"This is command; do not engage, I repeat do not engage" This article is currently being edited over the course of a certain period of time. During this time, please do not edit this article because the current editor might be confused. Thank You Please remove this message when finished editing.

The P-47 Thunderbolt was a single-seat fighter that was used by the United States during WWII. The first production model of the series was the P-47B and the P-47 series is in fact the heaviest, single-seat, piston-engine powered fighter ever.

It had an air-cooled, Pratt & Whitney R-2800-21 Engine that was capable of propelling the "Jug" as it was known by allied pilots at speeds of up to 643.7 km/h. The P-47 also had a wingspan of 12.1 meters and a total length of 10.6 meters. The aircraft is in many ways similar to its German counterpart, the Focke Wulf Fw 190.^[1]

The armament of the P-47 Thunderbolt consisted of eight wing mounted 12.7mm Browning M2 Machine Guns. The P-47 also had a maximum range of 722 kilometers and a service ceiling of about 12.9 kilometers. At this time, most of the provision for drop tanks or bombs or rockets was not yet added so the range nor armament could be increased, but this was later changed in further models. One of the main characteristics of the P-47 was that it was one of the largest fighters of the time and dwarfed its contemporary fighters.^[2]

ReferencesEdit

1. ↑ http://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/detail.asp?aircraft_id=76
2. ↑ http://www.aviation-history.com/republic/p47.html