You can bet your life on the P-47 which I have done many times. A sample is my last mission with the 358th. Group, 365th. Squadron. I flew 50 miles with a burning engine,
4 feet of my left wing cut off, a hole you could put a barrel thru on my right wing, Tail surfaces damaged, Instrument panel gone, and holes to numerous to count. I had two broken legs, broken back, head injuries, Gun shot in left knee, and other injuries. Now I am 86 years old and still living thanks to GOD, and the ruggedness of the p-47.
READ MY BOOK "TICKET TO HELL" by R. Frank Harwood....

I flew the P-47 Thunderbolt in the 365th (Hellhawk) Ftr. Grp.in the ETO and I know without doubt that I owe my life to the JUG. We could never have done the low level tree top attacks we did against heavy flak concentrations and survived in any other WWII fighter. She was damned good against the Me-109 and FW-190 when we could get them to fight.

Actually, they didn't put an R4360 in the P-47. The highest rated model was the P-47M, which had a P&W R2800-56, which was a high-output version of the great R2800. This engine was test run for 24 hours straight at a rating of 3000 HP. It ate itself up, but never quit running. The P-47M was flown over Europe late in the war, by the 56th Fighter Group. It could touch 500 MPH in level flight, with enough boost cranked in.

P-47C had a mach .73 (556 mph) terminal dive and a .69 (525 mph) red-line.
P-47D had a mach .72 (550 mph) red-line dive speed if memory serves.
P-47N dove to mach .83 (632 mph)!
It could pullout better than most too.
The P-47D rolled 91 d/s @ 300 mph.
What was it's circle time? Maybe 27 seconds to turn. Up high enough it could turn with the Luftwaffe.
If you own high altitude, you can trump anything below and come back up, especially with 8 guns!
I say leave the low level ground support to other radial powered fighters like the F4U, La-7 and Fw 190 or N1K and Ki 100 that can compete better there than on top. By all means keep the inline powered fighters above the flak. Especially the high altitude champs like the Mustang, Spitfire and Bf 109 or Ki 61-II and even the Yak-3, -9U.
The P-47 was so great not because it was the best but because it could do everything very well if it needed to, in large numbers at the right time and place. It proved itself worth the extra money it took to buy and gas up.
How many fighters could put out a more dense pattern of fire and also take a punch better?
It was all-American hp muscle that made the rest possible.

With the P&W R-4360 retrofit the P-47 could outrun anything else in the air. My dad was the test block foreman on the first R-4360 built for Pratt & Whitney. They had to reinforce the test cell mount structure to hold it. Tried it in the Navy Corsair but it flipped over on counter torque, killing the pilot and ruining the aircraft. Don't think they ever put another one in a Corsair,. The P-47 handled the torque problem. Don't know how many made it to Europe or if it ever saw combat. Would like to hear from anyone who was assigned to a P-47 unit which had the R-4360s installed.

I find it puzzling that the P-47 wasn't used in Korea. It would have been a better close support aircraft than either the P-51 (less vulnerable to ground fire) or the F-80 and -84 (slower). Had the experience of 1944-45 been forgotten that quickly?

Round engines rock!!! P-47 is the best.

Has anyone have info on P-47 in the Ohio ANG?

actuellement a hermanville sur mer je recherche un avion de republic aviation co a partir de son numero de serie, retrouver sur des débris appartenant a un P-47 detruit certainnement le 6 juin 1944.Comment faire?

Because????? It didn't win any wars or even help to win any wars or get flown by any notable aces to numerous individual victory tallies. Explain in the FW entry. Don't besmirch the Jug.

Sorry guys, Best prop fighter in WW II was Ta 152

The 3 view is a late war P-47M or N. I read that the last kill in the U.S. war against Japan was an Oscar shot down by a P-47N. How symbolic! The heaviest single engine fighter vs the lightest. 8 guns vs 2. High-power firing passes vs ninja reflexes. A most fitting contrast to end the war with.

According to Winkle Brown, the choice of high altitude escort fighter was achieved by critical Mach number in a dive. I've only read "Thuderbolt" 3 times.

The P-47 is my favorite aircraft, and I've read Robert Johnson's "Thunderbolt" over a dozen times. From all I've read, the P-47 and the P-51 were roughly comparable in overall ability--each had some advantages over the other. The Mustang could out-turn the Jug, but the Jug could out-roll the Mustang. The 51 was slightly faster, and had slightly better range, but didn't have quite the firepower or anywhere near the ability of the Jug to absorb battle damage and still get home. What ultimately tipped the scales for the Mustang was cost--the Mustang cost half the price of the Jug to build. Other than that, I still think that the Jug was the better bird for both air to air and air to ground combat.

Sorry, can't wait 1000 years. Air to air, only the P51 went all the way. Better gas mileage. The P47N carried it's own fuel truck on a shackle but was too late for Europe, and it's Pratt&Whitney was a tougher tune-up. Air to Mud, the Jug had competition from the Corsair which did not even have to be recalled for Korea, but even had anew AU1 model just for Air to Mud. In the Jug's favor, Bob Johnson's encounter with German lead is a classic story of Tough, especially the 20mm hole just behind his head, that jammed the canopy. And the P47J, 504mph. Just popped in my head, can anyone tell me the real reason no American operational a/c used a prop spinner? The XP42 gained enough airspeed from a good spinner/nacelle design for a 10% rise in max airspeed, 340mph from a P36. Maintenance hassle? 10% aispeed is worth a hassle,isn't it?..Oh, and I do like the Turbo sound but the P38 had a neat sound too. Too many contenders.

As for the P-47 or P-51 being the best: Come back in a thousand yers and I suspect the debate will still be lively.
The P-47 was phased out of active service with the regular USAAF by the end of '46 when the decision was made keep the P-51 until jets could fill all fighter needs.
There were P-47s in Air National Guard squadrons until '55. I believe Puerto Rico Air National Guard kept them longest. The P-47 did not fight in Korea or Vietnam. Many of the old fighter drivers flying P-51s in Korea felt the Mustang was too tender for close support work. There are stories of letters to Washington stating the P-47 would have been much better and cited the F4U Corsair as proof of the matter.

I'm looking to see if the P-47 did some service in the Vietnam war. It seems I remember seeing that somewhere along witht the T33 and the Skyraider. The serivablity rate alone makes it the greatest of WWII in my book.

Best prop fighter aircraft ever made--the Cadillac flying machine with range and fire-power. With drop tanks you became a VLR [very long range] pilot.

Robert S. Johnson 27 kills and Gabby Gabreski 28 kills - both T'Bolt Aces in the European theater.
My favorite story is the one where a 47' came back from a strafing mission with a chunk of telephone pole in the leading edge of it's wing...

You can visit the Millville Army Air Field Museum, Millville, NJ, home of the P-47 as well as home of the P-47 Advocates. Our next airshow is Sept. 20 & 21, 2008 and will be an all-warbird show including at least one P-47. CAN DO! Dave Schill, Vietnam 1970-71 (Seabees)

A tough and rugged piece of mechinery.Pardon my spelling.

You gotta love the Jug! Best fighter of the War and powered by the best engine.....the Pratt and Whitney R-2800!

lloyd keaton, 05.09,2008 It is no coincidence that at least the top aces of the European theater flew the P-47. They flew against the best the germans had and against the best aircraft

best prop. fighter made, should have been used in koran war, mustangs were lost in very high numbers to aa fire

Agreed Warren! With water injection, super charger, and the big bomber prop, the Jug would out perform anything including the Mustang. It could withstand a lot of damage and still return home too!

The greatest fighter of ww-II