is the P-47 Thunderboltreally one of the most fear aircraft durin WW2

[Foxhound21]

I was looking at documentary in the military channel  about the P-47 but  :'( :'( i was tire nd fell asleep so could anybody fill me in..

[Cobra2]

I would say yes it was one of the most feared aircraft of WWII...and what it did to tanks...even the German Tiger II 

[Cobra2]

Heres a video of the P-47 strafing and bombing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELDjZFMOmpw

[Foxhound21]

man just looking at one of those videos make me wana fly one of them 

[Cobra2]

I love a good aircraft video 

[Ramon]

Hello all,

Just my input on the P-47 Thunderbolt 

In my opinion one of the true heroes of WOII. It was effective in air combat but proved
especially supreme in the ground attack role. With 8 x 12.7 mm M2 Browning machine
guns, up to 907 kg of bombs and 10 x 127 mm unguided rockets, was this massive
beast a true tank killer. And can be seen as the father of the A-10 Thunderbolt II.

With 1 Pratt & Whitney R-2800-59 twin-row radial engine producing 2,535 hp, and the
largest single-engined fighter, a real beast you could not f**k with. The P-47 Thunderbolt
just stood for ruggedness and dependability.

Regards, Ramon.

[Webmaster]

I think because of the number deployed and kills achieved with it, it overshadows the success of the Hawker Tempest.

[tigershark]

A little off topic but I've watch hundreds of WW-II documentary over the years and I'm puzzled by one thing I'm embarrassed I don't know the answer.   It seem watching all the old films near the end of the war that the fighters began hitting trains and other targets on the way back.  Was just because near the end of the war that American and England's aircraft numbers were so high?  Why weren't fighters used that way the entire war?   Seems like it would have work in 1942 and 1943 just as well even if just in France.

[Ramon]

I think because of the number deployed and kills achieved with it, it overshadows the success of the Hawker Tempest.

Hello Niels.

Indeed also a very nice and effective aircraft, but I still find the P-47
a little bit more impressive and beautifull. And as you have stated
was this aircraft indeed not as much used as the P-47.

And with everything are a lot of aircrafts of WOII overshadowed by
other aircrafts. If you have to believe the media and some of the history
books, did only flew the P-51 Mustang and the Spitfire during WOII.
While also the P-38 Lightning, Hawker Hurricane and the Bell P-39
Airacobra played an important role during WOII.

Anyway, I love the sound of those golden oldie birds and for example the
Packard Merlin V-1650-7 liquid-cooled supercharged V-12 engines.

Regards, Ramon.

[Webmaster]

A little off topic but I've watch hundreds of WW-II documentary over the years and I'm puzzled by one thing I'm embarrassed I don't know the answer.   It seem watching all the old films near the end of the war that the fighters began hitting trains and other targets on the way back.  Was just because near the end of the war that American and England's aircraft numbers were so high?  Why weren't fighters used that way the entire war?   Seems like it would have work in 1942 and 1943 just as well even if just in France.

Air dominance... in the early years the Germans had total control of the air space, this began to slip drastically in the final years. Fuel shortages, crippling German industry, and maybe leadership problems within the Luftwaffe as well probably also played a part. The range of allied aircraft had increased, giving them more time to fight, not just the new types, but also all the modified and new versions with all the bugs worked out and better engines. Also perhaps most important, the US war industry was really up to speed then and sufficient numbers were deployed to have aircraft available for these seek-and-destroy missions. Another thing is that the (RAF) aircraft were first needed to fight the battle in Africa, before moving to Europe's mainland, not much railroads there.

Alyster can probably tell you a lot more about it than me.

[alyster]

My awnser would have been alot simpler, that no one hadn't thought about it before. But yes, Webmaster is right, In the end of the war Mustagns were capable to fly across Germany in any direction. Giving them pretty much extra time, unless they met with Me-262 and were forced to drop their feul tanks and return to base earlier. Me-262s were practically the only air power Luftwaffe had in '45 and it was impossible to hunt fighters with them, because they lost their speed when they took on strong manuvers. That left the fighter pilots quite bored I think. Some of them have discribed how they just helplessly looked how Me-262s just passed and went and took a dump at the bombers the allied fighters were supose to protect. (The usual tactic was to attack from the rear, because front and side attacks weren't possible due to too much speed)

Also Luftwaffe suffered a very serious lack of pilots in the second part of the war. They even started to trasnfer bomber pilots onto fighters and so on. It didn't work out well at all.

In the earlier parts of war in the Germany's skies, allied pilots always had to be ready that they were attacked on their way back. In 1943 and so, Luftwaffe's main problem wasn't the lack of air craft nor pilots or feul, but how to get their planes on location in time. Göring insisted that Luftwaffe had to protect the whole of Great Germany (including areas like France), so they were scattered across the teritory in small and rather ineffective units. Some of his generals did suggest to withdraw Luftwaffe from France to the original Germany, to tighten the defence, but Göring never accepted it.

[Raptor]

True. The 262 had a much more constraining problem than fuel shortages, didn't it? From what i remember of my books, the engines, even at the highest state of production, couldn't last very long before, melting was it?

Ah. The P-47. Hm, actually i'm with Webby on this. I really liked the Tempest more, although i do think the T-bolt beats the Mustang... The Mustangs had beautiful range...