P47 Thunderbolt anecdote

[At ease]

"A Reputation for Ruggedness
When the Germans’ elegant FW-190 began to threaten the P-47’s edge in 1942, Pratt & Whitney added the water-alcohol injection that brought the R-2800 the final mile in power output on new high-octane fuel. Two of its Missouri engineers, Arthur Smith and Donald Hersey, had figured that out in 1938 and patented the idea.

The Thunderbolt got pressed-paper wing tanks, a bubble canopy, rocket tubes, and bombs on the wings and belly, but, throughout the war, changes to it were minimal. It was produced in greater numbers than the P-51, which took over long-range bomber escort and converted the “Jug” into a low-level attack airplane whose rockets and Browning .50s busted tanks and railroads with ease. No other righter ever achieved its reputation for ruggedness.
Martin Graham, a Pratt & Whitney representative in Europe immediately after the tide turned in the Ardennes campaign, told in the most stirring words of the way the P-47 helped to win the war:

“I was in the Ardennes a few days [after the battle turned]. We came to a thick woods where von Runstedt had hidden a munitions dump. He couldn’t have picked a better spot so far as air reconnaissance went. That had been a really heavy woods before we blew it all to hell.

“Even blown up, though, right through the center of that woods, you could see by the shattered trees and the torn branches where the P-47s had gone through. You’d have to see it to believe it. Those crazy kids flying the P-47s couldn’t see what was hidden from above. So they went right into the forest to find out. They cut a path right through the top of that woods. … one minute, you think of an airplane as a fragile thing, and then you see something like that.”
http://www.airforce-magazine.com/Mag...underbolt.aspx

[JCFalkenbergIII]

Tyhey certainly were tough and could survive much . Robert

"1. The Republic Thunderbolt had a radial engine that could take hits and keep on running. I know of an actual case where a Jug brought a pilot back from Borneo after 8 hours in the air. The pilot landed with the master cylinder and three other cylinders blown out of commission. But the Jug kept chugging along, running well enough to bring its pilot back safely to his base at Morotai. I was there.

2. The Jug's radial engine was air cooled, instead of liquid cooled with a radiator system, like the Mustang's V-12. This is significant because one small caliber hit on an aluminum cooling line in a Mustang would let the coolant leak out, and when the coolant was gone, the engine seized, and the show was over.

I took a small caliber hit in a coolant tube over Formosa (Taiwan). When I landed back at base, my crew chief said, "Lieutenant, did you know you got hit?" I replied, "No." He continued, "You took a small caliber shell in the coolant tube on the right side of the engine. I'd give you between 10 and 15 minutes flying time remaining." I had just flown from Formosa, over nothing but the Pacific Ocean, to our fighter strip on Okinawa."

http://www.chuckhawks.com/p47.htm

"The characteristic that the pilots liked most about the Jug was its amazing ability to take almost as much punishment as it could dish out and still bring them home. A flying wreck, maybe, but still flying! Not like that "one bullet hole anywhere in the cooling system and down you go" Mustang. Many times the Jug came home completely missing a few of its cylinders. Not making top speed, of course, but the big fan was still turning."

"P-47's often came back from combat shot full of holes, their wings and control surfaces in tatters. On one occasion a Thunderbolt pilot hit a steel pole after strafing a train over occupied France. The collision sliced four feet off one of his wings, yet he was able to fly back safely to his base in England."


http://www.skylighters.org/p47/index.html

[At ease]

There are some good links in your second source.

[JCFalkenbergIII]

Originally Posted by At ease

There are some good links in your second source.

Thanks. One of my favorites . Robert

[wellsfargo]

P47

The P47 was a good and very robust fighter able to give and take punishment. But as a long-range fighter it did not meet design concepts. A series of compromises and specifications changes turned a lightweight (P47) interceptor into one of the heaviest fighters at 4853kg, equal to two Bf 109s and just smaller than a Beaufighter. Not until the N model P47N did it become the long-range fighter, escorting B29s.
As a fighter bomber it had few equals, but Typhoon Mk IB Tempest Mk V. would be equal. The Typhoon – Tempest four cannon armament was far more powerful than the P47 8 MGs. 8 rockets were lethal in ground attack.
The Beaufighter Mk VI with 6 7.7mm MG 4 cannons and 8 rockets were deadly in ant-shipping or ground strike.



“Attack with aggression, but always have a plan of retreat”

[triggerjockey]

I would have to give the long-range fighter kudos to the P-38. 10,000 produced in all with an exemplary service record and an impressive array of armament.
Not taking anything away from the P-47 though. Probably the most rugged airframe of the war and proved itself time and time again to it's lethality to anything on the ground. If I was an infantryman back then and I was staring down a piece of enemy armor, a P-47 is what I would want to see. I personally would take the 8 .50's over anything else any day. The multi-purpose capabilities far surpassed any other aircraft mounted MG of the war. And if the .50's couldn't handle something, that's what the 500#er's, 4.5in, or 5in rockets were for. Not to mention that there over 15,000 made.
Not taking anything away from the RAF planes. There were some impressive models there too. The 'Beau', Mosquito, and Typhoon to name a few. The anti shipping tonnage sunk by the Beau's is impressive on it's own.

[Johnny_Reb]

I thought that the Beau was a night fighter?

[At ease]

Originally Posted by Booy

I thought that the Beau was a night fighter?

"Unlike the Beaufort, the Beaufighter had a long career and served in almost all theatres of war in the Second World War, first as a night fighter, then as a fighter bomber and eventually replacing the Beaufort as a torpedo bomber." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Beaufighter

[Acheron]

One anecdote I heard was about a P-47 colliding with an A6M Reisen ("Zero"), and surviving the collision quite fine, much unlike the Reisen. Since the P-47 was one of the heavier fighters of WWII, while the Reisen was one of the most nimble, the outcome sounds realistic, though I doubt there were many occassions for the Reisen encountering the Thunderbolt. I also read that the armament of the Reisen had trouble seriously damaging the Thunderbolt.

@wellsfargo, if the P-47 was two Bf109s in weight, how many Reisens did a Thunderbolt take.

[Johnny_BoomBoom]

Originally Posted by Acheron

One anecdote I heard was about a P-47 colliding with an A6M Reisen ("Zero"), and surviving the collision quite fine, much unlike the Reisen. Since the P-47 was one of the heavier fighters of WWII, while the Reisen was one of the most nimble, the outcome sounds realistic, though I doubt there were many occassions for the Reisen encountering the Thunderbolt. I also read that the armament of the Reisen had trouble seriously damaging the Thunderbolt.

@wellsfargo, if the P-47 was two Bf109s in weight, how many Reisens did a Thunderbolt take.

Just looking at Wiki........the A6M2 was 1680 kgs unladen......making the P-47 almost 3 times the weight!!!

[JCFalkenbergIII]

Design Analysis of the P-47 Thunderbolt
A reproduction of an article from the January 1945 issue of Industrial Aviation

http://rwebs.net/avhistory/history/p-47.htm

Robert