my favorite plane of the Second World War simply because it was effectively a tank that could fly when you think about how much firepower it carries as a standard loadout and how much damage it could sustain and still make it back to base for repairs.
To me it wasn’t the plane the US wanted but the one it needed it was durable, armed to the teeth and when used properly can easily outshine most aircraft of its day. heck when the p47 was given its new propeller it shocked German piloted who used steep climbs as a way to counter p47s by how fast it could climb with the new propeller plus the plane has been credited with 20 me262 jet fighter kills
Those planes were not faster at altitude,NO EVEN CLOSE!!!!!!!!!!
Staryl Austin became a much respected leader of the Oregon Air National Guard and a persuasive advocate for Tactical Ground Radar / Radio based Air Battle Management.
The P47 "JUG" father of the A10 "WARTHOG"!!!
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A-10 actual name is Thunderbolt II
I likened the P-47 to a fullback, the P-51 to a tailback, and the P-38 as a flanker.
More of these aircraft came home shot up than other aircraft, but a great many didn't come home. Still, it was far better to be a fighter pilot than any position in a bomber.
The P-51 was the precision tool whereas the P-47 was the sledgehammer.
The P47 was responsible for decimating the German Air Force in 1943…before the Mustang showed up.
Greg’s Airplanes did a great analysis..
EXPLAIN YOUR RESPONSE!!!!!!!
Gabby Gabreski. Jug pilot. 34.5 kills. You were saying ?
I am a pretty robust fellow. If I had been around then I would have wanted this as my primary fighter, since it would have enough room for my Barrel shaped chest. My last name explains it all
I am slim and small, but I like the p38, the p47 was a bit robust and reliable
Barrel maker. My middle name is Cooper. My family made barrels in Utah.
A Cooper is a barrel maker, so one of your ancestors was a Cooper👍💯
My dad flew one in WW2. Shot down over Italy. Spend the rest of the war in a Prison camp.
Do you remember where in Italy? Can you share more? ❤🙏🇺🇸
The narrorator talks alot about the 356th FG. They were great. But don't forget about the 353rd FG. Zemke left the 356th and then was CO of the 353rd FG. Great pilots like, Col Glen Duncan don't get enough credit. 20 kills, he was the one who figured out alot of the techniques for using the P47 for ground attack. Remember Bill's Buzz Boys?
I think you mean the 56th Fighter Group, not 356th. Zemke headed the 56th, which became known as "Zemke's Wolfpack."
With the way the plane points at an angle on take off, I wonder how the pilots could see to steer it before take off?
I'm guessing they don't? I think that's why there are so many shots of them taxiing with another crewmember on the wing to help them steer?
With practice, looking to the side as a guide can keep a tail dragger straight, but you still can't see directly in front of you. Swinging the aircraft left and right with S-turns usually has to be done to compensate for the lack of forward vision, but having an observer on the wing makes it way more efficient, especially on a fighter as big as a P-47.
Hey the thumbnail picture that's from the 5th emergency rescue squadron their job was to fly planes that were not fit for combat searching the channel for down there crew the thing on the bottom pylon is at marker so that other planes can land on the water to help them or to help guide rescue boats to them the WW on the tail means war weary not fit for combat but still a useful aircraft it has a Malcolm Hood fitted to the razorback type canopy for improved visibility the Red White and Blue on the nose or specific to the fifth ERS squadron
i hope theirs a F22 raptor documentary
Look at the Reggiane aircraft of Italy. There were 2 or 3 Italian engineers who worked for Seversky who left and joined Reggiane. The Re.2000 can be seen as a copy of the P-35. The tail and wing shapes follow the Reggiane aircraft through the various designs up to the Re.2005. Be scuffing at this compare line drawings of these aircraft and compare these surfaces to their commonality of shape.
Fairchild Republic Thunderbolt II. The other greatest ground support aircraft in the USAF. Affectionately referred to as the Warthog.
It was designed by Alexander Kartvelli of P 47 fame
If you run out of ammunition while dog fighting in a p47.....you can always start ramming your p47 into the enemy's plane......a p47 can safely ram at least five Mitsubishi zero's without incurring any serious damage.that would prevent you from flying home.
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The 'oldjug' I'd rather have one of these beasts around me in battle,just look at the punishment they could take,and make it home I will take that all day long
They need to check the facts.
They carrier launched P47s!? Man WWII was a different time!
So what plane would you fly in WW2? There may be 'better' planes but I would go with The Thug. "Yeah clever guy, I'm bigger and stronger and have sharper teeth!"
The biggest problem why it didn’t get the recognition it deserved was the spitfire cast a huge shadow on it since they are basically the same kind of inceptors (spitfire in Battle of Britain but the p47 was better but couldn’t compete with the history) the P51 was also an unfair comparison they are different planes the mustang had a far greater range but in fairness the plane in there category the F4 Corsair was better than the spitfire and thunder bolt ie short range fast inceptor which proved itself both as land based and carrier based weapon’s platform
@William Shaw true but it’s unfair to judge both the P47 and F4 in a ground attack role they were good but they were both designed as fast inceptors ie get of the ground get to the enemy tear them apart get back land rearm refuel get back up and so on and so on range not an issue just power and speed it’s why I said it’s unfair to judge it against the P51 a pursuit aircraft with range to follow the Germans all the way back to there base’s but WW2 was the golden age of aircraft both fighter’s and bombers it’s why it’s so hard to pick out one because there are so many
by the time the p47s got to the uk, the spitfires had shot down all the good german pilots,
the p47s were just shooting down poorly trained children and old men,
so lets not carried away with how good it was and how the spitfire wasnt as good as people say, the spitfire was shooting down the enemy before a p47 was even thought about, and was the savior of a nation, and the weapon of choice for winstons few,
There´s a report in the book "Senta a Pua" from General-Brigadier Rui Moreira Lima (former pilot of 1st Brazilian Fight Squadron "Senta a Pua', branch of 350th US Squadron in Italy) that describes how tough this plane is. In northern Italy, after bombing a railroad bridge, he has been shot by germans flaks. So, heavily damaged, engulfed in flames, smoke and with the stick jammed, managed to fly back and emergecy landed in the Forli´s Airfield, hundreds of miles away.
🙏👍
PBS series on ww2,quentin anensen laverne Mn,pilot in jug in a squadron over s france after the invasion,,,see this vid they may have taken it down,quite interesting
I saw it On PBS years ago, I've never been able to find it on RUclips even by entering the name of the documentary, or his name, as I recall the name of it is A Fighter Pilots Story, you can find references to it online but there's nothing on RUclips.
And it's a real shame because that is one fantastic documentary, his first hand accounts of everything from his training to coming home is just great.
@@dukecraig2402 yt scrubs a lot of great history off here,,quent's last battle flying a jug,where he almost bought it,while ground strafing germans he was attacked by a BF 109,,a devil of a fight,, he could not shake the fighter,while taking MG and cannon rounds up, down, dive ,climb, getting ,cuts on his face hands from busted canopy glass, he thought 'this is where I die,',he did barely,,manage to escape,flying low all control surfaces damaged,,he manage a base landing,,his ground crew opened the cockpit,freed his straps,,,,then had to unpry his fingers wrapped around the joystick,he could not do it himself, lost so much salt my guess ,muscles were in clamped state,on inspecting the jug when he got out, stopping count around 200 holes,The wife said he had nightmares for years after,of seeing arms and legs flying up during the france strafing missions, ' when quent poured his coffee in the morning, most always his hand shook,best thing to do is say nothing just do the pouring myself' ptsd this guy lived it,an bore it,, the wife too
@@danilorainone406
There's a great story about him that I don't believe was in his documentary on PBS either, I'm pretty sure I read it somewhere.
When he was flying ground attack there was an Infantry unit that was in big trouble from a German tank that had them pinned down and was closing on them, they called him in and he told them he was reluctant to do it because they were so close to it, they told him something like "We'll die anyways, we'd rather take our chances with you".
He put a 500 pounder right on the tank saving the day, the infantry commander told him something like " We owe you our lives, I'd like to meet you one day"
Years after the war he was in a bar and got to talking to a guy about their war experiences, when he told the guy he flew P47's the guy told him a story about how a P47 pilot saved his and his men's lives one day by taking out a tank that was about to kill them, turns out it was the same guy, they finally got to meet.
@@dukecraig2402 I remember that. I believe that the guy was telling the story and Quentin interrupted him and finished it and that is how they both knew. Cheers!
@@dukecraig2402 neat story duke,,a great guy a lot of them did thise until it was done,and won for millions
I understand sharpening up the world War film being it's really old and you have no way to get 4k footage per say.
But the people on camera yes are extremely old as well but having the filter on them as well makes it very distracting to watch as i just can't stop noticing the not human way their skin appears.
Good presentation and I'm always happy watching about war birds .. I just can't get past that lol I'm sorry.
More like a barded Percheron war horse than a "plow horse".