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Warbird Obsession
It's an addiction. Admitting you have it is the first step.
By Rebecca Maksel
airspacemag.com, December 03, 2008
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Called “the Jug” because of its milk bottle shape, the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was designed to be a high-altitude interceptor, but became an excellent long-range bomber escort. “The Jug was solid and stable in flight and carried a tremendous load of bombs, gas and guns,” 1st Lieutenant Frank Oiler of the U.S. Army Air Forces told James Busha. “It was a hard-hitting, tight-turning, flying truck. It didn’t climb worth a damn, but it sure could dive. As a matter of fact, it dove like a homesick brick!”
According to authors Thomas D. Jones and Robert F. Dorr, the P-47’s “brutish fuselage was married to a pair of graceful, semi-elliptical wings mounted with eight heavy .50-caliber machine guns. It derived its power from a 2,000-horsepower, 18-cylinder, Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp radial engine with a turbo-supercharger. With full tanks, ammunition, and two 1,000-pound bombs, later models weighed in at a hefty 19,400 pounds, more than any other single-engine fighter of World War II.”
Some 15,600 Thunderbolts were eventually built. The P-47D pictured is part of the Fighter Collection based in Duxford, UK.
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Comments
Nice photo and info about the P38. My Mother's youngest brother was a photographer in the US Army, stationed in Australia during WWII. He was killed along with the other crew while on a recon mission over New Guinea in a P38 in late 1942. The wreckage was not found until 1961 and the remains, identified by dog-tags, are buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
Posted by R. C. Rogers on December 22,2008 | 11:44AM
Saw a Spitfire fly in Owls Head ,Maine in the late 1970s. I heard the owners last name was Rockefeller,and it was WONDERFUL to HEAR that engine going at "full chat" at about 500 ft with a pilot who was driving it like he stole it! I still have the photos of that great plane from that great day on my desk, 30 years after... The magic of that day has allowed the smells,sounds, and SIGHTs to remain with me. It was a very good day!
Posted by Brian Beauregard on August 31,2009 | 06:21PM