The Insane Engineering of the P-47 Thunderbolt

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Credits:
Writer/Narrator: Brian McManus

References
[1]
Thank you to AP Archive for access to their archival footage.


Songs:


Thank you to my patreon supporters: Adam Flohr, Henning Basma, Hank Green, William Leu, Tristan Edwards, Ian Dundore, John & Becki Johnston. Nevin Spoljaric, Jason Clark, Thomas Barth, Johnny MacDonald, Stephen Foland, Alfred Holzheu, Abdulrahman Abdulaziz Binghaith, Brent Higgins, Dexter Appleberry, Alex Pavek, Marko Hirsch, Mikkel Johansen, Hibiyi Mori. Viktor Józsa, Ron Hochsprung

[gabethomas]

My grandfather flew a p-47 D in the pacific theatre. Flew combat missions over the Philippines, New Guinea, and southern Japan. He shot down zeroes and had his plane shot up pretty badly in the process but was always able to land thanks to the tough nature of the air craft. Before he died, I had him record some of his war stories. He told me about flying missions over Japan and strafing runs on supply trains. He described squeezing the trigger and feeling the forward momentum of the plane being slowed because of the 8 .50 cals going off. A one second burst would destroy anything he held in the sights. He and his buddies learned to bounce bombs into tunnels where the trains would hide after being alerted they were coming. He flew over Nagasaki after the a-bomb was dropped and gave me a first hand description of hell on earth. Recounting this really makes me miss him. I've set a picture of him in his P-47 as my profile pic.

[VladGoro]

P-47: " Are ya winnin' son?"
A-10: "Yes dad, thanks!"

[samaxe]

“Anything could out turn a Thunderbolt, but nothing could out roll it.”
“If you wanted a picture to send to your girl, stand in front of a Mustang. If you want to get home to your girl, fly a Thunderbolt.”
-Robert S. Johnson P-47 Ace with 28 kills

[JozefLucifugeKorzeniowski]

Naming the engine: "what's meaner than a wasp?"
"Perhaps... Two wasps?"
"ABSOLUTE GENIUS"

[NamoChudankura]

What's the secret of increasing horsepower?
P-47: *A L C O H O L*

[KaiWolf]

4:37 talking about horsepower and you include a clip of the thunderbolts flying over a horse. Clever Real Engineering, real cute.

[TralfazConstruction]

The best line I've ever read in reference to the P-47 is a ground crewman asking the pilot, "Where's the rest of the crew?".

[Marc-zivg]

P47 at low alt : *pls do not hurt obese plane*
P47 at high alt : _Whats the matter?! Cannot breathe?_

[aendranireho]

"If you want to get the girl, fly a P51
If you want to get back to your girl, fly a P47"
No clue where that comes from

[cynthiahumm]

My husband ‘s mother was a “Rosie” at the Evansville, IN plant that made the wings. She was very proud to have worked there.

[vincentheartland]

3:37 - A supercharger powered by hot exhaust? You mean, like, I dunno...

a turbocharger?

[gaffgarion]

I remember watching an interview of a Luftwaffe pilot and he said he never really felt like the spitfire or Mustang were all that great on individual encounters. More dangerous due to their numerical advantage. But the P-47 on the other hand he feared because it was incredibly resilient to damage and was armed to the teeth.

[xlcrider]

The P-47 could be re-assembled in the field with the use of the cleverly built shipping container. A very strong point of the P-47.

[gratitude]

I had a step grandfather who flew a p-47 in the european theater. A normally very sweet and calm man, he was visibly disturbed and firmly refuted the enthusiastic declaration of a 10 year old that the p-51 Mustang was the best fighter plane of ww2. He told me about flying a Thunderbolt and how clearly the superior the Thunderbolt was to the Mustang. This piqued my curiosity and i read about the Jug in earnest. There was wisdom to his words.

[johnpicton]

My dad was a jug pilot. He loved this plane and felt that he was always going to come home, even when he volunteered for a “suicide” mission, for which he received the DFC. I would like to thank Republic for designing the plane that helped bring my dad home!

[brianmcmillan]

My uncle was an Australian RAF pilot and flew Spitfires and Hurricanes in Europe and Middle East and Thunderbolts in Burma over the 5 years of the war. He loved the Thunderbolt because the underside was steel and the bullets would bounce off while strafing. The steel plate armor around him were also appreciated.

[lefrman]

"If you want to get the girl fly a P-51, if you want to go home to your girl strap on a P-47."

[preacherF-]

I flew the F-15C, but I grew up very involved with the CAF. I've flown thousands of hours as pic as well as instructor pilot, in everything from Stearman biplanes to P-51s and B-17s.
I often tell people that the best dogfighter of WWII was the Spitfire mk IX, but the plane that would do the most damage and absorb the most damage and still bring you home was the P-47.
I consider it sort of the A-10 of it's day. Fitting!

[benbovard]

Once watched an episode of this show Dogfights that was on the History channel back when there was still decent stuff. The episode was about this American pilot who was flying a Razorback Jug over German territory with his squadron on an escort mission. They were intercepted by Fw-190s and he was separated from the pack, damaged, and began to fly back toward England. By chance, a lone 190 pilot spotted and intercepted him. He began raking the American wing to wing with bullets. The Jug held up, and the German pulled up next to the American, looked at him and shook his head, and pulled behind, again raking him wingtip to wingtip with bullets. It finally happened that the German ran out of ammo, pulled up next to the American, waggled his wings in salute, and broke off to fly back to his base. Flying the Jug shot full of holes, oil leaks obscuring his view, torn ailerons, an engine cylinder blown to bits, and shot up himself, the American pilot managed to return to base in England. The repair crew stopped counting the bullet holes at a hundred.

[briannoecker]

My Dad was a P-47 crew chief on Okinawa during WWII. I loved hearing all the war stories that he used to tell me. I later joined the USAF mostly in part because of those exciting war stories. My dad really admired the P-47.