Why did US pilots love the Thunderbolt so much? 

Hubert Zemke was an Incredible Pilot and Commander ... He adored the P 47 s along with my friend Gabby Gabreski : )

When Zemke left the 56th to join the 479th, Dave Schilling took over as 56th CO. It was Schilling that opted to remain with the 47 rather than switch to mustangs. Zemke was actually annoyed with Schilling when he found out. Zemke would have preferred 51’s. The 56th pilots actually started transition to 51’s in early 45 when they were having problems with the 47M’s which almost got all ‘M’s grounded for good

It is a shame what the PAF did to your father. Francis Gabreski inviting him and the other few Polish to join them was certainly unique. That the PAF wouldn’t pay your father, but the 56th crews gathering funds for him shows the friendships built up among them.

WHAT A GREAT AMERICAN YOUR FATHER WAS...

@@jeffreyhanshawsr4884 Although, he was a talented fighter pilot and earned ace status. He never was formally in the USAAF and actually didn’t get paid. His squadron mates would give him money from their own pockets. After the war, he would get into the RAF. I might need correction here, but one of his duties was test piloting. His citizenship would change from Polish to British. A great man but sadly not an American, though he served with our troops.

Not in the G/A role it would not.

@@jacktattis Maybe you watched this video with the mute on?

@@AndyFromBeaverton Possibly I do that now and then I will go back and watch it with the sound up and will get back to you.

@@AndyFromBeaverton Superb in the G/A it is easy to see that this bloke did no research 2600 plus lost in that role Fantastically fast in the dive NO IT WAS NOT It had a T/M of 0.72 and according to US tests 520 mph IAS @10000ft 450mph IAS @ 20000ft is NOT fast When they did the tests in feb 44 at Farnborough from 40000ft full bore it was buggered at 0.72 which was not that far down This from a test at Farnborough to compare the PRXI and the Mustang P51 with the Allison which had a laminar flow wing At the conclusion the Mustang dived from 28000ft and The Spit from 40000ft The results were Spit T/M 0.89 @ 29000 ft from 40000ft the Mustang T/M 0.80 @17000ft from 28000ft the P47 took part later but the pilot found it went out of control early and he had to use the dive recovery flap down A later test revealed the P47 t/m WAS 0.72

I did go back and the answer is Below

Yeah. read Robert Johnson's autobiography "Thunderbolt". Johnson was, as I recall, a #1 Ace in Europe and has a beautiful description of turning back from a raid because of engine trouble and getting "found" by a FW-190 just before entering English airspace. The German flew behind him and peppered him with cannon fire repeatedly while Johnson just huddled in his armor and let the slugs hit. Just before the English coast the German pulled up along side, looked at Johnson, shrugged his shoulders, saluted and turned around. The book has a photo of the plane after he landed. I read that story over 40 years ago and it is still fresh in my mind.

The P-47 sounds like a high flying P-40. Same kind of dynamics.

@@jjhpor Cannon No 7.92 Bullets yes

It had eight 50 caliber machine guns!

@@garybulwinkle82 The later variant with bubble canopy ( the 590 P-47D-25s), had outer wing 50s swapped out for cannons.

@@michaelmancini5773 I'd never ever heard that the p47 had cannons. Ever. Even if 1 model did that would still be just one and post 1944 that model waa almost certainly not deployed in significant #s and a US built 20 mm cannon on the outboard positions would be near useless. It might carry what, 20 rounds? And be prone to jam and fire way off the centerline anyway at a low firing rate when it did fire. While Nazi fighters with cannon had them on the nose firing straight forward. The only advantage the p47 had in frontal attacks was that massive radial engine. The p47 might have been more difficult to shoot down but do you seriously believe that none were ever shot down? That they always got the pilot home?

@@michaelmancini5773 Wrong. The P-47 was never armed with cannon in the wings.

Only in planes flown by mental low flyers. 😂

HAHAHAHA wHAT NASTY SURPRISE ?

@@jacktattis That just climbing away will no longer shake off the pursuing Thunderbolt. Duh.

@@Hibernicus1968 Not to mention that EIGHT guns was perhaps a bit much... Reducing it down to six shaved off some weight &one could also do a polish&wax job that smoothed the rough skin so much it'd add another 20+ MPH to the top speed :)

@@Hibernicus1968 Mate the Bf109K would be up there waiting with enough time to have a Bavarian Mud Cake and Schnaps

It could not outclimb a ta152 which was also faster as well.

Truly the battle hymn of the Republic when it fires all it's guns and rockets.

Winning the war required a team effort. The pilots got all of the glory, but behind those stalwart men, were literally thousands of people getting that pilot and his aircraft into combat over Europe.

My mother and her parents worked at the Republic Aircraft plant in Evansville, IN making P-47s during the war. They were there for the duration of the war. My mother worked on the radios and instruments, and her parents installed the skins on the exterior. I can still remember seeing a publicity still of the machine guns being sighted in at the factory with 8 streams of tracer bullets converging at the preset distance at the target.

It was a tough decision between the Aviation Museum and Republics Museum when we were tight on time when my family and I were at long Island. We went to the aviation one instead because they had a P47 otherwise both places are excellent. We know where to go next time!

My father kept his Stinson Voyageur at Republic back in the 1970s. I flew out of there with him many times. I recall when it became Fairchild Hiller, not sure what became of the plant after that.

The 47 had a state of the art turbo supercharger. The R 2800 was no where as good in other planes. Its one of the reasons the plane is so big. The supercharger takes up a lot of space. The 2800 was used as a stop gap in B 26 and was not very good. It was designed to have a more powerful engine but they were not available going to the B 29.

@@rogersmith7396 True, and that turbosupercharger was one of the main reasons the Jug was so big. Actually, the R-2800 was widely use in other aircraft, particularly fighters, such as the F6F Hellcat and F4U Corsair. Of course, the supercharger arrangement was different, so performance envelopes were different.

@@petesheppard1709 Gregg put out a vid yesterday on the B 26 using that engine and detailed how sub par it was in that application. I don't think of him as God but he gets into a lot of the legends and clarifies them. He did a simulator where he was in a 47 fighting a 190 and he had a rather easy time bringing down the German. I always assumed the 47 was a lousy fighter but that is apparently not the case. It probably has fairly reasonable wing loading. It was just so different than any other countries planes.

@@rogersmith7396 I started watching the video and I'm about to finish it. I was a bit surprised with his assessment; I have always considered the Marauder to be a bit better than the B-25. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of it!

@@petesheppard1709 See Greggs review of the B 26 from yesterday. It was designed to go over 400 mph and outrun fighters. It had the low drag, low lift Davis wing. The problem was they could'nt get the designed engine due to the war and could only get the low power R 2800. It could barely clear 300 mph which was a small improvement of the older B 25. The B 25 flew like a baby buggy, the 26 was twitchy and dangerous for the novice pilot due to the low lift wing. They added wing length to try to help but it was all designed for 400 mph not 300. Otherwise it was a great design. Something like a big load carrying Mosquito.

at higher altitude, the P-47 had the power reserves to turn where Wehrmacht aircraft needed all the power just to go straight. Above a certain altitude the German prop aircraft had zero chance (except the Ta-152, so rare it basically didn't exist).

Wise tactics. Fight your fight, not your opponents.

Cool.

@@lqr824 That's is really it in my opinion. The P-47 killed experienced Luftwaffe pilots when it counted in late 1943 and early 1944 due to two factors; a) its superior speed at high altitude where the fighting happened, and b) greater numbers. Once the experienced Luftwaffe pilots were gone the air war was not over but it's drift was irreversible. Other fighter aircraft, while good, did not make the same critical difference at the same time.

Basically, they used the same tactics for the P-47 that were developed for the P-40 over China (with the Flying Tigers).

That is an interesting story. Has anyone in your family had the chance to visit your great uncle's grave?

@@josephstevens9888 unfortunately, no.

@@briankoenig8923 I have had the honor to visit the allied cemeteries in France. They are beautifully maintained and to this day the French respectfully visit and honor the soldiers. I have seen more French paying respects to the American dead at the French cemeteries than I usually see at the American national cemeteries. (I have been to several and visit my fathers grave regularly). I hope you have the opportunity to visit your father's grave some day.

That is, very touching indeed

I would have expected him to be found by the Danish Resistance, there´s a long way from Denmark to Holland - you have to go through Germany ?? are you sure he was shot down over Denmark ? That's a long way from England - - The book "Skudt ned flystyrt I Danmark 1939-45" (Shoot down, airplane crashes in Denmark 1939-1945 ) is an account of the airplanes and the air war over Denmark during the entire European war, it does unfortunately not have a summing up of all shoot down. My father flew Spits during the war - but they could not make it to Denmark and back. But in 45 he flew P51 and they could, he was hit by flack over Denmark, but made it home with bullet holes though the cockpit (one in front and one behind him - talk of luck) , one aileron damaged and 1/4 of one propeller blade shoot of, the trip home very scary and very slow and very shaky - the rest of the squadron flew protecting circles around him, and they sent extra planes from England to ensure he was properly protected all the way home !!

The American Republic NEVER fought to save the world You were attacked by the Japanese and Hitler declared War on you. Compare that to the Canadians Kiwis Australians who were in it right from the START 1939 in fact

I love your post. The German night fighter pilots could see the exhaust flames of Lancasters 2 miles away after the radar vectored them in. Or they homed in on Monica, the rearward radar jammer, until they saw the exhaust flames.

Not to discredit your story or the vet you were talking to, but are you sure the plane he was talking about was the P-47? Because the P-47 was not a night fighting plane, and to my knowledge, *never* flew any night missions. If they did, the number was very few, and they didn't carry radar, so it must've been dusk at most I'm thinking.

one of my Filipino nurse friends who is retired said the same thing. Back in early 90's, he was at this nursing home and it was a mix of actors and vets. One was a pilot who was shot down and spent time at a Stalag. You wont read this in history books but the Germans would actually have an intelligence network in the US who collected small city newspapers about weddings, baptisms, high school dances and send millions of clipping to Germany so they knew who the pilots were regardless of how small the city they came from.

It's shocking to see an actual size difference in person. The P47 was indeed a big girl and the engine is an absolute beast

a great guy,left the war w nightmares and shaky hands when pouring coffee

Yeh..I seen dat.

Aaneson had his own 2 hour documentary on PBS; just recollections of him and his wife back in the States. I think it was called 'A Fighter Pilot's Story'.

Bloody hell Harrowing A pilot? hot food every night, a bed ,warm clothes, warm billet Try having a soldiers life My uncle from NZ went away in 1940 did not get back to 1945 Went through North Africa and was in Italy until the end

@@jacktattis it’s not a competition.

I hope your Dad makes it back to Normandy as well for the 80th Anniversary of D-Day. I bet he has some interesting stories to tell!

How fast time in this life flies by.

God, it seems like just a couple years ago Ronald Reagan was at Normandy to speak at the 40th anniversary of D-Day. It sure goes fast. God bless our Greatest Generation.

I went to the Normandy beaches last year. It had been a dream of mine for a long time. When we got there it was sunny and tons of people were out there sunbathing.. Definitely different than expected. ha

Wow Gabby with 26.??? Gee we had Hurricane pilots with more against a better enemy

Well Gabby was 30+ behind a RAF pilot flying a Hurricane Read up about Pat Pattle

@@jacktattis High scoring US pilots were pulled from combat and brought back stateside to train replacement and give them the benefit of experience gained in combat. By the way, at the start of the Pacific War, when Hurricanes went up against the A6M Zero. they were decimated despite the fact that they were largely Battle of Brittan veterans.

@@scootergeorge7089 Yes they were however they learnt and by late 43 the Jap Airforce in Burma was destroyed

@@scootergeorge7089 Yes and the RAF had been doing that since 1940.41 Johnny Johnson 38 kills was taken off combat early

In Addition to that story , the German was an "Abbeville" Ace , after he expended ALL of his ammo into the "Still Flying" P47 , He flew right up Next to the thunderbolt , Shook his fist , Then SALUTED the Thunderbolt Pilot , then flew away . A True story

Similar story with I think it was the Wildcat against a Zero. That was the American design strategy it seemed - get pilots home. By the end of the war they had plenty of surviving experienced pilots who could train others. The best of the German best were increíble, but they were vastly outnumbered by inexperienced rookies. The average American pilot was far better trained and often more experienced.

The American pilot was Robert Johnson, he survived the war as the 2nd highest scoring American ace in the ETO.

That was ROBERT S. JOHNSON 28 VICTORY ACE...TRUE STORY THE MODEL WAS THE RAZORBACK AND IN MY OPINION IT WAS THE BEST...THE P51 MUSTANG THANKS TO ITS LIQUID COOLED ENGINE COULD AND WAS SHOT DOWN BY RIFLE CALIBER BULLETS...THE "JUG" COULD FLY AND IT DID WITH A PISTON SHOT AWAY BROUGHT YOU BACK TO BASE....

@@ret7army I read another story from Robert Johnson He claims that he took on a Spitfire IX in a mock fight and beat it. Rubbish No P47 could climb turn or Dive with any Spifire

If your American visiting London, Duxford ,Shutttleworth, and ex 8th airfields are an easy, well worth visit. I'd fit the mosquito museum in too. They're all relatively close together, hire a car and go exploring.

@@gar6446Totally agree. I’m also Australian.

What is excellent? because at the last tests I have seen in 1944 the Jug was 3180 ft/min

@@jacktattis D-20 and later would climb with a spitfire at lo altitude and walk away from it from middle to high altitude.

@@nattybumpo7156 Unless it can beat 5740 ft/min to 5000ft and 5080ft/min to 15000ft it was not in the hunt. JL165 Spit IX Hucknall Oct 43 Merlin 66 25lbs boost, things like this not that the D20 could climb with the Spit Verifiable Reports my friend

@@nattybumpo7156 Load of rubbish.

I have a great photo I took of that machine on the ground in 1991. I also spoke to the crew chief at the time who was a young woman. Never got her name. Maybe you worked with her.

They were effective up high but as the fight was coming down below 25000ft /20000ft by Wars end they would have been in trouble. The new altitude is why the Spit MkXVI was built

@@jzsbff4801 No the Jug had an excellent kill ratio, when it was used up high. When it went to low level G/A etc it was in trouble. It was too large

The razorbacks are unpleasant looking. The Ds look great. It was derived from the p 36.

P-47 is the plane most responsible to Air Superiority of Western Europe, unless you count the B-17s and B-24 the Luftwaffe were forced to come up to fight.

@rogersmith7396 I think you meant the p35, as the p36 is a Curtiss design that later led to the p40, the Severesky p35 and later Republic p43 are the predecessor to p47

The Republic P-47M model was the fastest production piston powered fighter plane of WWII. It had a war emergency power that provided it with a top speed of 487 mph at 25,000 feet thanks to its 2,800 horsepower Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp engine with methanol water injection. They arrived too late to see much action in the European Theater, but they did actually saw combat in the Pacific Theater of Operations against the Japanese. The P-47M was a further development of the Republic XP-47J Superbolt, which had achieved a top speed of 505 mph during testing. Both shared the same engine and methanol water injection system. The P-47M was heavier than the XP-47J Superbolt was, because the XP-47J was armed with only six 50 cals in the wings, whereas the P-47M had eight 50 cals in the wings, extra armour plate, which is why it was slower than the XP-47J Superbolt was.

@@huck69 My bad.

The TA 152 was slightly faster but it was experimental.

A 'Razorback' Jug, fully loaded---with drop tank, bombs & rockets---was one hellish brute to behold. ""BAD BOY"" says it all....Big Salute to your Uncle Kelley, from this humble & Appreciative American.

Dornier Do 335

@@bicbouy4126 Twin engine, never mass produced. Not a comparison.

@@itsjohndell I was replying to tarikwildman’s comment “the fastest piston engine fighter of WW2” There’s no mention of how many engines

Hands down Greg is the best WW2 analyst around. And he said the Jug was IT !

@@peterbellini6102 Greg has ignored three WW2 tests that show the P47 did not have all those attributes he claims they had.

@@jacktattis He did 8 parts with cited sources, so in my mind, it was pretty exhaustive. You should list the tests you feel he omitted in the P-47 Thunderbolt - Pt. 8 Conclusions video in the comments.

​@@jacktattisWere those tests early in the war or were they the final word in Thunderbolt capabilities and drawbacks? There was a lot of work done to improve the Jug throughout the war.

No. DON’T watch Greg’s video series on the P-47 if you want a proper understanding of the air war over Germany from early 1943 to the end of the war. Greg has read no history whatsoever and relies entirely on performance charts. He quite literally doesn’t know what he’s talking about. I know because I’ve had the debate with him and he backed down. Then he deleted my comments. Greg has apparently accepted a challenge from historian James William ‘Bill’ Marshall to debate him some time in April. This was after he actually banned Marshall from posting anything on his channel. His theories are crackpot and paranoid and easily riposted. He seems to have no idea of the actual history of USAAF operations, preferring to rely solely on test data and the idiotic notion that the USAAF senior commanders were trying their best to get everyone killed to further ‘doctrine’ (might as well call it communism…). Greg is a historian of military equipment, rather than a historian. They are related and overlapping but they are far from the same thing. He’s managed to convince a whole generation of gullible people - mostly American gamers who don’t read books - that there was a conspiracy against the Thunderbolt and it has since become one of the biggest sources of disinformation on aircraft on the internet.

Not that much

@@jacktattis it did improve by quite a respectable amount. It made a bigger improvement on engines with more power, due to the increased percentage in excess power. Thus, it helped even more on the D-25 and later, as they had 2,600 horsepower. The P-47 was still likely out-climbed at low altitude, though by a much smaller margin than in the past. At high altitude nothing could climb with it except the Spitfire Mk IX and some late 109s, but then you also had the P-47M, that could out-climb them. So yes, it helped a lot. The P-47 always had a good zoom-climb as well, which would help it a lot in aerial fights.

@@danraymond1253 These are various tests from 1942 to 0ct44 Jun18 -42 A.C. No 41-5902------- 2564ft/min to 5000ft Sept 7-42 A.C. No 41-5937 -------2330 ft/min to 15000 ft Dec 6-42 A.C. No 41- 5942 ------2700ft/min to 10000ft 28 Sep 43 P47D A.C. No 42- 74616 -------- 2305ft/min to 5000ft 11 Oct 43 P47D-10 A.C. No 43-75035 ------ 2870ft/min to 5000ft 06 Oct 44 P47D No Aircraft Number 3180 ft/min And apart from the P47M/N the last was the best climb rate achieved So the engine tweaks, water injection, Paddle Props did not really do that much However the Zoom climb was good

@@danraymond1253 The P_47 played no significant role in the war. It can be dismissed as an irrelevance. Either way, the P-47 was soundly thrashed in climb by most late model Spitfires. Against the Mk XIV, it wasn't even close.

his plane's name---HUN HUNTER

Heheheh… I like his moxie

You forgot the Razorbacks modified with Spitfire style Malcom Hood canopys ;)

In Addition , There were a FEW that had "Malcom Hood Canopies" as well . Similar to the ones on British Spitfires

Only from D-25 RE onward the P47s had the bubble canopy. In Korea most pilots would've preferred having the Jugs more than the P51s, the former being less vulnerable to AA Fire.

@Alessio De Carolis Agreed The P47 was phased out Way to yearly ! We flew the A1 spad in Nam and loved its firepower And ruggedness .. just like The P47

@@alessiodecarolis thats only true for Farmingdale RE built P-47D`s , Evansville built D-25 RA were Razorbacks and from D-26 RA onward Bubble tops. for the 2nd part yes but the P-47 was much to expensive to run and needed more Menhour maintainance because of the big and complex Turbocharger, the P-51D/F-51D was much cheaper to run.

Agreed. But it wasn't just the cost of the aircraft, you also needed 50% more fuel than the Mustang, so 50% more tanker trucks, 50% more tanker boats, etc. etc. The P-47 was on the other hand cheaper for losing probably fewer pilots and airframes in similar circumstances.

@@lqr824 Ahhh the P47 lost 2600 in the G/A role that is 2600 pilots

@@jacktattis lost airframe doesn't mean lost pilot. The pilot can bailed out, or often planes had crush landings / battle damage after wich you can't repair it. And it also count as lost airframe.

@@slumzurIN 1943 during the transition from Spitfires to the P47 The P47 pilots challenged the Spitfire pilots to mock dogfights After 4 were lost in quick succession trying to turn with the Spits The mock fights were banned below 8000ft Those 4 pilots were lost at 5000 ft and less It has never ceased to amaze me the arrogance of the new boys trying to teach men who flew with the Eagle Sqn how to fly. Doing G/A they were at times less than that. There is no time to bail out doing almost 450 mph. So YES they lost 2600 pilots .

@@slumzur Not when the plane is 1000/2000 ft above the ground doing 400 mph in a dive You do know G/A is very very low.

My regards to Farmingdale!

AMEN!!!!!!

The Grumman F6-F Hellcat was the number 1 ace maker of all time

April 1943 is NOT early 1939 is early and the RAF/ Friends with Hurricanes which went out of Front line service in 42 had 1200+ kills against a very strong Luftwaffe

@@jacktattis Hurricanes got to attack Luftwaffe bombers while the Spitfires kept the 109s busy. When did P47s get to rack up scores on big fleets of Luftwaffe bombers while on the defense over friendly territory?

@@goldleader6074 I have no idea

They were predominantly escort, and had all day to get up to a high altitude before any fight started. The 109's came up mainly from below. Climb speed wasn't important in this scenario. ZOOM climb was probably more important than climb, and since the 47 could out-dive anything it could also out-climb anything when zoom climbing. So it did. And the skies were swept of the Luftwaffe. (Yes the 47s were later ground attack but only at a point that there just wasn't much Luftwaffe left to threaten them.)

@@lqr824 The P47 COULD NOT OUT DIVE ANYTHING Its T/M was 0.72 the Fw190 0.75 and all Spits 0.84+

So now it is Johnson outclimbing a FW190 Zoom climb maybe, normal climb it would be struggling I heard that Johnson said he outclimbed a MkIX Spitfire rubbish then rubbish now

@@jacktattis First, there are more ways to quantify dive than just mach numbers, e.g. acceleration where the P-47 was apparently top. Corsair I think could do a steeper dive with dive flaps, or landing gear doors? I forget, but regardless, most other planes couldn't follow it if it did that: it may not dive the fastest, but other planes couldn't dive that steeply? I may have the wrong plane but hopefully this example at least illustrates my point. Second, there is the situation: an FW-190 and a Spitfire are only up in the air to shoot down bombers, and further have just launched so often will be coming up to altitude. They cannot simply dive fast without basically ignoring their mission. A P-47 is flying escort, has been in the air an hour, has had all that time to get quite high if they choose, they make great power up high, so they can fly above bombers and dive onto interceptors, faster than the interceptors can ever really dive in practice. Likewise, the fast dive can be followed by a zoom climb, so the early 47's bad climb statistics wouldn't necessarily have been a hinderance. If both an early 47 and a 190 start from the ground, the 190 would surely gain altitude faster. But if a 190 has been climbing at their best climb rate, which might only leave enough power for 200mph or something of forward progress, a P47 can both dive down on them at 550mph, then continue to zoom back up at I'd guess 3-4x the 190's climb rate, at least until the 47 burns off the excess speed.

@@lqr824 Mach Numbers is what Doolittle wanted because the P38 and P47 were being lost in the dive Look I do not care whether you believe it or Not Tests were conducted in ww2 and the P47 was relegated to other duties END OF STORY Once it reached 0.73 IT WAS BREAKING APART Steeper what is steeper? 0.71 is 0.71 regardless of what angle it dived at. You are dense Spitfire up there to shoot down bombers Where are you getting your info? Certainly NOT from any credible source Go to WW2 Aircraft Performance and scroll through Spit VIII and Spit IX ACTION REPORTS and then come back and tell us that they only shot down Bombers P47s flying escort were doing what you describe and were breaking up That is why RAE fARNBOROUGH DID THE TESTS And RAE pilots were taking the planes a hell of a lot more stress than even in Combat

Notably, the newest variant of the Spit at the time, the Mk. IX.

That roll rate was probably helped by the huge torque of the big radial engine. No doubt the pilots learned to use the normally undesirable phenomenon of "torque roll" to their advantage.

Did Johnson mention the date, the Sqn the Spitfire was from

@@rossanderson4440 I think Johnson was full of himself No Jug could fly as high, dive as far, climb as fast, turn as tight ,roll as fast as the MkIX .

Fw 190 had the fastest roll rate

Read a report once ,that a P47 returned to Halesworth Airfield in UK with 3 CYLINDERS shot off the engine , but still managed to keep running , somehow ! the R 2800 was a Remarkable Engine

@@walterlefferts6297 Yes it is always I read somewhere. Now just on this site 3 cylinders shot off, 1 cylinder shot off, Tree Branches, Bricks . Give us Tech reports the such as I get in my Morgan and Shacklady Spitfire the History .

Your Dad must not have seen the RAF everywhere.

Now that I think of it, I do not remember him saying he saw RAF planes. But after the breakout at Caan he told me about seeing all their handiwork. The planes with rockets ate up the Germans as the moved south. The thing he would never forget was the smell of death. Soldiers horses and cows and burned out vehicles.

Interesting

I wouldn't even say arguably. When pilots were given free reign to attack targets of opportunity, It absolutely wreaked havoc on German railways and transport systems.

@@boxhawk5070 - yeah but there’s always some asshole who will disagree no matter what you say.

Never hell even the MkIV Hurricane had more firepower / size And the USArmy did not call on the P47 at the Falaise Pocket that was RAF Typhoons

@@boxhawk5070 And lost 2600+ doing it in only 13 months Typhoons had been doing it 24 months and only lost 670 from Service entry

P47 down low as manoeuvrable as a Brick outhouse

The opposite of a Spit. The Swordfish is one of my favorites. Because.

A-10 shoulf have been Lightning II

Bf109 for me..i like german planes

@@SKILLED521 battleships sinker go brrrrrrt, I love the swordfish too

@@florencemodina6293 also Macchi C205 but as all italian planes,they were too few

I believe i read something a while back that they chose the Mustang because it was primarily based on the West coast before the Korean conflict and it was easier to ship over. But that the 47 was indeed a much better choice.

@@justinthomas85 That and there was a push for the Mustang by the Army and Airforce higher ups(I forget why that was). The Navy and marines on the other hand refused to move on to more updated aircraft and kept the Corsair which was similar to the P47 in its role

I don't know they did have the Skyraider in Korea

plus P-61Black widow and B-26 Marauder

YOU forgot , The North American A26 INVADER had TWO R2800 engines !! Also the Navy F7 Twin engine Tiger CAT had Twin R 2800 s although they came very late in the war .

He was the USAAF top ace yes

Where was it superior? P47D10 Oct44 Test at Wright Field Climb Rate was 450 ft/min @32000 ft Spit MkVIII 1440 ft/min @35000ft

AND the Jug could "OUTDIVE" Any fighter in the second world war . "Hell from above" if you were an Enemy plane at lower altitude . A P47 after the war, actually Broke the sound Barrier in a Power Dive . I know someone who witnessed that event. Incredible !

@@walterlefferts6297 Power dive and at what speed was it going?

Mexicans also. "The Aztec Eagles" flew the Jug in the battles of the Philippines. (they were Mexican volunteers for WW2)

And the long Range Version N modell longer Wingspan (with same engine Model like in M Models) for escorting B-29s

P72 expected wow have we got that bad with a Airframe that maybe got 540mph

@@jacktattis well you could have used the horrible bf109 airframe that would crack just over 750kmh

@@anton2417 What model Bf109

@@anton2417 According to my info Bf109 T/M 0.75 is a lot more than 750kph

My mom as well! She and her parents worked at the Republic Aircraft plant in Evansville, IN, during the war. My mom was very proud to have done her part during the war.

They did our country proud, thank them for their service:)

@@jackthorton10 ... Thank you for the kind words ... 🇺🇸 ...

@@johndilday1846 ... Don't know how I missed your feedback ... Your Mom sounds like a wonderful and loved Mom ... If I may say, I'm proud of her too ... BTW, I'm pretty sure my Mom worked in what may be known now as Willow Run, an area outside of Detroit ... Best regards ...

@@larryg.9187 Always, in remembrance of those who fought for the frontline... and the homefront, To the lifters of hearts of gold and mounds of courage, may they be honored just as much as our forefathers who took to the sky, air, and sea, and ring freedom and goodwill to a more accessible, and better world.

Yeah everyone says they know someone who liked the P-47 better. Funny how nobody knows any Mustang pilots... Also funny how it's not reflected in historical record. It's like the old saying here in the post war period that there were enough pieces of the first Zero shot down over Australia to sink a battleship.

The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, Grumman F6F Hellcat, and Vought F4U Corsair were all built around the Wasp 2800 engine which was the most powerful radial engine ever made, so in a sense they were all variations of the same basic plane. Republic, Grumman, and Vought were all given the brand-new engine and instructed to build a plane around it. Republic put eight 50-cal machine guns in the wings which gave it the largest and heaviest wings of any WW2 fighter; Voight put on a massive 15-foot propeller which necessitated the famous bent-wings so the landing gear could accommodate the prop radius; and Grumman went the middle ground with a carrier-capable fighter with specs in between the other two.

No the P47D best climb rate was 3200ft/min as tested in 1944 bF109G-10 at a touch over 4000ft/min and the K4 4823ft/min.

@@jacktattis Climb rate that was documented in a P-47D. I would think that a 47 with 3,800HP could do better than 3200ft/min. Plus, all of the US top aces flew the 47 with the exception of Richard Bong. We will never know what the modified 47's could do because the Air Force only tested the standard models at factory recommended boost settings.

@@robertwood3970 The P47 best was the P47m AND IT WAS STILL BELOW 4000 ft/min And there were 10 Raf Aces that beat Gablonski and 24----- 20 and above and some of them in Hurricanes and one as a Night Fighter W/C Braham

@@jacktattis Please research the Pratt and Whitney R2800, the power levels it could achieve was based on The octane rating of the fuel available. The Americans and British had 150 octane fuel available so this meant they could run much higher boost levels on these engines. When the Pratt and Whitney engineers put water injection on this engine it could reliably make 3,800hp. Again, the planes that were equipped this way were not tested, the mods were made in the field.

@@robertwood3970 These were tests done WW2 and field mods never ever make up almost 100% in power Griffon Double Wasp 2800 Napier Sabre VII Merlin 61 Allison 1700 f3 Disp 36.7 Lt 45.96 Lt 36.65Lt 27lt N/K Dry Wgt 1980lb 2360lb 2360lb 1640lb 1395 lb H/P 2220@11000FT 2300@ 31000 ft 2850 @3800rpm 3030 @4000rpm 1565@2800rpm 1500@ 3000rpm Spec Pow. 0.91 0.75 1.36 0.96 0.88 Pow/Wgt 1.03 0.89 1.29 0.96 1.05 As you can see the in-lines were more efficient and it would not have made any difference even if they used 200 Octane. And Mods in the field does not include pulling engines apart and no mod can make 80% difference Go looking and do your own research

In your minds It was too large its wing Loading was too high

@@jacktattis what you mean the English? 😉

@@Free-Bodge79 No your P47

@@jacktattis in my mind it was a tool, that did it's job, served it's country and the men that flew it well. Happy days ay. 👊👍

Anything is tougher than the Mustang. The two major faults of the P-51 were downplayed as much as possible to instill confidence in the plane, thus vaulting it to quasi-legendary status. The faults? Center-of-gravity issues if you failed to burn off the fuel in the fuselage before switching to the drop tanks. That, and the P-51 had a glass jaw which couldn't take the damage a P-47 or P-38 could survive.

@@BogeyTheBear was also one of the worst turning American fighters

@@guaporeturns9472 The P-51 was also 1/3 of the cost of the P-47.

@@richardtargett4128 I am aware. 47 was complicated and expensive

Until the P-47M and P-47N variants extended their range significantly, anyway.

That it does. Also the F8F Bearcat and F7F Tigercat.

Et Tomcat....

But only the P-47 was equipped with the General Electric B series turbocharger, for high altitude performance.