best WW II fighter, The

Flight Journal, Aug 2003 by Meyer, Corky

By the end of 1944, there were 31 USAAF P-47 Fighter Groups in combat areas. The only theater in which they did not operate was Alaska. In addition, 730 P-47Ds were sent to the RAF, and 446 P-47Ds flew in seven squadrons with the French Air Force. Other P-47Ds were sent to Russia, Brazil and Mexico for service in all WW II theaters.

The P-47D line was the largest in the Thunderbolt series, and 12,607 were built. Up to the P-47D-1S-CU model, the plane was an impressive, eight .50-caliber-gun, high-altitude fighter with a belly rack for a 500-pound bomb or a 75-gallon fuel tank. The P-47D-20RE series, with its "universal" wing and fuselage racks, were fitted for various combinations of up to 2,500 pounds of bombs, two 150-gallon wing tanks and one 75-gallon ventral tank. The P-47D-25-RE model introduced the bubble canopy that greatly improved a pilot's combat visibility. P-47D-27-RE fighters added 10 outer-wing stations for 5-inch HVAR rockets, and it was also equipped with the 2,400hp R-2800-59 water-injection engine, which greatly reduced its heavyweight-bomber-escort takeoff distance. It was also equipped with electrically operated dive-recovery brakes that completely counteracted the compressibility effects that had previously resulted in very steep dives from which many Thunderbolts could not recover.

The last model produced was the longerwingspan, 467mph P-47N; it held 556 gallons of internal fuel and had external tanks that gave it a combat range of slightly more than 2,000 miles for B-29 bomber support.

The only fighter role in which it did not participate was photorecon because the usual camera location (in the aft fuselage) was filled with the massive turbo supercharger and its plumbing.

The P-47's roomy cockpit was well suited to 200-hour war-trained pilots. All of the controls, switches and instruments were handily located; its flight stabilities were low enough for fighter tactics but sufficient for hands-off, long-range missions. Its docile normal and accelerated stall characteristics did not interfere with aerial gunnery runs, and with its soft landing-gear shock-struts, three-point landings were smooth and easy. Managing the early, manual, turbo-supercharger control was initially difficult, but a redesign resulted in such an improvement that control was soon automatic and needed very little pilot attention.

In 1946, 28 "kills" ace Capt. Bob Johnson dramatically illustrated the efficacy of the P-47's armored pilot protection to me. When attacked by Fw 190s during a Ramrod mission to Paris, his plane sustained considerable damage. Unable to open his jammed canopy, he was slowly flying home alone over the English Channel with very little fuel when a single Fw 190 attacked him three times, firing its entire load into his P-47's tail (it had four 20mm MG S1/20E cannon and two 13mm, .50-caliber MG 131 machine guns). The German pilot then appeared to give up, flew formation for a few moments, waved in awe to Bob and left. Uninjured, Bob landed his aircraft and ran out of gas just as he taxied off the runway. He was emphatic that he would never have made it home if he had been flying a P-51 Mustang with a vulnerable, liquid-cooled engine.