My Dad was a B17 pilot and said that when the P47's were overhead he felt the safest. He loved the P47 and kept a picture of one on his office wall along with a B17,G.
Best comment I've read on the P-47. "The Spitfire and Hurricane held the line. The P-51 Mustang took the fight to Germany. The P-47 Thunderbolt broke the back of the Luftwaffe."
P-47 pilot Robert S. Johnson describing October 1943 before P-51s flew their first mission in February 1944 "There is no questioning the battle experience or the skill of the German pilots, nor could we find solace in the outstanding performance of the Focke-Wulf FW-190 and Messerschmitt Me-109 fighters. But as we sharpened our own ability to slash and fight, the German aggressiveness so predominant in the early days of battle began noticeably to wane. By no means do I imply that the German pilot was less dangerous an opponent; once battle was committed, however, the enemy fliers no longer were as eager to slug it out with us in a free-for-all. Steadily, we shot down and killed many of there experienced men. At the same time, we gained constantly in experience and in our ability to master battle situations as they erupted. The 56th was well on its way to acquiring a galaxy of aces; indeed the very presence in the sky of our Group forbode ill tidings for the enemy." - Robert S. Johnson in his autobiography ‘Thunderbolt!’ Page 212
P47's were escorting bombers over Berlin in the weeks before P51's were, so were P38's, after they finally got the proper type of drop tanks they had the range to take the bombers anywhere they went.
@@dukecraig2402 absolutely, I have seen a few interviews regarding the incompetent staffing that'd did not allow for drop tanks to many fighters but I also under that internal fuel,will always dictate planning range and endurance.
P-47's took the brunt of the best fighter pilots the Germans had, basically swept them from the sky. When the P-51 finally arrived the Luftwaffe was significantly diminished.
What a brilliant documentary with plenty of footage. A lot of channels prefer to just play the same clips over and over but I really enjoyed seeing what it was like from every angle including how hard it was for the ground crews. Every bomb and every bullet manually loaded. Planes waiting in line to take off or flying back from a mission, it’s all good to watch. It helps to make us realise that for every plane there are probably two dozen people involved, mission planners, air controllers, pilots and mechanics, armourers, refuelers, cooks and quartermasters, medics and priests there are so many people involved behind the scenes with getting the planes in the air and most of it isn’t very glamorous. One thing I would like to see is more about the layout of the plane, a lot of people don’t realise how stuffed full the P47 was because most of the turbo / supercharger is located behind and under the pilot and just what a massive piece of machinery it is. Now I’ve subbed I’ve have a huge back catalogue to go through. Lucky me😂😂😂 Cheers Stuart 🇦🇺 ps is your narrator an Aussie?
☑️ Yeah, I'm accustomed to watching historical videos from channels that constantly air stock footage of vehicles and planes that have little or no relevance to the actual subject matter of the video. ^Its so common that when I first started watching this, I fully expected to be deluged with footage of M4 Sherman tanks, Russian naval vessels, and Finnish infantry soldiers fighting in the winter war, all while the narrator talked about the development process of the P-47! 😁
At certain times the narration sounded like AI. Some of the pronunciations were insufferable, such as 'inventories' early in the video. Then there were a few places in the script which can be perceived as misleading. One example is around the 13:40 mark that aircraft arrived only after a field was made 'safe'. Actually, in the island jumping campaign, few fields were secured from enemy attack by mostly ground forces. Other than that mild critique, I thought this a well put together video full of information. I appreciate the full history including how Republic came to be.
@@ifga16 ☑️ Yeah, I'm thinking of doing a historical documentary on high tech military planes like the SR-71, F-35 and the F-22.. So, I'll need to add in lots of relevant video clips to run in the background as I narrate it. 😉👍 Therefore, I think I'll run stock images of the Wright Brothers plane, maybe a few pre-WW1 fighters, and some footage of WW1 era observation balloons. I guess I could throw in some video of hang gliders, and maybe footage of people canoeing down a small river. 😁
The vintage film has all the earmarks of a 1940s to mid 50s company documentary. That includes the style of speaking which sounds British-like to me. Possible it might be govt funded production done soon after WW2.
'Takes a licking and keeps on ticking' should have been the slogan for this awesome fighter plane. Many flew home with bullet and cannon holes from stem to stern that would have downed an average fighter plane but the pilots were unscathed by their encounters with Me 109s and Fw 190s. And those 8 .50 cal Brownings they carried were often the 'last word' in a high altitude air duel.
The famous "Jug." I never read that it was nicknamed that because it looked like a milk jug. I always read that the RAF -- used to Hurricanes and Spitfires -- called the seven-ton P-47 a juggernaut and the shortened nickname stuck. I worked at a hotel some years ago that hosted a P-47 reunion of pilots who fought in Italy. I was able to visit with some of these old pilots and heard some wonderful stories. One pilot told me that his squadron was based in Sicely and fought over Italy. Their problem was that they always running out of ammunition while they still had plenty of fuel. Their squadron armorers didn't ask the generals running the war but they re-wired the firing arrangement so the guns fired in pairs instead of all eight firing together since there were few targets that needed the attention of all eight guns. Two .50 caliber guns could take out vehicles and mortar and machine gun nests. The guns were controlled by cockpit mounted switches so two, four, six or all eight guns would fire. They began to have more time over the fighting and were able to support the ground troops better. I've never read about this field modification in any book.
How many other people were amazed by the landing at 18:30 on this video of the B-17 with damage and no engines running, that was the smoothest landing I’ve ever seen those guys had unbelievable skills and apparently nerves as strong as the bomber, just amazing I’d have flown anywhere with that pilot 👍👍👍👍👍
As a baby boomer my toys were pot metal trucks, cap pistols, and heavy all metal WWII airplane models. My favorite was a D model P-47. I “flew” that airplane for hours on end. The Spitfire and Mustang are said to be prettier, but I’m not so sure about that.
Same here, but had no metal ww2 planes models. Had many books and WW2 and the P-47 were my favorite. Major Pete "Gabe" Gabreski was my hero growing up.
Dinky made some nice die-cast models in the sixties under the name "Battle of Britain". The Spitfire sported even a spinning propeller and moving landing gear. You can watch a restoration of this toy done by Paul Restorer here on YT.
We were pretty poor when I was a kid. Couldn’t afford the actual “toys” of these fighters. The toys cost over thirty bucks, but you could get the models for eight bucks back in the ‘70’s. I would save up and buy a model (or get one for my birthday). I’d build it and play with it until it would fall apart in pieces! 😂
The Spitfire and Mustang were beloved because they were so sleek and elegant. The Thunderbolt was “bulldog ugly,” but was a tough and effective war machine. Arguably, one of the most effective fighters of the war!
Flying tanks and protected the pilot more than any other fighters . My dad watched an ME 109 unload everything into a P 47 that the pilot couldn't shake. The pilot popped out and survived but fell into enemy lines. Dad was in charge of a gun squad breaking into Bastogne.
I loved your video. My mother and her parents worked at the Republic Aircraft Plant in Evansville, IN during the war. My grandparents worked on fastening the aircraft skins to the frames, and my mother worked on installing the radios into the cockpits. They had some great publicity stills given out during the war that I got to see, my favorite being the sighting in of the 8 Browning .50 BMG wing mounted guns at night with all tracer rounds being fired to assist in seeing the streams better for precise adjustments. They worked 10 hour days six days a week for the duration of the war. Thanks for showing us this video.
I was a young boy in Evansville and remember the present airport and the old Whirlpool plant were both built then to make the P47. I can remember they took them to the far side of the airport to sight in the guns. Evansville was quite the war town having the LST ship yard, Servel made parts for the P47, Chrysler made ammunition and devices tanks, much more.
Must have more updated WW2 Aviation History please. This is an absolutely Epic presentation, with the insight into development of the Jug, and Historical Fact narration. 👍👍& 10⭐ Rating from me.
Outstanding combat footage. The radial air-cooled engine could always take more damage and survive than the water cooled engines with radiators and all kinds of plumbing. The eight 50s could deliver alot of lead at once when the target was only lined up for a short time and helped kill more aircraft. Also helped take out trains.
There was an Army Air Force joke. If you want to impress your girlfriend, fly a P-51 Mustang, but if you want to return alive and marry her, fly a P-47 Thunderbolt! 😁
In the 80's a man in our marina had a boat named" Ill wind " he owned a concrete plant in CT and my dad told me he had been an aircraft pilot in the war, forward another 20 years and a boss of mine gave me some aero magazines and he and his plane were on the cover, a P 47 named, I'll wind, wish I had talked to the man a bit.
@joshuariddensdale2126 The new larger wing held extra fuel which extended range on the "November" model (farther than the P-51 by accounts). The squared off wing tips improved roll rate, which along with larger elevators improved maneuver and control. With the increased HP of the later radial engines and the new larger paddle props, I'd hypothesize that the larger wing probably improved rate of climb as well. One of the fastest piston/prop fighter aircraft, with performance in the realm of the post war "super props" that ended the props era as jets replaced them. In short, the P-47N was one "bad @#$" airplane. I've seen quotes from the memoirs of pilots that flew P-51's and then transitioned to the P-47N that felt the November was the better airplane. THE airplane.
I knew an old Wehrmacht soldier who told me he knew that war was over when he had two P-47s make multiple strafing passes just to get him and one other guy walking across an open field.
Having seen since the 60s what I thought were most video of P47s, I was captivated by the presentation here. Many clips will be appreciated by watchers of this show. Thanks
Highest scoring Fighter Group in the 8th Air Force, the 56th FG "Wolfpack", flew the Thunderbolt through its entire career and did so at its own request. M and N models had almost as much range as the Mustang.
Not the M model. The N was the Thunderbolt version that was long ranged. The N was basically a D model with upgraded Pratt and Whitney that could put out 2800 hp!
@@PoochAndBoo M&N's both used the R2800-57 engine, the N was basically a P47D-40 with "wet wings" and the -57 variant engine. And it's a misnomer that the N was developed specifically for the Pacific, if anything it was actually being designed for Europe. In the Pacific fighter's weren't prohibited from the use of drop tanks like they were at first in Europe, the commander's in Europe may not have been smart enough to understand that prohibiting fighter's from using drop tanks was a problem but the engineers at Republic were, they recognized immediately that fighter ranges were an issue so they went about it themselves to develop wet wings for them as a way to increase their range and not run afoul of the whole drop tank heartburn that the commander's in Europe had, but since the USAAF's wishes came first development of wet wings for the P47 had to take a back seat to some of the P47 variant's that the USAAF wanted developed that never wound up being produced anyways like the inverted V16 Chrysler engine variant, as a result by the time the N variant was fully developed P47's already in use in Europe were finally provided with drop tanks enabling them to go with the bombers anywhere they went anyway, and since victory in Europe was pretty much a forgone conclusion at that point anyways it was deemed that all produced N variant's would be better used in the Pacific with the long ranges that escorts were required to fly. Had Republic not been saddled up with developing variant's that were never produced anyways and the USAAF seen the importance of range earlier the N variant undoubtedly would have had a much lower alpha numeric designation than N, it could very well have had the designation of one of the unproduced variant's like J or maybe even lower, who knows it might have been ready when P47 fuselage's still had the razorback feature.
The hot rodded P47M Model was tweaked by the Crew Chiefs , with wastegate modifications to increase the boost of the big GE Turbo , 100/150 octane fuel and 72 hg of Manifold Pressure the M could acheive between 480-490 mph . She was badass !! 🇺🇸👍
THE N model had MORE range than the mustang!!!!!!!!! When finally given drop tanks ALL the other variants were equal in range to the 51!!!!! THE RANGE THING WAS A MYTH PERPETUATED BY THE BOMBER MAFIA!!!!!!!
@@scottinohio701 Kinda, although the P51 never used them in Europe and only the unit flying off of Iwo Jima in the Pacific did the use of the 300 gallon drop tanks on them appears to have given them more range than the P47N's in the Pacific that were the primary users of the 300 gallon tanks. But there's several things that negate the issue anyways, even if coupled with the 300 gallon drop tanks gave the P51D more range than the P47N it doesn't matter because the P47N's were going anywhere the B29's were going anyways, so unless they planned on flying escort missions from the factory P51's having more range was a mute point. Another thing is all the records indicate that B29's didn't need escorts, the difference in loss rates between escorted and unescorted B29 missions was negligible, the B29's kill to loss ratio of 11.9 to 1 was actually better than the P51's record of 11 to 1, it was actually deadlier to enemy fighter's than it's escorts were, that's because between the speed and altitude that it flew at coupled with it's computer augmented defensive gun sights meant that enemy fighter's were clawing for air and could barely maneuver at that altitude making them clay pigeons for the gunners in a B29 with their highly advanced defensive guns.
Another brilliant example of the American nation stepping up to the mark. Great designers, great engineers working to equip the dedicated military personel to get the job done.
@@pedalingthru2719 You do realize that America is the land of immigrants don't you, go ahead other nations, keep on throwing out your best, brightest and hardest working, we'll keep taking them.
My great uncle was flying a P47 in France when he was shot down by ground forces returning to base. They thought he was the enemy coming in to attack. He is buried in a large cemetery in France. Lots of confusion going on in war.
The P-47 became known as a jug because one pilot named his P-47 Little Brown Jug, a popular Glenn Miller song from that era. And THAT is where the P-47 got it's nickname.
The "JUG," is one of my favorite planes. A beast to deal with, multirole, aircraft, as good up at altitude as it was on the deck. Heavy, well armored, 8 .50 cals, were standard issue. 3 tons empty, and as much as 7 tons loaded for bear! It was a well made aircraft, right for the time when it was needed. It's only real con, being the range it could fly. But external fuel tanks did improve that as well. It had a huge, multi row radial engine, pumping out some huge HP! I wouldn't attempt to take away anything from the Mustang, Lightening, or any of the Navy aircraft. But the P-47 is till one of my top picks!
The N variant with it's wet wings had as much range as any other fighter. And P47's were escorting bombers over Berlin weeks before P51's were doing it, the truth is P47's in theater during the early unescorted bomber missions could have escorted them if they'd only have been provided with drop tanks, the P47D-15 with the wing pylons that could mount the US made all metal pressurized drop tanks were starting to be delivered to the 56th Fighter Group in April of 1943, that's 5 months before the infamous Black Thursday Schweinfert raid, those aircraft could certainly have escorted the bombers on those missions had they been provided with the proper type of drop tanks, also P38's in Europe at the time could have escorted them, the same variant's of P38's in theater in Europe 4 months earlier had flown the extreme long range mission to kill Admiral Yamamoto in the Pacific, it was longer range than any escort mission in Europe. Contrary to what some people think even P51's couldn't escort bombers without the use of drop tanks, the first thing people want to do is look up the range of P51's on internal fuel then Google the distance from some air field in east Anglia to Berlin and think they could, it's far more complicated then that, flying at the speeds bombers flew at the fighter's guzzled gas, plus bombers never flew straight paths to their targets, for those reasons and several others even with drop tanks P51's had to use the relay system to escort bombers, no fighter even with drop tanks could take off with the bombers and escort them all the way to their targets and back, that's a misconception that most people have, one flight would link up with them over the channel and take them to somewhere near the target, then they'd be relieved by a flight that took off well after they did but would catch up flying at the increased speeds that fighter's got their best mileage at and take them to the target with enough fuel for 15 minutes of combat time, then when the bombers came off the target there'd be yet another flight of fighter's that took off last and would link up with them coming off the target and would escort them home while the 2nd relay would fly back at the speed and altitude that gave them their best range, hat's off to the guy's who figured out the time tables that the different relays took off at to link up with the bombers during the different legs of their mission, that took a lot of math to figure out how to time everything right. And it didn't always work, sometimes the fighter's couldn't find the bombers and the fighter's that were already with them would just have to wave goodbye and throttle up to the cruising speed that'd give them enough range to make it home leaving the bombers to fend for themselves on the way back. Several years ago I was surprised to read that week's before the first P51 escort of bombers into Germany P47's and P38's had actually escorted bombers over Berlin first with P38's being the first of the two to do it, from reading all my life that the P51 came along and "saved the day" I always thought that they were the only fighter's that could, one really screwed up thing about it is the USAAF was using drop tanks on fighter's in the Pacific all along because of the necessity for them due to everything being so spread out in the Pacific, so it's not like they had to learn about them or something, they simply didn't provide them to the fighter's in Europe and even once it became painfully clear that they'd need them there wasn't enough to send to Europe because production had to be ramped up.
Greg's Airplanes and Automobiles has a 7 part series on the P47 which covers the range issue in detail. Basically, the "bomber mafia" which ran the Army Air Corps (Force) had so much faith in the bombers' ability to self-defend that they decreed in the late '30's that drop tanks were not allowed on pursuit (fighter) aircraft. Development and procurement of drop tanks suffered.
@@jerryw6577 I guess at times, obstinance can get you somewhere! lol Having a long range pursuit aircraft that could do it's job without externals was good for 2 reasons. First was not needing the extra fuel, adding that to the fuel reserves. And second, was the aluminum it took to make the drop tanks. Ametal worth it's weight in gold in the aviation industry! Remember those adds, where they had the women going through their kitchens, and sending all their extra pots and pans to the collection point to be recycled for the war effort? And everyone was on rations then. My mother would tell me of having to have coupons to get shoes and other items. One pair of shoes for a year! Coffee, was rationed! Anyway, thanks for the response!
@@johnthomas2485 Why? Because they were both built by Republic Aircraft? Actually, the A-10 was developed by Republic, after the company merged with Fairchild. But I suppose that's a moot point.
My father was a Hurry, then a Spit pilot. He gave a little ribbing to P - 47s , cause they weren't all out dog fighters. But they were absolutely incredible.
Au contraire. The Thunderbolt was very much a dogfighter despite it's heavy weight. There are many good books on the Thunderbolt but the best one of them all is probably "Thunderbolt" by Robert S. Johnson...
Very nice video of the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt. Gun camera footage was excellent. Truly one of the best multi-role fighters of all time. Too bad there were no firsthand accounts from P-47 pilots and ground crew. Also there was no mention of futher developments of the Thunderbolt such as the Chrysler powered XP-47H, XP-47J and the XP-72 Superbolt.
At around 3:50 you can see the Seversky bobble up and down. I call that the "Bellanca bobble" cause these airplane's landing gear are hand cranked 36 turns to retract and the pilot can translate that motion to the stick while cranking in those turns, (I've owned several Bellancas, from 1947 to 1959)
@@matthewgauthier7251 You'll notice that a lot in high performance planes of the 30's. I've owned 7 Bellancas and they didn't replace the 36 turns of bicycle chain with hydraulics until 1950.
I admire this plane very much, because it was built like a tank, tough,durable and has a lotta firepower. I would imagine a pilot should feel safe and confident flying one in combat.😊
Love these planes. My father-in-law flew one for the 9th Army Air Corp during ww2 - 96 missions in Europe from D-day & battle of the bulge until the end Then flew & trained newpilots in the P-51s
Best perspective I've heard regarding the underappreciated attrition on the Luftwaffe by the strategic bombing campaign, leading to air superiority by the Allies and making D-Day possible!
Seeing them launched off the jeep carriers via catapult was so interesting to watch. I wonder if that was the Jug pilots first time being launched via catapult on such a short runway? If not, I bet there was a serious pucker factor while waiting your turn.
Eight all total 4 in each wing plus could carry close to 2k rounds of .50 caliber and plenty of other ordnance. Best video on the P-47 been watching the movie Eagle Squadron since late 50's.
Great presentation. The video, voice not overly dramatic or loud and no add in noisy muzak. Oh, and no giant watermark on other peoples' original work. Thanks!
My favorite Cat story is of the Arkansas Traveler and her commander Nathan G. Gordon. The best source for the story can be found on "Pacific Wrecks". The short version is he landed repeatedly in 15' seas (in between the waves) to rescue downed bomber pilots. This was done within gun range of Kaveing harbor the bombers target. The last landing was within 600 yards of the beach. One of the few Medals of Honor awarded for saving lives.
That catapulting was crazy. I've never seen that before The 47 was the second heaviest single engine airplane built during the war. The TBM being the heaviest also used the shortest runways in the war
I took my then 3 1/2 year old son to see a display of WW2 fighters at the old Santa Monica Airport Museum. He spent much of the afternoon on my shoulders, but at one point I put him down to rest and he made an immediate bee line towards a mighty green P-47, and ducking under the cordon ran straight towards the nose. Before I could catch up to him he stumbled, smacking his head against the lowest prop blade positioned vertically a couple feet above the tarmac. Fortunately it was a glancing blow, however it did draw a little blood from the approximately 1" cut right in the middle of his forehead. A little antibiotic creme and a band-aid later and he was good to go. Fast forward 25 years, if you look real hard you can still see the very slight remnant of his battle scar, a reminder that he may well be the last person ever to be attacked by a P-47 Thunderbolt.
Almost certainly the most successful mult-role fighter of the war. And the later “N” model was something else. Vastly increased range made it the choice for bomber escort in the Pacific.
@@jacktattis Sorry but your claim makes no sense whatsoever. The Spitfire was a beautiful and very successful fighter. It was nowhere near being a multi-role aircraft.
@@colindavies3713 Mosquito is a great aircraft. A legend. Not the equivalent of the Thunderbolt multirole. By the end of the war the Thunderbolt was truly doing it all. Fighter bomber. Longest range escort in the Pacific. Pure fighter.
If you look you can see raw fuel blowing out of what's the true exhaust on them, where you see blue oil smoke blow out up front just below the cowling on each side during start up of a P47 isn't really the exhaust it's the wastegate dumps, the real exhaust is on the belly behind the pilot which is directly underneath the turbo. Typically the turbo doesn't even come into play until around 7,000 ft which is where the air starts to get thin enough that the engine's centrifugal supercharger can no longer provide maximum boost, at that point the wastegate dump valve's start to close diverting exhaust to the turbo to spin it so it can provide pressurized air to the engine's supercharger effectively keeping it operating with the same inlet pressure it has at lower altitudes, the higher it goes and the thinner the air gets the more the wastegate dump valve's close diverting more and more exhaust to the turbo spinning it faster and faster as per the engine's superchargers needs, the only time at lower altitudes that the turbo would be being driven by engine exhaust is when the pilot has the engine in War Emergency Power (WEP) with water injection, also known as overboost. Those P47's taking off from that carrier are literally at sea level where the air is at it's thickest, exhaust coming out of the true exhaust underneath the turbo on them instead of it all coming out of the wastegate dumps up by the cowling flaps is an indication that the pilot has the engine in WEP with the water injection engaged, on that variant that's probably good for 2,300 HP.
They had to like all carriers because they were shorter. My Uncle helped to build 50 Casablanca class carriers in 2 years in Vancouver, Washington. It was a small city and it impresses me that they could do it.
This would have been my go to fighter if I had been a pilot in WW2. I have broad shoulders, and a deep chest. Anything with a small cockpit would be difficult to fit into and uncomfortable... But seeing as how even a small car makes me look like Andre the Giant, I think I would only have been good to unpack crates of really heavy stuff, and move them around. Or a loader on a large caliber field gun...
The aircraft parked so tightly at 0:49 are P-47Ns. Possibly headed to or from their very brief use in the closing days of the war in the Pacific. The N was the ultimate P-47 as far as I am concerned as well!
@@jacktattis there was a documentary years ago called the story of a fighter pilot .he flew a p-47 and took out a german tank that was pounding the infantry.i assume he used a bomb.
Nahh saying p47 is tank buster is a disrespect to the p47 Its more like a multi role fighter Please for the love of God don't fucking compare it the Plane that I shall not name
P-47 had a LONGER range than the competition IF equipped with external tanks. For reasons of logistical ineptitude, USA could not supply sufficient external tanks to the planes on the line. Alternatively, there was plenty of space and lifting power for added internal tanks, but this was not done. All in all, the P-47 was the BEST fighter that USA fielded in WW2.
You can use the Jug's flaps as combat flaps though they weren't designed for that and can turn inside contemporary Me 109s at low altitude. The slotted flaps of the Me 109 aren't really suitable for that. Once you hit the high altitudes that second stage turbocharger gave the Jug a whole new comparative maneuverability. Unlike Lockheed, the design approach of Republic towards inter-cooling the turbo from the outset, was to stick with what was known to work. And the Jugs definitely worked at altitude while the P38s were developing a reputation as troublesome for green pilots and unreliable at the altitude required for escorting the bombing missions. But range is an asset. if you can't make it to the fight deep inside the continent then you aren't going to factor. I believe the P47N variant was a bit rangier but the P51 with the Merlin mechanical second stage supercharger was comparatively cheap to manufacture and pilot friendly with the range needed from the outset. But If I were there then and had a choice I'd prefer my chances in the tough jug at any altitude.
@@johnfairchild3421 The P47N was the Pinnacle of development meant for high altitude B29 escort in the Pacific. It was rangier, lighter and faster than European theater variants.P47Ns produced a maximum speed of 397 mph at 10,000 feet, 448 mph at at 25,000 feet, and 460 mph at 30,000 feet. The P51H was tested at 471 mph at 22000 ft with an over-driven blower but was never operational during the war. Republic, unlike Lockheed stuck to what was known to have worked in the way of Turbocharger inter cooling and so was less problematic than the P38 at altitude, as was the P51 with the mechanical second stage supercharger on the Merlin. But that Turbocharged second stage on the P&W was the one with the slight advantage over the Mustang at altitudes of 30000 to 40000 feet.. A marginal difference but the N variant had it at 30000 ft.and over. At 20000 ft the Nakajima Ki 84 tested at 430 mph, matching them both, with a single stage supercharged radial of 2187 cu in to the Jug's 2865 cu and as tested by the Allied Technical Air Intelligence Units (TAIU) and with it's customary water methanol injection as used operationally. Shortage of skilled labor, raw materials .and adequately trained pilots rendered most Ki 84s as not to the quality nor adequately exploited however as the one we captured in Manila in the summer of '44.For instance the first one we tested had good case hardened alloy protective armor., But by the end of the war it appears that since the shortage of alloy producing raw materials would have made the metallurgy to a lower standard, they would often forego protective armor rather than weigh the aircraft down with inadequate steel plate..At least that was evident in the later example we captured and tested.
@@jacktattis For a "bad plane" they did more to break the Luftwaffe into undertrained green pilots than any other and their fighter group records show that. An aircraft is as good as the pilot's ability to use it to it's strengths and his ability to see ahead to avoid it's weaknesses. . And as I pointed out if a skilled pilot that knows his aircraft should get into a low speed turn fight with a 109 he can get 10 or even 20 degrees of those flaps down and out turn a 109 at low airspeed providing he's well practiced in stall recovery so he knows those limits. He won't out turn a 109 by much but he's got the better flaps for that. Otherwise, a good P47 pilot will be very conscious of maintaining energy and will likely avoid taking the bait to go vertical after a 109 that leaves the range of his .50s. Even P 51 escort pilots in Europe didn't really get into turn fights that often on that mission. If you're escorting high altitude bombers you're going to be even higher so that when your adversary approaches his targeted bomber formation you'll dive and hit him on a run providing no adversary is above you. You won't create a furball in crowded airspace and certainly not if you're range of the Bomber gunner's 50s. You'd usually keep energy and come back around in P51s or P47s.
My favourite WW2 fighter, tough big fast and hits hard with 8 .50 cal MGs plus bombs and rockets. Should have had a stellar Korean War record too, but for some reason the F-47N model was not deployed and the F-51D Mustang were sent instead. The F-47N would have performed better in Korea for the USAF in ground support role, just like the Corsair.
So many were scrapped after the war, though many were still used by natl.guard units. No doubt they would have been an excellent choice given the conditions and amount of ground fire experienced.
@@marthakrumboltz2710 It's a common misconception that the bulk of P47's were scrapped at the end of the war, people believe that because of them not being used in Korea but the fact is while the Korean War was going on thousands of P47's were in Europe specifically Germany serving with active duty units and sitting in depot, at the end of WW2 commander's in Europe wanted P47's to counter the upcoming Soviet threat. The movie Decision Before Dawn which is set in the closing days of WW2 and was filmed in Manheim Germany in 1951 has P47's (F47's by that time) in it that were provided by the USAF for filming, in it they conduct a ground attack mission. I myself used to believe that the majority of them were scrapped after the war until just last year when I read the number of them that had been retained for service in Europe, it makes sense that the Generals who depended on it so much during the war to support their troops wanted them kept in Europe after the war in case they were needed for the same thing against a possible Soviet invasion.
It’s an infamous decision that made no objective sense. Perhaps the feeling was that there were more P-51Ds around, lessening supply.issues (they didn’t use P-51Hs in Korea either. The P-47 in any model was clearly a superior ground attack plane to the P-51.
Taiwan used them against Mao's forces. South and Central American countries also became some post-war destinations. The other replies here about stationing them in Europe as a guard against Stalin make sense.
@@jacktattis OK. Several fighters were superior dogfights to the Thunderbolt at low altitudes. The P-47 was still the top multirole fighter of WWII. Bar none.
I'm an avid RC plane designer and builder, and am currently creating a new set of plans for a 40" wingspan version of one, using some old small free flight plans for a starting point to design around. I like to build simple chuck glider versions before committing to the design to test any natural tendencies the air-frame shows. This one happens to be one of those rare, upper echelon in the design world along stability and the wide wing cord gives it more surface area then other war birds, allowing it the widest range in speed to performance. They really knew what they were doing when they designed this.
The RAF had the Typhoon that was used on low level ground attack train and Tank busting mission's and they had there friends in the P47 that where used in low level ground attack missions the two best plane's in world 🌍 war 2 for doing low level ground attack in tandem both effective and air crews had respect for both aeroplanes 🙏👏 respect to both P47 could take a Fare amount of punishment and still fly
Could very well be the best of all the great WWII aircraft this country produced. Saw a video where 6-8 of these things completely destroyed a German troop train, all the way down to the tracks, and that included the train's engine!
The best Fighter Bomber of WW2 , packed a punch and could take one . The Mustang and Spitfire suffered severe losses in the ground attack role . American Airforce leaders made a big mistake delegating the P-47 to the scrap heap , after the war . When the Korean War broke out the USN had far better aircraft to fight the enemy , then the AF . The main USAF single seater's the F-80 Shooting Star and the P-51 Mustang were found wanting. Two thirds of F-80 production were lost in Korea , shot down by ground fire . Some units were re-equipped with Mustangs , which suffered a similar fate. The South African Airforce purchased 94 Mustangs , 74 being lost for the death of 33 pilots.Eventually the Americans took pity upon them and supplied F-84 Sabres.
Click the link to watch more aircraft, heroes and their stories, missions: ua-cam.com/play/PLBI4gRjPKfnNx3Mp4xzYTtVARDWEr6nrT.html
What a fantastic update, and presentation of my favorite fighter from WW2. Rivaled only by the P-38... In the Pacific. 🤠👍👍& 10⭐
U😅
My Dad was a B17 pilot and said that when the P47's were overhead he felt the safest. He loved the P47 and kept a picture of one on his office wall along with a B17,G.
👍👍👍♥️🇺🇸
My dad worked on these in the Pacific. I am proud to say he was in the first group to make CMSGT. He was a Charter Chief. RIP Dad.
Best comment I've read on the P-47. "The Spitfire and Hurricane held the line. The P-51 Mustang took the fight to Germany. The P-47 Thunderbolt broke the back of the Luftwaffe."
I like that
P-47 pilot Robert S. Johnson describing October 1943 before P-51s flew their first mission in February 1944
"There is no questioning the battle experience or the skill of the German pilots, nor could we find solace in the outstanding performance of the Focke-Wulf FW-190 and Messerschmitt Me-109 fighters. But as we sharpened our own ability to slash and fight, the German aggressiveness so predominant in the early days of battle began noticeably to wane. By no means do I imply that the German pilot was less dangerous an opponent; once battle was committed, however, the enemy fliers no longer were as eager to slug it out with us in a free-for-all. Steadily, we shot down and killed many of there experienced men. At the same time, we gained constantly in experience and in our ability to master battle situations as they erupted. The 56th was well on its way to acquiring a galaxy of aces; indeed the very presence in the sky of our Group forbode ill tidings for the enemy." - Robert S. Johnson in his autobiography ‘Thunderbolt!’ Page 212
P47's were escorting bombers over Berlin in the weeks before P51's were, so were P38's, after they finally got the proper type of drop tanks they had the range to take the bombers anywhere they went.
@@dukecraig2402 absolutely, I have seen a few interviews regarding the incompetent staffing that'd did not allow for drop tanks to many fighters but I also under that internal fuel,will always dictate planning range and endurance.
P-47's took the brunt of the best fighter pilots the Germans had, basically swept them from the sky. When the P-51 finally arrived the Luftwaffe was significantly diminished.
What a brilliant documentary with plenty of footage. A lot of channels prefer to just play the same clips over and over but I really enjoyed seeing what it was like from every angle including how hard it was for the ground crews. Every bomb and every bullet manually loaded. Planes waiting in line to take off or flying back from a mission, it’s all good to watch. It helps to make us realise that for every plane there are probably two dozen people involved, mission planners, air controllers, pilots and mechanics, armourers, refuelers, cooks and quartermasters, medics and priests there are so many people involved behind the scenes with getting the planes in the air and most of it isn’t very glamorous. One thing I would like to see is more about the layout of the plane, a lot of people don’t realise how stuffed full the P47 was because most of the turbo / supercharger is located behind and under the pilot and just what a massive piece of machinery it is.
Now I’ve subbed I’ve have a huge back catalogue to go through. Lucky me😂😂😂
Cheers Stuart 🇦🇺 ps is your narrator an Aussie?
☑️ Yeah, I'm accustomed to watching historical videos from channels that constantly air stock footage of vehicles and planes that have little or no relevance to the actual subject matter of the video. ^Its so common that when I first started watching this, I fully expected to be deluged with footage of M4 Sherman tanks, Russian naval vessels, and Finnish infantry soldiers fighting in the winter war, all while the narrator talked about the development process of the P-47! 😁
At certain times the narration sounded like AI. Some of the pronunciations were insufferable, such as 'inventories' early in the video.
Then there were a few places in the script which can be perceived as misleading. One example is around the 13:40 mark that aircraft arrived only after a field was made 'safe'. Actually, in the island jumping campaign, few fields were secured from enemy attack by mostly ground forces.
Other than that mild critique, I thought this a well put together video full of information. I appreciate the full history including how Republic came to be.
Often, these documentaries will use completely superfluous footage or images. Examples like ships built in the 1950s for WW2 or post war jets.
@@ifga16
☑️ Yeah, I'm thinking of doing a historical documentary on high tech military planes like the SR-71, F-35 and the F-22.. So, I'll need to add in lots of relevant video clips to run in the background as I narrate it.
😉👍 Therefore, I think I'll run stock images of the Wright Brothers plane, maybe a few pre-WW1 fighters, and some footage of WW1 era observation balloons. I guess I could throw in some video of hang gliders, and maybe footage of people canoeing down a small river. 😁
The vintage film has all the earmarks of a 1940s to mid 50s company documentary. That includes the style of speaking which sounds British-like to me. Possible it might be govt funded production done soon after WW2.
One of the best documentaries on World War II I’ve ever seen The detail is amazing. A new appreciation for the P 47 has been gained.
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'Takes a licking and keeps on ticking' should have been the slogan for this awesome fighter plane. Many flew home with bullet and cannon holes from stem to stern that would have downed an average fighter plane but the pilots were unscathed by their encounters with Me 109s and Fw 190s. And those 8 .50 cal Brownings they carried were often the 'last word' in a high altitude air duel.
The famous "Jug." I never read that it was nicknamed that because it looked like a milk jug. I always read that the RAF -- used to Hurricanes and Spitfires -- called the seven-ton P-47 a juggernaut and the shortened nickname stuck.
I worked at a hotel some years ago that hosted a P-47 reunion of pilots who fought in Italy. I was able to visit with some of these old pilots and heard some wonderful stories. One pilot told me that his squadron was based in Sicely and fought over Italy. Their problem was that they always running out of ammunition while they still had plenty of fuel. Their squadron armorers didn't ask the generals running the war but they re-wired the firing arrangement so the guns fired in pairs instead of all eight firing together since there were few targets that needed the attention of all eight guns. Two .50 caliber guns could take out vehicles and mortar and machine gun nests. The guns were controlled by cockpit mounted switches so two, four, six or all eight guns would fire. They began to have more time over the fighting and were able to support the ground troops better. I've never read about this field modification in any book.
The jug was also called the milk bottle, although jug was more popular.
@@secretsquirrel6308 postwar myth
I learned that "Jug" was short for "Juggernaut" too. IIRC, this came from Robert S. Johnsons autobiography "Thunderbolt".
the more you read the more you'll come to understand
Get close and use shorter bursts. MARSEILLE luftwaffa ace tactic.
The engine sound alone is all that I need to give this plane 2 thumbs up 👍👍
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How many other people were amazed by the landing at 18:30 on this video of the B-17 with damage and no engines running, that was the smoothest landing I’ve ever seen those guys had unbelievable skills and apparently nerves as strong as the bomber, just amazing I’d have flown anywhere with that pilot 👍👍👍👍👍
Looked like all four were turning but he had no gear, hence the belly landing. You can see all 4 props stop once he's down.
Yes the engines were running, but the landing was incredible.
It's just a fleshwound.....
He absolutely buttered the landing
As a baby boomer my toys were pot metal trucks, cap pistols, and heavy all metal WWII airplane models. My favorite was a D model P-47. I “flew” that airplane for hours on end. The Spitfire and Mustang are said to be prettier, but I’m not so sure about that.
Same here, but had no metal ww2 planes models. Had many books and WW2 and the P-47 were my favorite. Major Pete "Gabe" Gabreski was my hero growing up.
Love that remark of “flew” that airplane for hours on end. Couldn’t say it better.
I had the Hubley toy P47, started my fascination
Dinky made some nice die-cast models in the sixties under the name "Battle of Britain". The Spitfire sported even a spinning propeller and moving landing gear. You can watch a restoration of this toy done by Paul Restorer here on YT.
We were pretty poor when I was a kid. Couldn’t afford the actual “toys” of these fighters. The toys cost over thirty bucks, but you could get the models for eight bucks back in the ‘70’s. I would save up and buy a model (or get one for my birthday). I’d build it and play with it until it would fall apart in pieces! 😂
The Spitfire and Mustang were beloved because they were so sleek and elegant. The Thunderbolt was “bulldog ugly,” but was a tough and effective war machine. Arguably, one of the most effective fighters of the war!
What a beautiful, beautiful hunk of machinery!! And that magnificent engine! My Dad built the runways on the islands leading to the Japanese Empire.
What cb Battalion washe stationed with
@@pedalingthru2719 I cannot remember.......I'm 76 years old and I lost Dad many years ago. My memory is not so hot anymore....sorry.
Bet he knew my Brother-In-Law.
@@stevenwiederholt7000 Maybe so....I always hope that I will see Dad on some of these war films.
@@tomnekuda3818
Wes was at Guadalcanal Saipan Okinawa. Toughest SOB I ever met.
Flying tanks and protected the pilot more than any other fighters . My dad watched an ME 109 unload everything into a P 47 that the pilot couldn't shake. The pilot popped out and survived but fell into enemy lines. Dad was in charge of a gun squad breaking into Bastogne.
The B17 flying straight and level with half it's port tailplane shot away crazy
Really a well done documentary on a rugged aircraft. Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it!
I loved your video. My mother and her parents worked at the Republic Aircraft Plant in Evansville, IN during the war. My grandparents worked on fastening the aircraft skins to the frames, and my mother worked on installing the radios into the cockpits. They had some great publicity stills given out during the war that I got to see, my favorite being the sighting in of the 8 Browning .50 BMG wing mounted guns at night with all tracer rounds being fired to assist in seeing the streams better for precise adjustments. They worked 10 hour days six days a week for the duration of the war. Thanks for showing us this video.
I grew up in Evansville too. One of my Great Aunts worked on the .50cals too. Grandmother worked on the LST's.
I was a young boy in Evansville and remember the present airport and the old Whirlpool plant were both built then to make the P47. I can remember they took them to the far side of the airport to sight in the guns. Evansville was quite the war town having the LST ship yard, Servel made parts for the P47, Chrysler made ammunition and devices tanks, much more.
Such a bold concept to pull away from the norm and create a groundbreaking design so different from its contemporaries.
Great footage of the wonderful P-47 Thunderbolt, thank you!
Must have more updated WW2 Aviation History please. This is an absolutely Epic presentation, with the insight into development of the Jug, and Historical Fact narration. 👍👍& 10⭐ Rating from me.
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Just like the B-24 being put into the background, the P-47 is also a great aircraft.
Outstanding combat footage. The radial air-cooled engine could always take more damage and survive than the water cooled engines with radiators and all kinds of plumbing. The eight 50s could deliver alot of lead at once when the target was only lined up for a short time and helped kill more aircraft. Also helped take out trains.
Great summation. P&W 2800 greatest engine of the war. In the Grumman Hellcat that dominated in the Pacific.
They rarely used all 8 .50s at he same time, they'd usually use 4 at a time to give themselves more firing time.
Absolutely love that 'bubbling' noise of the engine at idle at the start of the vid!!
There was an Army Air Force joke. If you want to impress your girlfriend, fly a P-51 Mustang, but if you want to return alive and marry her, fly a P-47 Thunderbolt! 😁
In the 80's a man in our marina had a boat named" Ill wind " he owned a concrete plant in CT and my dad told me he had been an aircraft pilot in the war, forward another 20 years and a boss of mine gave me some aero magazines and he and his plane were on the cover, a P 47 named, I'll wind, wish I had talked to the man a bit.
Awesome footage. I had no idea P-47s were part of the Pacific theater, let alone ever taking off from carriers! Big beautiful birds 🦅
Yes, late in the war, the Thunderbolt shared escort duty with the Mustang. The P47N variant had squared-off wingtips for extra range.
@joshuariddensdale2126 The new larger wing held extra fuel which extended range on the "November" model (farther than the P-51 by accounts). The squared off wing tips improved roll rate, which along with larger elevators improved maneuver and control.
With the increased HP of the later radial engines and the new larger paddle props, I'd hypothesize that the larger wing probably improved rate of climb as well. One of the fastest piston/prop fighter aircraft, with performance in the realm of the post war "super props" that ended the props era as jets replaced them.
In short, the P-47N was one "bad @#$" airplane. I've seen quotes from the memoirs of pilots that flew P-51's and then transitioned to the P-47N that felt the November was the better airplane. THE airplane.
I knew an old Wehrmacht soldier who told me he knew that war was over when he had two P-47s make multiple strafing passes just to get him and one other guy walking across an open field.
The Luftwaffe had to experience 8 .50 Caliber MG's... unforgettable...
Great video. Best one on the P-47 Thunderbolts
Having seen since the 60s what I thought were most video of P47s, I was captivated by the presentation here. Many clips will be appreciated by watchers of this show. Thanks
Great historical footage! Thank you.
Well done, the best historical video I’ve seen this year.
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This was the most enjoyable documentary I have watched!
Highest scoring Fighter Group in the 8th Air Force, the 56th FG "Wolfpack", flew the Thunderbolt through its entire career and did so at its own request. M and N models had almost as much range as the Mustang.
Not the M model. The N was the Thunderbolt version that was long ranged. The N was basically a D model with upgraded Pratt and Whitney that could put out 2800 hp!
@@PoochAndBoo
M&N's both used the R2800-57 engine, the N was basically a P47D-40 with "wet wings" and the -57 variant engine.
And it's a misnomer that the N was developed specifically for the Pacific, if anything it was actually being designed for Europe.
In the Pacific fighter's weren't prohibited from the use of drop tanks like they were at first in Europe, the commander's in Europe may not have been smart enough to understand that prohibiting fighter's from using drop tanks was a problem but the engineers at Republic were, they recognized immediately that fighter ranges were an issue so they went about it themselves to develop wet wings for them as a way to increase their range and not run afoul of the whole drop tank heartburn that the commander's in Europe had, but since the USAAF's wishes came first development of wet wings for the P47 had to take a back seat to some of the P47 variant's that the USAAF wanted developed that never wound up being produced anyways like the inverted V16 Chrysler engine variant, as a result by the time the N variant was fully developed P47's already in use in Europe were finally provided with drop tanks enabling them to go with the bombers anywhere they went anyway, and since victory in Europe was pretty much a forgone conclusion at that point anyways it was deemed that all produced N variant's would be better used in the Pacific with the long ranges that escorts were required to fly.
Had Republic not been saddled up with developing variant's that were never produced anyways and the USAAF seen the importance of range earlier the N variant undoubtedly would have had a much lower alpha numeric designation than N, it could very well have had the designation of one of the unproduced variant's like J or maybe even lower, who knows it might have been ready when P47 fuselage's still had the razorback feature.
The hot rodded P47M Model was tweaked by the Crew Chiefs , with wastegate modifications to increase the boost of the big GE Turbo , 100/150 octane fuel and 72 hg of Manifold Pressure the M could acheive between 480-490 mph . She was badass !! 🇺🇸👍
THE N model had MORE range than the mustang!!!!!!!!! When finally given drop tanks ALL the other variants were equal in range to the 51!!!!! THE RANGE THING WAS A MYTH PERPETUATED BY THE BOMBER MAFIA!!!!!!!
@@scottinohio701
Kinda, although the P51 never used them in Europe and only the unit flying off of Iwo Jima in the Pacific did the use of the 300 gallon drop tanks on them appears to have given them more range than the P47N's in the Pacific that were the primary users of the 300 gallon tanks.
But there's several things that negate the issue anyways, even if coupled with the 300 gallon drop tanks gave the P51D more range than the P47N it doesn't matter because the P47N's were going anywhere the B29's were going anyways, so unless they planned on flying escort missions from the factory P51's having more range was a mute point.
Another thing is all the records indicate that B29's didn't need escorts, the difference in loss rates between escorted and unescorted B29 missions was negligible, the B29's kill to loss ratio of 11.9 to 1 was actually better than the P51's record of 11 to 1, it was actually deadlier to enemy fighter's than it's escorts were, that's because between the speed and altitude that it flew at coupled with it's computer augmented defensive gun sights meant that enemy fighter's were clawing for air and could barely maneuver at that altitude making them clay pigeons for the gunners in a B29 with their highly advanced defensive guns.
Another brilliant example of the American nation stepping up to the mark. Great designers, great engineers working to equip the dedicated military personel to get the job done.
You do realize the engineersand design of this aircraft was done by russian immigrants.
@@clintwoodruff1187 Don’t believe he meant his remark as an insult rather a clarification of the planes heritage. Go Trump!
@@pedalingthru2719
You do realize that America is the land of immigrants don't you, go ahead other nations, keep on throwing out your best, brightest and hardest working, we'll keep taking them.
My great uncle was flying a P47 in France when he was shot down by ground forces returning to base. They thought he was the enemy coming in to attack. He is buried in a large cemetery in France. Lots of confusion going on in war.
The P-47 became known as a jug because one pilot named his P-47 Little Brown Jug, a popular Glenn Miller song from that era. And THAT is where the P-47 got it's nickname.
Interesting fact.........
The "JUG," is one of my favorite planes. A beast to deal with, multirole, aircraft, as good up at altitude as it was on the deck.
Heavy, well armored, 8 .50 cals, were standard issue. 3 tons empty, and as much as 7 tons loaded for bear!
It was a well made aircraft, right for the time when it was needed. It's only real con, being the range it could fly.
But external fuel tanks did improve that as well.
It had a huge, multi row radial engine, pumping out some huge HP!
I wouldn't attempt to take away anything from the Mustang, Lightening, or any of the Navy aircraft. But the P-47 is till one of my top picks!
The N variant with it's wet wings had as much range as any other fighter.
And P47's were escorting bombers over Berlin weeks before P51's were doing it, the truth is P47's in theater during the early unescorted bomber missions could have escorted them if they'd only have been provided with drop tanks, the P47D-15 with the wing pylons that could mount the US made all metal pressurized drop tanks were starting to be delivered to the 56th Fighter Group in April of 1943, that's 5 months before the infamous Black Thursday Schweinfert raid, those aircraft could certainly have escorted the bombers on those missions had they been provided with the proper type of drop tanks, also P38's in Europe at the time could have escorted them, the same variant's of P38's in theater in Europe 4 months earlier had flown the extreme long range mission to kill Admiral Yamamoto in the Pacific, it was longer range than any escort mission in Europe.
Contrary to what some people think even P51's couldn't escort bombers without the use of drop tanks, the first thing people want to do is look up the range of P51's on internal fuel then Google the distance from some air field in east Anglia to Berlin and think they could, it's far more complicated then that, flying at the speeds bombers flew at the fighter's guzzled gas, plus bombers never flew straight paths to their targets, for those reasons and several others even with drop tanks P51's had to use the relay system to escort bombers, no fighter even with drop tanks could take off with the bombers and escort them all the way to their targets and back, that's a misconception that most people have, one flight would link up with them over the channel and take them to somewhere near the target, then they'd be relieved by a flight that took off well after they did but would catch up flying at the increased speeds that fighter's got their best mileage at and take them to the target with enough fuel for 15 minutes of combat time, then when the bombers came off the target there'd be yet another flight of fighter's that took off last and would link up with them coming off the target and would escort them home while the 2nd relay would fly back at the speed and altitude that gave them their best range, hat's off to the guy's who figured out the time tables that the different relays took off at to link up with the bombers during the different legs of their mission, that took a lot of math to figure out how to time everything right.
And it didn't always work, sometimes the fighter's couldn't find the bombers and the fighter's that were already with them would just have to wave goodbye and throttle up to the cruising speed that'd give them enough range to make it home leaving the bombers to fend for themselves on the way back.
Several years ago I was surprised to read that week's before the first P51 escort of bombers into Germany P47's and P38's had actually escorted bombers over Berlin first with P38's being the first of the two to do it, from reading all my life that the P51 came along and "saved the day" I always thought that they were the only fighter's that could, one really screwed up thing about it is the USAAF was using drop tanks on fighter's in the Pacific all along because of the necessity for them due to everything being so spread out in the Pacific, so it's not like they had to learn about them or something, they simply didn't provide them to the fighter's in Europe and even once it became painfully clear that they'd need them there wasn't enough to send to Europe because production had to be ramped up.
Greg's Airplanes and Automobiles has a 7 part series on the P47 which covers the range issue in detail. Basically, the "bomber mafia" which ran the Army Air Corps (Force) had so much faith in the bombers' ability to self-defend that they decreed in the late '30's that drop tanks were not allowed on pursuit (fighter) aircraft. Development and procurement of drop tanks suffered.
@@jerryw6577 I guess at times, obstinance can get you somewhere! lol
Having a long range pursuit aircraft that could do it's job without externals was good for 2 reasons.
First was not needing the extra fuel, adding that to the fuel reserves.
And second, was the aluminum it took to make the drop tanks. Ametal worth it's weight in gold in the aviation industry!
Remember those adds, where they had the women going through their kitchens, and sending all their extra pots and pans to the collection point to be recycled for the war effort?
And everyone was on rations then. My mother would tell me of having to have coupons to get shoes and other items.
One pair of shoes for a year!
Coffee, was rationed!
Anyway, thanks for the response!
There's a reason the A-10 was called Thunderbolt 2
@@johnthomas2485 Why? Because they were both built by Republic Aircraft?
Actually, the A-10 was developed by Republic, after the company merged with Fairchild.
But I suppose that's a moot point.
My Mother was a riveter in the P 47 wing section at Republic in Farmingdale, N Y during WW ll. My very own Rosie.
Wow Robert, thanks for sharing and thank you for your mom's service!
My father was a Hurry, then a Spit pilot. He gave a little ribbing to P - 47s , cause they weren't all out dog fighters. But they were absolutely incredible.
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Au contraire. The Thunderbolt was very much a dogfighter despite it's heavy weight. There are many good books on the Thunderbolt but the best one of them all is probably "Thunderbolt" by Robert S. Johnson...
@@s.marcus3669 you bet it was , she was very fast at altitude and highly manuverable
Wrong ! , the Jug was badass at high altitude , very fast and agile
Very nice video of the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt. Gun camera footage was excellent. Truly one of the best multi-role fighters of all time. Too bad there were no firsthand accounts from P-47 pilots and ground crew. Also there was no mention of futher developments of the Thunderbolt such as the Chrysler powered XP-47H, XP-47J and the XP-72 Superbolt.
I have never seen the videos of P47s launched from carriers, fascinating.
At around 3:50 you can see the Seversky bobble up and down. I call that the "Bellanca bobble" cause these airplane's landing gear are hand cranked 36 turns to retract and the pilot can translate that motion to the stick while cranking in those turns, (I've owned several Bellancas, from 1947 to 1959)
I wondered why it was moving that way. Makes perfect sense. Thanks
@@matthewgauthier7251 You'll notice that a lot in high performance planes of the 30's. I've owned 7 Bellancas and they didn't replace the 36 turns of bicycle chain with hydraulics until 1950.
I admire this plane very much, because it was built like a tank, tough,durable and has a lotta firepower. I would imagine a pilot should feel safe and confident flying one in combat.😊
I just LOVE the old warbirds. Thanks for sharing this fantastic vid, appreciate it a LOT 👍
Greets from the Netherlands 🌷, T.
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My uncle flew a P47 out of Duxford, England from 1943-1945 flying bomber escort. Luckily he came home fine.
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Love these planes. My father-in-law flew one for the 9th Army Air Corp during ww2 - 96 missions in Europe from D-day & battle of the bulge until the end Then flew & trained newpilots in the P-51s
Best perspective I've heard regarding the underappreciated attrition on the Luftwaffe by the strategic bombing campaign, leading to air superiority by the Allies and making D-Day possible!
I always thought the guys at Republic stood around looking at bomber engines saying to themselves "that would make for a mean fighter!"
Fabulous film and info. Excellent video on my favorite WW2 airplane.
One of the comments by the Brits, I believe, was "You could always slide down inside it and run around in the fuselage" 😀
Didn't know they were able to stow below deck on the little carriers. Great video.
The carriers were built in Vancouver, Washington. My aunt and uncle helped to build them.
8 50 Cals . . . What fire power!
Seeing them launched off the jeep carriers via catapult was so interesting to watch. I wonder if that was the Jug pilots first time being launched via catapult on such a short runway? If not, I bet there was a serious pucker factor while waiting your turn.
outstanding presentation!
That thing had 50 calibers in each wing! That's some serious firepower.
Eight all total 4 in each wing plus could carry close to 2k rounds of .50 caliber and plenty of other ordnance. Best video on the P-47 been watching the movie Eagle Squadron since late 50's.
Lots of footage I've never seen before!
Especially their use in the Pacific !!
Magnificent Fighter & Doco!
Indeed!
7 out of the top 10 European theatre U.S. fighter aces flew P-47's.
Great presentation. The video, voice not overly dramatic or loud and no add in noisy muzak. Oh, and no giant watermark on other peoples' original work. Thanks!
My favorite WWII fighter.
I didn't know P-47 were deployed to the pacific. Very impressive
Great footage!
I always loved old warbirds from WW2
My favorite Cat story is of the Arkansas Traveler and her commander Nathan G. Gordon. The best source for the story can be found on "Pacific Wrecks".
The short version is he landed repeatedly in 15' seas (in between the waves) to rescue downed bomber pilots. This was done within gun range of Kaveing harbor the bombers target. The last landing was within 600 yards of the beach.
One of the few Medals of Honor awarded for saving lives.
I thought I posted this in the PBY comment section? 🤣
That catapulting was crazy. I've never seen that before The 47 was the second heaviest single engine airplane built during the war. The TBM being the heaviest also used the shortest runways in the war
Llll loop😅😅😅😅😅😅😅
I took my then 3 1/2 year old son to see a display of WW2 fighters at the old Santa Monica Airport Museum. He spent much of the afternoon on my shoulders, but at one point I put him down to rest and he made an immediate bee line towards a mighty green P-47, and ducking under the cordon ran straight towards the nose. Before I could catch up to him he stumbled, smacking his head against the lowest prop blade positioned vertically a couple feet above the tarmac. Fortunately it was a glancing blow, however it did draw a little blood from the approximately 1" cut right in the middle of his forehead. A little antibiotic creme and a band-aid later and he was good to go.
Fast forward 25 years, if you look real hard you can still see the very slight remnant of his battle scar, a reminder that he may well be the last person ever to be attacked by a P-47 Thunderbolt.
Almost certainly the most successful mult-role fighter of the war. And the later “N” model was something else. Vastly increased range made it the choice for bomber escort in the Pacific.
@@jacktattis Sorry but your claim makes no sense whatsoever. The Spitfire was a beautiful and very successful fighter. It was nowhere near being a multi-role aircraft.
Have you not heard of the mosquito ?
@@colindavies3713 Mosquito is a great aircraft. A legend. Not the equivalent of the Thunderbolt multirole. By the end of the war the Thunderbolt was truly doing it all. Fighter bomber. Longest range escort in the Pacific. Pure fighter.
47:06
"And there was no place for them in the frontline of a major power"
*laughs in A-26 Invader*
Wow insane ¡ never seen this footage ¡ the shortest carrier takeoffs ive ever seen ¡ insane ¡
If you look you can see raw fuel blowing out of what's the true exhaust on them, where you see blue oil smoke blow out up front just below the cowling on each side during start up of a P47 isn't really the exhaust it's the wastegate dumps, the real exhaust is on the belly behind the pilot which is directly underneath the turbo.
Typically the turbo doesn't even come into play until around 7,000 ft which is where the air starts to get thin enough that the engine's centrifugal supercharger can no longer provide maximum boost, at that point the wastegate dump valve's start to close diverting exhaust to the turbo to spin it so it can provide pressurized air to the engine's supercharger effectively keeping it operating with the same inlet pressure it has at lower altitudes, the higher it goes and the thinner the air gets the more the wastegate dump valve's close diverting more and more exhaust to the turbo spinning it faster and faster as per the engine's superchargers needs, the only time at lower altitudes that the turbo would be being driven by engine exhaust is when the pilot has the engine in War Emergency Power (WEP) with water injection, also known as overboost.
Those P47's taking off from that carrier are literally at sea level where the air is at it's thickest, exhaust coming out of the true exhaust underneath the turbo on them instead of it all coming out of the wastegate dumps up by the cowling flaps is an indication that the pilot has the engine in WEP with the water injection engaged, on that variant that's probably good for 2,300 HP.
I did not know that" Jeep" Carriers used catapult. This is UA-cam at its best. I have not used TV in years, this is far better.
They had to like all carriers because they were shorter. My Uncle helped to build 50 Casablanca class carriers in 2 years in Vancouver, Washington. It was a small city and it impresses me that they could do it.
With out doubt another of WW2 beautiful war bird.
Truly America's finest hour!
Thank you for not changing the ratio.
Like the P-51, the P-47 looks better with the bubble canopy instead of the razorback, IMHO.
This would have been my go to fighter if I had been a pilot in WW2. I have broad shoulders, and a deep chest. Anything with a small cockpit would be difficult to fit into and uncomfortable... But seeing as how even a small car makes me look like Andre the Giant, I think I would only have been good to unpack crates of really heavy stuff, and move them around. Or a loader on a large caliber field gun...
Used to be you had to be smaller to fly especially a fighter
The film and commentary are both excellent, marred by the noisy, intrusive musical accompaniment.
This is the fighter I would want to fly for the Allies. ..especially the P-47N model.
The aircraft parked so tightly at 0:49 are P-47Ns. Possibly headed to or from their very brief use in the closing days of the war in the Pacific. The N was the ultimate P-47 as far as I am concerned as well!
My fav wwii plane! What a beast!! My pops loved the P38
Saw one in a hangar in Farmingdale. Govenor George Oaticki was speaking! Big aircraft!
good video of the history of the p-47.they didn't really give it credit as a tank buster though.that's what i remember about it.
@@jacktattis there was a documentary years ago called the story of a fighter pilot .he flew a p-47 and took out a german tank that was pounding the infantry.i assume he used a bomb.
Nahh saying p47 is tank buster is a disrespect to the p47
Its more like a multi role fighter
Please for the love of God don't fucking compare it the
Plane that I shall not name
P-47 had a LONGER range than the competition IF equipped with external tanks. For reasons of logistical ineptitude, USA could not supply sufficient external tanks to the planes on the line. Alternatively, there was plenty of space and lifting power for added internal tanks, but this was not done. All in all, the P-47 was the BEST fighter that USA fielded in WW2.
Great pics! That one dude around 8:00 pulled the gear up a little early.
You can use the Jug's flaps as combat flaps though they weren't designed for that and can turn inside contemporary Me 109s at low altitude. The slotted flaps of the Me 109 aren't really suitable for that. Once you hit the high altitudes that second stage turbocharger gave the Jug a whole new comparative maneuverability.
Unlike Lockheed, the design approach of Republic towards inter-cooling the turbo from the outset, was to stick with what was known to work. And the Jugs definitely worked at altitude while the P38s were developing a reputation as troublesome for green pilots and unreliable at the altitude required for escorting the bombing missions.
But range is an asset. if you can't make it to the fight deep inside the continent then you aren't going to factor. I believe the P47N variant was a bit rangier but the P51 with the Merlin mechanical second stage supercharger was comparatively cheap to manufacture and pilot friendly with the range needed from the outset. But If I were there then and had a choice I'd prefer my chances in the tough jug at any altitude.
@@johnfairchild3421 The P47N was the Pinnacle of development meant for high altitude B29 escort in the Pacific. It was rangier, lighter and faster than European theater variants.P47Ns produced a maximum speed of 397 mph at 10,000 feet, 448 mph at at 25,000 feet, and 460 mph at 30,000 feet. The P51H was tested at 471 mph at 22000 ft with an over-driven blower but was never operational during the war.
Republic, unlike Lockheed stuck to what was known to have worked in the way of Turbocharger inter cooling and so was less problematic than the P38 at altitude, as was the P51 with the mechanical second stage supercharger on the Merlin. But that Turbocharged second stage on the P&W was the one with the slight advantage over the Mustang at altitudes of 30000 to 40000 feet.. A marginal difference but the N variant had it at 30000 ft.and over.
At 20000 ft the Nakajima Ki 84 tested at 430 mph, matching them both, with a single stage supercharged radial of 2187 cu in to the Jug's 2865 cu and as tested by the Allied Technical Air Intelligence Units (TAIU) and with it's customary water methanol injection as used operationally. Shortage of skilled labor, raw materials .and adequately trained pilots rendered most Ki 84s as not to the quality nor adequately exploited however as the one we captured in Manila in the summer of '44.For instance the first one we tested had good case hardened alloy protective armor., But by the end of the war it appears that since the shortage of alloy producing raw materials would have made the metallurgy to a lower standard, they would often forego protective armor rather than weigh the aircraft down with inadequate steel plate..At least that was evident in the later example we captured and tested.
@@jacktattis For a "bad plane" they did more to break the Luftwaffe into undertrained green pilots than any other and their fighter group records show that. An aircraft is as good as the pilot's ability to use it to it's strengths and his ability to see ahead to avoid it's weaknesses.
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And as I pointed out if a skilled pilot that knows his aircraft should get into a low speed turn fight with a 109 he can get 10 or even 20 degrees of those flaps down and out turn a 109 at low airspeed providing he's well practiced in stall recovery so he knows those limits. He won't out turn a 109 by much but he's got the better flaps for that.
Otherwise, a good P47 pilot will be very conscious of maintaining energy and will likely avoid taking the bait to go vertical after a 109 that leaves the range of his .50s.
Even P 51 escort pilots in Europe didn't really get into turn fights that often on that mission. If you're escorting high altitude bombers you're going to be even higher so that when your adversary approaches his targeted bomber formation you'll dive and hit him on a run providing no adversary is above you. You won't create a furball in crowded airspace and certainly not if you're range of the Bomber gunner's 50s. You'd usually keep energy and come back around in P51s or P47s.
Absolutely superb!👌
My favourite WW2 fighter, tough big fast and hits hard with 8 .50 cal MGs plus bombs and rockets. Should have had a stellar Korean War record too, but for some reason the F-47N model was not deployed and the F-51D Mustang were sent instead. The F-47N would have performed better in Korea for the USAF in ground support role, just like the Corsair.
So many were scrapped after the war, though many were still used by natl.guard units. No doubt they would have been an excellent choice given the conditions and amount of ground fire experienced.
@@marthakrumboltz2710
It's a common misconception that the bulk of P47's were scrapped at the end of the war, people believe that because of them not being used in Korea but the fact is while the Korean War was going on thousands of P47's were in Europe specifically Germany serving with active duty units and sitting in depot, at the end of WW2 commander's in Europe wanted P47's to counter the upcoming Soviet threat.
The movie Decision Before Dawn which is set in the closing days of WW2 and was filmed in Manheim Germany in 1951 has P47's (F47's by that time) in it that were provided by the USAF for filming, in it they conduct a ground attack mission.
I myself used to believe that the majority of them were scrapped after the war until just last year when I read the number of them that had been retained for service in Europe, it makes sense that the Generals who depended on it so much during the war to support their troops wanted them kept in Europe after the war in case they were needed for the same thing against a possible Soviet invasion.
It’s an infamous decision that made no objective sense. Perhaps the feeling was that there were more P-51Ds around, lessening supply.issues (they didn’t use P-51Hs in Korea either. The P-47 in any model was clearly a superior ground attack plane to the P-51.
Taiwan used them against Mao's forces. South and Central American countries also became some post-war destinations.
The other replies here about stationing them in Europe as a guard against Stalin make sense.
@@jacktattis OK. Several fighters were superior dogfights to the Thunderbolt at low altitudes. The P-47 was still the top multirole fighter of WWII. Bar none.
That is a War Fighter! What a beast!
The best history Documentary I have ever seen on the P 47, great work Man ! Where did you find all the unseen video!
I'm an avid RC plane designer and builder, and am currently creating a new set of plans for a 40" wingspan version of one, using some old small free flight plans for a starting point to design around. I like to build simple chuck glider versions before committing to the design to test any natural tendencies the air-frame shows. This one happens to be one of those rare, upper echelon in the design world along stability and the wide wing cord gives it more surface area then other war birds, allowing it the widest range in speed to performance.
They really knew what they were doing when they designed this.
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Excellent documentary. Thanks for sharing it.
Glad you enjoyed it!
What a great documentary
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The P47 thunderBolt The fist plane of brasilian Air force
The RAF had the Typhoon that was used on low level ground attack train and Tank busting mission's and they had there friends in the P47 that where used in low level ground attack missions the two best plane's in world 🌍 war 2 for doing low level ground attack in tandem both effective and air crews had respect for both aeroplanes 🙏👏 respect to both P47 could take a Fare amount of punishment and still fly
Could very well be the best of all the great WWII aircraft this country produced. Saw a video where 6-8 of these things completely destroyed a German troop train, all the way down to the tracks, and that included the train's engine!
what most forget is how much that war changed the world
Best AAF fighter of the war.
I feel for those B17 aircrew who suffered such appalling losses.
Didn't know P-47's could take off from an air craft carrier?,Super cool!
They took off from it (as pictured in the cover), but they landed on land.
The best Fighter Bomber of WW2 , packed a punch and could take one .
The Mustang and Spitfire suffered severe losses in the ground attack role .
American Airforce leaders made a big mistake delegating the P-47 to the scrap heap , after the war .
When the Korean War broke out the USN had far better aircraft to fight the enemy , then the AF . The main USAF single seater's the F-80 Shooting Star and the P-51 Mustang were found wanting.
Two thirds of F-80 production were lost in Korea , shot down by ground fire . Some units were re-equipped with Mustangs , which suffered a similar fate.
The South African Airforce purchased 94 Mustangs , 74 being lost for the death of 33 pilots.Eventually the Americans took pity upon them and supplied F-84 Sabres.
The Best of the Best superb video lauching from Carrier i never seen P47 in camping in the pacific awesome video I suscribe rigth now thanks
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