Duxford became home to the 78th Fighter Group when they arrived in England with their P-47B Thunderbolts in 1943. The objective of the American fighter units was to gain air superiority over the Luftwaffe in support of their daylight bombing campaign. By 1944 they achieved their objective. Richard Taylor commemorates the valiant contribution of the 78th Fighter Group with a fine new rendition showing P-47D Thunderbolts departing Duxford en route for the north coast of France, and a low-level strafing mission. It is the spring of 1944, and with the Normandy invasion just days away, the Thunderbolts are already painted with invasion markings. The checkerboard pattern was used by the entire group.
We were visiting the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum some years back and they had a P-47 on display. That is one big airplane.
Maybe someday I will be lucky enough to see one flying.
The flying jug brought a lot of pilots home. Big, tough, and remarkably fast once they put the newer 4 blade propellor on it. 8 .50 caliber machine guns made it a buzz saw for anything it turned toward.
My sales manager, when I worked in the beer business, flew the P-47 in WWII. He had pictures of him with his plane all over his office and would get mad if anyone mentioned any other aircraft like the P-40, Hellcat, or Corsair. He claimed,as most pilots do, that his was the best flying plane in the air and never got the recognition because it wasn’t sexy enough.
Often wondered if the Navy ever consider the P-47? Seems the Douglas A-1 was something of a duplication. Could the P-47 have operated off carriers?
Last week I was talking with a VN vet who is helping to restore am OV-1 Mohawk. Our conversation started with liaison and observation platforms and soon turned to CAS. I asked why this phenomenal aircraft didn’t fly in VN. The answer was the AF scrapped down the P-38 and P-47 first.
The A-1 was a tank and heavy hauler. So was the P-47 but to a lesser degree. The AF deeply regretted their error in discarding the Thunderbolt.
I am positive the P-47 would have performed tremendously off flight decks.
Built in Evansville, IN, they had a “Jug” reunion there some tens years ago.
I only found out about it after the fact.
I hope they do it again.
John- It is! And the reason it stands so high, is they did a straight wing vs. the bent wing on the Corsair.
LL- True, the only issue vs. the P-38 was range of convergence for the guns.
CP- It was a close second, or third to the Corsair and Mustang. And yes, it wasn’t pretty, just effective!
WSF- They looked at it, but the lack of folding capability and their height worked against the P-47. Mods would have been too costly.
r- Yep, they threw the baby out with the bathwater on that one! See above for the nogo for the Navy.
GB- That must have been fantastic!
Am currently reading this book—
http://www.amazon.com/Winged-Victory-Army-Forces-World/dp/B0037ZNHHI/ref=sr_1_1_twi_har_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1461541243&sr=1-1
As the reviews indicate, a bit weak on technical accuracy, but still a very interesting read.
The author recounts BG Frederick H. Smith, a fighter pilot newly arrived in the ETO from New Guinea, as being a fervent believer that P-47’s could be used to drop bridges in support of D-day. He was allowed to set up an experiment.
“There was a large railroad bridge that crossed the Seine at Vernon, thirty-five miles downstream from Paris. On May 7, (’44)sixteen Thunderbolts of the 365th Fighter Group headed for the bridge, with a squadron of Mustangs flying top cover. Each P-47 carried an 1100 lb. bomb. the first two to dive on the bridge were shot down by light flak. The third plane released its bomb perfectly. The Germans had mined the Vernon bridge with about half a ton of explosives. When the American bomb went off, it triggered a sympathetic detonation. The two explosions tore the bride to shreds and filled the river with twisted metal. One bomb, one bridge, and one impressed German witness—Erwin Rommel, who happened to be visiting Vernon that day.”
Excellent P-47 history here—
http://www.cradleofaviation.org/history/aircraft/p-47_thunderbolt_aviation_darwinism.html
When the first Jug landed in England it taxied up to the apron. The pilot climbed out and wondered why the British ground crew were still loitering about.
“When’s the rest of the crew coming out?” they asked.
The Brits couldn’t believe something that large had a single man crew.
RHT- I need to find a copy, thanks!
Stretch- Do you blame them?
Thank-you for sharing this story
Nice artwork…
I recall reading about a P-47 that flew through a brick wall on a low-level strafing run…and made it back to base.