The '''P-47''' fighter plane, nicknamed the '''Thunderbolt''', was the workhorse tactical airplane of the US Army Air Forces (AAF) in [[World War II]]. In a frantic technological race against the Nazis, American designers created a series of fighters and bombers that had the speed, climb-rate, maneuverability, and range to do the job.
[[Image:P-47a.jpg|thumb|300px|318th Fighter Group's P-47's intercept Japansese "Betty" bomber, Pagan Island, 1944]]
[[Image:P-47b.jpg|thumb|300px]]
==Origins==
The P-47 originated in 1940, when AAF commander General [[Hap Arnold]] asked for a plane to give air superiority over the Germans. Alexander Kartveli, chief designer at Republic Aviation, met the challenge using an unusually large fuselage and the new 18 cylinder, 2,000 horsepower air-cooled radial "Double Wasp" engine from Pratt and Whitney. Its high-altitude performance was dramatically enhanced by a General Electric turbo-supercharger.<ref>The turbo-supercharger compressed exhaust air and returned it to the carburetors. GE, at work on the device since 1918, finally solved the extremely difficult problems of very high speed rotation at high temperatures.</ref>
Thunderbolt groups claimed the destruction of 6,000 tanks and armored fighting vehicles, 9,000 locomotives, 86,000 items of rolling stock, 68,000 trucks, and huge numbers of enemy troops killed or wounded. According to air power historian W. A. Jacobs, "All authorities agreed that the P-47 was the best fighter-bomber."<ref> W. A. Jacobs, "The Battle for France, 1944," in B. Franklin Cooling, ''Case Studies in the Development of Close Air Support'' (1990), p. 250.</ref>
==The Pacific War==
Although most well-known for the war in Europe, the P-47 had an excellent service record in the Pacific theater as well. The first Thunderbolts to fight the Japanese arrived in June 1943 in [[Port Moresby]], [[New Guinea]]. [[Image:P-47a.jpg|thumb|300px|318th Fighter Group's P-47's intercept Japansese "Betty" bomber, Pagan Island, 1944]] They formed the 348th Fighter Group, under the command of Lt. Col. [[Neel Kearby]]. The big fighter proved itself against the Japanese on October 11, when four Thunderbolts, including one flown by Col. Kearby, engaged a force of forty Japanese fighters over [[Wewak]], New Guinea, a major Japanese base. The American pilots downed nine enemy fighters without suffering so much as a bullet hole. Kearby himself shot down six to become the first P-47 [[Flying ace|ace]] of the Pacific War. By the end of 1943, the 348th had downed over 150 enemy planes for the loss of only eight pilots.
By this time, other units had converted to the P-47 as well, so that almost half of the Fifth Air Force’s fighter strength was Thunderbolts. Like almost all other Allied planes, the Thunderbolt was less maneuverable than the Japanese fighters, but had the advantage in speed (especially diving speed), power, and toughness. P-47 squadrons later saw heavy action in the [[Philippines]] campaign, and longer-range P-47Ns flew escort and fighter sweep missions over the Japanese mainland from bases in [[Okinawa]].<ref>''Mustang and Thunderbolt Aces of the Pacific and CBI'', by John Stanaway, Osprey Publishing, 1999</ref>