During World War II, the U.S. Army Air Forces (AAF) had a formidable trio of fighters that dominated the skies: the North American P-51 Mustang, Lockheed's P-38 Lightning, and Republic Aviation's P-47 Thunderbolt. The P-47, aptly named for its sheer power and might, was the largest and heaviest single-engine fighter used by any air force during the war.
The P-47's origins can be traced back to early 1940, when reports showed that aerial combat had evolved, necessitating new tactics and aircraft design. Alexander Kartveli at Republic Aviation seized the opportunity and proposed a plane based on the newly built turbo-supercharged Pratt & Whitney R-2800 twin-row radial engine, designed to excel at high altitudes. Interestingly, Kartveli's concept drew inspiration from the semi-elliptical wing shape he had used in the P-35 fighter five years earlier at Seversky Aircraft Corp.
The resulting P-47 Thunderbolt was a behemoth, weighing 10,000 pounds when empty and over 17,500 pounds when fully loaded. It was powered by a 2,000 horsepower engine and armed with eight .50 caliber machine guns, capable of unleashing approximately half the firepower of the larger B-17 Flying Fortress bomber. The P-47's unique design featured a turbo-supercharger installed near the tail, connected to the engine via extensive ductwork. This ductwork inadvertently provided extra protection for pilots in the event of a crash.
Despite its immense weight, the P-47 proved to be a formidable fighter. Pilots quickly discovered that it could out-dive nearly every enemy fighter it encountered and had a ceiling of over 42,000 feet. Its ability to absorb incredible amounts of damage during combat, with a loss rate of less than one plane per mission, earned it the nickname "Juggernaut" or "Jug," and it quickly became a favorite among pilots.
Between D-Day in June 1944 and VE-Day in May 1945, the P-47 distinguished itself as the best ground-attack aircraft in the US fleet. It flew over half a million missions, dropped 132,000 tons of bombs, and destroyed over 150,000 enemy targets, including tanks, armored vehicles, locomotives, and train cars. The Thunderbolt also boasted an impressive 4.6-to-1 aerial kill ratio.
By the end of World War II, more than 15,600 Thunderbolts had been built, making it the most-produced US fighter of the war. Only 3,500 were lost in combat. The P-47 saw service with the British RAF, French Free Forces, and the Soviet Union, performing a wide range of combat missions in virtually every theater of the war.
