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03:32I think it's comparing a racehorse to a plow horse.
03:38The P-47 was the, I think you could describe it as the bare knuckles brawler.
03:48It wasn't the sleek thoroughbred as the Spitfire.
03:52It wasn't the graceful, you know, pre-war design of the P-38 that was like the Buck Rogers fighter plane of World War II.
04:01I mean, the P-38 was what everybody dreamed of.
04:05The Thunderbolt, I think what endeared itself most of all to the pilots was the fact that it had tremendous firepower.
04:15It could carry a huge load for ground support, which is exactly what it was best at, I think.
04:23And it could take incredible amounts of battle damage.
04:30I mean, you've seen pictures of airplanes that have hit trees.
04:34They've got cylinders knocked off the engines.
04:36The cowling's gone.
04:37The wings are canted back.
04:41Just the leading edge of the wings are just beat off.
04:44The gun barrels are torn from the airplane.
04:47And it flies all the way home and brings the pilot back.
04:50I think that is the greatest quality of the airplane.
04:55By war's end, over 15,600 P-47s had been produced,
05:00more than any other American aircraft save the consolidated B-24 Liberator.
05:07Even today, the P-47 Thunderbolt inspires intense emotions amongst the pilots assigned to fly it.
05:16After sharing the air with the P-47, a pilot either came back a devoted convert
05:21or appalled that Republic ever designed such a monstrous fighter.
05:28When I took my training, I took it at Bradley Field in Connecticut.
05:32And there were P-40 pilots that were there.
05:34And they didn't really fly with you.
05:38And all they did was check you out.
05:40And they weren't really too enthused with the P-47.
05:44So when I went overseas, I did not want to fly the P-47.
05:47I wanted to get out of the 38s or 51s.
05:50And when I got to this base, a P-47 came over there.
05:53And he went across that base.
05:55He pulled up and did one roll.
05:57And we just were in awe, you know.
05:59My God, that thing will fly.
06:01And I went from one inch tall to ten foot tall.
06:04It was a great experience looking back on it, flying the P-47.
06:07It was a very forgiving aircraft.
06:09And the work that we used it for was great.
06:13But, you know, it's like anything.
06:15A driver of a car, airplane drivers are the same way.
06:19You fall in love with something.
06:21And you don't want to trade.
06:23You don't want to get rid of the things.
06:26And, you know, we weren't smart enough to know that, well,
06:28it's probably going to save your life many more times than the 38 might
06:33because it's not as vulnerable as an inline engine aircraft.
06:37It was a 40, 51, or 38.
06:39But it still was not my first love.
06:44The models that I flew were very sluggish and climbing.
06:50In fact, I didn't consider it very good until you got to a higher altitude,
06:56you know, where your supercharged engine was a big advantage.
07:01I think a pilot, a fighter pilot, would probably live longer in a P-47
07:05than any other fighter.
07:07It's more rugged by far than any other fighter.
07:09You know, we only had them for a short time.
07:15They gave us our P-40s, or we were flying P-40s all the time
07:20that we were transitioning into the P-47s.
07:23And they just decided to take the P-47s away
07:25and let us continue with the P-40s.
07:28And I think we were all happy about that.
07:31Love or hate the P-47, everyone agreed on one thing.
07:36It was the toughest fighter ever built.
07:38Practically everyone who flew the Thunderbolt has a story to tell about its legendary durability.
07:43They speak of holes hacked out of the wing by light flack that were so big ground crewmen posed with their heads poking through them.
07:52Others remember cannon shells severing controls, tearing great gouges out of the cowling.
07:59They remember feeling the thumping of bullets as they slammed into the armor plating behind their seat.
08:04And they remember thanking God and Republic for building the P-47 like a brick outhouse,
08:11tough enough to handle the dirtiest of dirty work,
08:15and built to survive a Kansas tornado.
08:17The P-47 owes its genesis to a Russian émigré-turned-aircraft designer named Alexander Dysaversky.
08:39He had come to the United States between the wars and had started his own aircraft company in the 1930s.
08:45He was a Russian immigrant who flew during World War I and was a great proponent of pursuit aviation.
08:56The P-35 was his original fighter, low-wing, all-metal, retractable landing gear.
09:01The second aircraft was the P-43 Lancer, which was a further refinement of the P-35 design.
09:12The ultimate was the P-47, which was the final derivative.
09:15Just before World War II, Dysaversky Aviation became Republic Aviation,
09:21and the same design team that worked on the P-35 went with Republic
09:25and began working on their first major project, which was the P-43 Lancer.
09:30And you could see a real clear lineage in the development of the P-47 based on these three designs.
09:36The P-35, the P-43, the P-47 all share common characteristics and resemble each other.
09:42Well, the P-43 went into production shortly after World War II began, and it served as an export fighter.
09:49It wasn't something that the U.S. Army Air Force could use,
09:52so Republic sent it overseas to the Chinese where it did not have a very distinguished service career by any means.
10:00Designed to be a high-altitude fighter, the P-43 had a top speed of 350 miles per hour
10:07and could carry a pair of .50 caliber machine guns in the nose and four .30 calibers in the wings.
10:14Initially delivered in September 1940, the P-43 impressed some with its high service ceiling of 38,000 feet.
10:23Nonetheless, the Lancer proved inferior to most fighters of the day,
10:27and the Army Air Corps used them only for tactical reconnaissance training in the United States.
10:33The P-43 was a failed design. There was no way a republic could look at this as anything but a failure.
10:40And here they were in the middle of wartime America.
10:42They needed to be able to come up with a design that would be effective,
10:47not just from a cost standpoint and a contract standpoint,
10:50but also they were interested in building a war-winning aircraft.
10:53And they chose to go the evolutionary route.
10:55So they studied their design, they studied the failure, they examined the reasons why,
11:01they got back reports from operational units,
11:05and decided to progress in a slightly different course.
11:09But they did extract some of the better attributes of the P-43,
11:13and they applied them to what became the P-47 program.
11:16In 1939, the Army Air Force issued a request for a high-altitude fighter
11:23that could use the new turbo-supercharger that Boeing had developed for the B-17 heavy bomber.
11:30Such an installation on a fighter would require the plane to be huge indeed,
11:35but that didn't deter republic.
11:37After studying the Army Air Force's requirements,
11:40the company's chief designer quipped,
11:42it'll be a dinosaur, but a dinosaur with good proportions.
11:49Because of the Army's specifications on this new fighter,
11:52Republic chose to design the P-47 around two main features.
11:56The first was a brand-new engine called the Pratt & Whitney R-2800,
12:01which was an 18-cylinder radial engine.
12:03It was just monstrous, and it provided 2,000 horsepower,
12:08which was far more than most any other engine of its day.
12:12So it was a very revolutionary engine.
12:15The other thing that they needed to design around
12:19was the fact that the turbo-supercharger took up a lot of space.
12:23So the reason why the fuselage for the P-47 is so deep
12:27is because of the fact that the engine was so enormous to begin with,
12:31and the ductwork and all the accoutrements for the turbo-supercharger
12:36required a massive amount of space.
12:39Dubbed the XP-47B, the new fighter possessed enormous gait.
12:45As it sat on its wide, long landing gear,
12:48it reminded some of a giant milk jug on wheels.
12:52As a result, throughout the war,
12:54our pilots and ground crew rarely referred to the P-47
12:57as anything other than the jug.
13:05In June of 1940,
13:07this is a year and a half before the war starts,
13:09the U.S. Army Air Corps places an order
13:11for 773 P-47s with Republic.
13:15And this $56 million contract
13:17is really a rich plum for Republic to get,
13:22but it represents quite a risk on the part of the Air Corps
13:25with the slender resources that were available at the time.
13:29Not only was it risky,
13:30but it was a leap of faith
13:32that Republic could actually deliver.
13:36At the same time,
13:37the fact that they did this a year before the prototype flew
13:40was also symptomatic of a larger problem,
13:43which was there were so few combat-capable aircraft,
13:48especially fighter designs,
13:49being conceived of and built in the United States at the time
13:52that the Air Force had to take the risk.
13:55There really wasn't very many other options.
13:58Republic's early test flights of the prototype
14:00revealed tremendous potential
14:02and more than justified the Army's leap of faith.
14:09Though it weighed over five tons,
14:12the X-P-47 could reach speeds over 400 miles per hour.
14:17In fact, at altitude,
14:18it was the fastest fighter ever built
14:20for the Army Air Force up to that time.
14:24Tests also showed that the P-47
14:26was an excellent formation aircraft.
14:29The P-47, when you pulled the power on it,
14:33that huge nose out there
14:35was like running into a haystack.
14:37Suddenly, you quit.
14:39It was easy to fly formation
14:40because at the P-38,
14:42you'd come in and overrun everybody.
14:44That's the first thing we all learned
14:46when we had an inline engine.
14:48You want to slow down early
14:49and sneak up on your flight leader.
14:51But on the P-47,
14:55it was a beautiful airplane
14:56for flying very close.
15:00We trapped our flight leader one time,
15:04two of us coming up the Irrawaddy River,
15:06ran into the overlapping wings,
15:08and he would go like this, you know,
15:09but you wouldn't dare do that
15:10in an aircraft that
15:12wouldn't stop or start as quickly as the P-47.
15:16In close formation,
15:19you're leading on...
15:20Three guys are flying on another guy.
15:22They're not taking their eyes off of him.
15:24They're flying on him all the time.
15:26They're looking at him all the time,
15:27especially if you get into clouds.
15:29If you fly in the clouds,
15:30you've got to be in tight formation,
15:32otherwise you can run into one another.
15:34And you have a mission.
15:34We had a mission one time.
15:36I think it was a five-hour mission.
15:37We were probably four hours in the clouds.
15:40And two flights finished the mission.
15:42The guy was leading the group
15:44and my flight.
15:45The rest of them went home.
15:46Got in trouble and went home.
15:49The first production Thunderbolts
15:51rolled off Republic's assembly lines
15:53in early 1942.
15:56That spring, the Army Air Force
15:58decided that the 56th Fighter Group
16:00would be the inaugural P-47 outfit
16:03in the service.
16:04It was a historic decision
16:06that laid the foundation
16:07for one of the greatest legacies
16:09in Air Force history.
16:10With its P-47 Thunderbolts,
16:16the 56th Fighter Group
16:18would, by war's end,
16:20become one of the highest-scoring outfits
16:22in history.
16:27With dozens of aces in its ranks,
16:30the 56th became better known
16:32as the Wolf Pack.
16:33In the spring of 1942,
16:54the recently formed 56th Fighter Group
16:57that had been training
16:58with a motley collection
16:59of P-40s, P-39s, and AT-6s
17:03was given the first production
17:05batch of Thunderbolts.
17:07Known as Zemke's Wolf Pack
17:09after the group's commander,
17:10Hub Zemke,
17:12the 56th Fighter Group
17:13would fly P-47s
17:15for three years straight
17:16while building up
17:17a combat history
17:18that has become legendary
17:19since the war.
17:22Hub Zemke was one of those rare pilots
17:25who possessed a very interesting
17:26blend of talents.
17:28One of the things
17:28that he is remembered for
17:31is his uncanny marksmanship.
17:33He was a great shot.
17:35He was also a great aviator.
17:37He was a tremendous pilot,
17:38had phenomenal talent there.
17:40But what really makes him stand out
17:41and gives him kind of a uniqueness
17:43not found in other aces
17:45is the fact that
17:46he was a great leader of men as well.
17:48He could inspire and lead
17:50like few men of World War II.
17:52And because of that,
17:53and plus his other talents in the air,
17:56those combined really made him
17:58one of the great combat air leaders
18:00of World War II.
18:0356 had most of the aces
18:04most of the time.
18:06And they, 56 wound up
18:08with the highest air-to-air victories
18:12of any group in the,
18:14over in the 8th Air Force,
18:14and I think any group in the war.
18:17And they had,
18:18they were second or total
18:20aircraft destroyed,
18:22but they were first in air,
18:24air-to-air combat.
18:27I was assigned to the 63rd Squadron,
18:28which was Comstock Squadron.
18:30In fact, as there was four of us
18:31got there,
18:32it was,
18:32it was four or five,
18:35and we all finished our tours.
18:37And none of us were shot down.
18:41We, I bailed out once,
18:43and now the kids may have gotten wounded,
18:46but we all finished our tours.
18:49And that was really pretty good.
18:55In 1942,
18:56while still training in the States,
18:58the Wolfpack received the first P-47s.
19:01The unit's pilots soon discovered
19:04the new plane could be a handful.
19:06With some dangerous characteristics,
19:08the Thunderbolt could kill unsuspecting
19:10or inexperienced pilots
19:12with frightening frequency.
19:13You got going real fast
19:17and you approached the speed of sound.
19:20The plane started tucking.
19:22What do you do when it tucks straight down?
19:26Of course,
19:26the minute you start feeling
19:28that you pull the power off.
19:31And usually,
19:32by the time you've changed the air a little bit,
19:35it'll start coming out
19:37and you're all right.
19:38But I don't know of anyone,
19:40no,
19:41there were a couple cases
19:43where people did not
19:44get the power off fast enough
19:46and they went right straight
19:48into the ground.
19:50The 56 fighter group
19:51suffered many accidents
19:52in the course of working up
19:54with the P-47 in 1942.
19:56The reason for these accidents
19:58are pretty varied,
19:59but basically,
20:00the bottom line was this.
20:01The pilots who were flying
20:03this new airplane
20:04were used to T-6s
20:06and BT-13s,
20:07fairly benign aircraft.
20:09And the P-47
20:10represented a new level
20:12of power and performance
20:13that they really were,
20:15frankly, ill-equipped to deal with.
20:16So it was a tricky plane to fly.
20:20By the time they went to Europe,
20:21they had lost over a dozen pilots
20:23in training,
20:24which represents about 10%
20:26of the group dying
20:27before they even got into combat.
20:31The pilots had to learn
20:32that size didn't matter.
20:34The P-47 was simply huge.
20:37weighing in at over 13,500 pounds
20:41when loaded.
20:42With a wingspan of 40 feet,
20:45a length of 36 feet,
20:46and sitting 15 feet off the ground,
20:49the P-47 towered
20:51over the spindly-legged P-39s
20:53and sleek P-40s.
20:55The 56 had been flying.
20:57The P-47 was probably,
21:02what was the heaviest fighter
21:04that they built?
21:06It weighed 14,000 pounds loaded
21:08when you were going to take off
21:10in combat.
21:12Despite its size
21:13at high altitude,
21:14the men of the 56th
21:16discovered their new fighter
21:17could outperform
21:18every other American aircraft,
21:20Army, Air Force,
21:21or Navy of its day.
21:27Its broad wing
21:28gave it tremendous agility
21:30at heights other aircraft
21:31could hardly maneuver in effectively.
21:36Some converts
21:37were made right there.
21:39Fast and brutish looking,
21:41the P-47
21:41was the type of plane
21:43that looked like
21:43it could get into
21:44a toe-to-toe fight,
21:46take a beating,
21:47but always come out on top.
21:53And it could dish out
21:54far deadlier punishment
21:55than any other
21:56World War II fighter.
21:58With eight .50 caliber machine guns,
22:01the Thunderbolts' firepower
22:02was truly awesome.
22:06I strafed trains one day
22:08and tipped a boxcar
22:10over on its side.
22:12Not exploded,
22:14just tipped it over
22:15from the impact.
22:16It was a tremendous firepower
22:18on those .850s.
22:21Clayton Gross,
22:22a 354th Fighter Group
22:24Mustang ace,
22:26recalls being on the receiving end
22:27of a P-47 attack
22:29when he was mistaken
22:30for an ME-109.
22:34The P-47s coming in
22:36had thought
22:38they had two .109s,
22:40and so they
22:41were picking me off.
22:43They shot my canopy off.
22:46It was gone.
22:47My plane did a snap roll
22:49involuntary.
22:52And so I,
22:55well, I'm still alive,
22:56so I did a spin.
22:58I went into a spin.
23:00I did a recovery
23:02and pulled out,
23:03and here came the P-47s again,
23:05and I rocked my wing
23:07frantically,
23:08and this guy pulls up
23:09alongside of me
23:10and goes,
23:10oh!
23:12And takes off
23:14and leaves me there.
23:16And I didn't know
23:19how badly my plane
23:20had been hit.
23:21The radio worked,
23:23the controls worked.
23:24I came back,
23:26and the plane had
23:29almost 100 holes in it.
23:32Some entry,
23:33some leaving,
23:35but it was like a sieve.
23:39With terrific firepower,
23:42excellent high-altitude performance,
23:44and an airframe
23:45built to withstand
23:46massive amounts of damage,
23:48the men of the 56th Fighter Group
23:50gradually grew to love
23:51their P-47 Thunderbolts.
23:53By the time the group
23:55deployed to England
23:56to join the 8th Air Force
23:57in early 1943,
23:59its pilots were
24:00some of the fiercest
24:01P-47 advocates
24:03in the Army Air Force.
24:05When the 56th Fighter Group
24:23reached England
24:24in January of 1943,
24:26its pilots were dismayed
24:27to learn that they
24:28weren't going to be
24:29the first P-47 unit
24:31into combat after all.
24:32As it turned out,
24:34the 4th Fighter Group
24:36beat them to the punch.
24:39Formed from the famous
24:41Eagle Squadron
24:42the previous year,
24:43the 4th Fighter Group
24:45converted to Thunderbolts
24:46just a few days
24:47before the 56th
24:48arrived in England.
24:49And here,
24:55the love-hate relationship
24:56that characterized
24:57a pilot's relationship
24:58with the P-47
25:00began.
25:02The men of Don Blakeslee's
25:034th Fighter Group
25:04had been used to
25:05light and nimble
25:06Spitfires.
25:08None of them wanted
25:09to part with their spits,
25:10especially not for something
25:12as huge and ungainly
25:13as the Thunderbolt.
25:14As much as the 56th
25:17Fighter Group
25:17loved their P-47s,
25:19the 4th despised theirs.
25:23The first combat missions
25:24flown by P-47s
25:26took place
25:27in the spring of 1943.
25:30The 8th Air Force
25:31had several Thunderbolt
25:32groups by then
25:33and the units
25:33began flying sweeps
25:35over France
25:36to get acquainted
25:36with air combat.
25:37These early P-47 operations
25:43in the fighter sweeps
25:44over France
25:44were plagued
25:45by several difficulties.
25:47First of all,
25:47this was a new aircraft.
25:49It had its fair share
25:50of mechanical problems
25:51that had to be worked out.
25:53Secondly,
25:53the American pilots
25:54were simply green
25:55and inexperienced
25:56at this point in the war.
25:58And lastly,
25:58and probably most significantly,
26:00they were up against
26:01some of the best
26:02German fighter pilots
26:03at the time
26:03and therefore,
26:04some of the best
26:05in the world.
26:06And they were flying
26:07FW-190As
26:09and Messerschmitt-109Gs,
26:12some of the best
26:12fighter aircraft
26:13in the world
26:14at the time.
26:16Then on April 15th,
26:18tax day,
26:19Uncle Sam
26:20finally received payback
26:22for all the money
26:23invested in the P-47.
26:25A squadron
26:26from the 4th Fighter Group
26:27while on patrol
26:29over France
26:29caught two FW-190s
26:32in the air
26:32and shot them both down.
26:34But those would be
26:35the only victories
26:36the Thunderbolt
26:37would have
26:38for quite some time.
26:41In its first two months
26:42of combat operations,
26:43the three P-47 groups
26:45flew 2,279 sorties,
26:49resulting in 10
26:50German planes
26:51claimed as destroyed.
26:53In return,
26:5418 47s had been lost,
26:57both to enemy fire
26:58and by catastrophic
26:59engine failure.
27:01And the 56th,
27:03which had been
27:03the biggest supporter
27:05of the Thunderbolt,
27:06had yet to get
27:07its first victory.
27:11Finally,
27:12on June 12th,
27:131943,
27:14the 56th Fighter Group
27:16shot down
27:17its first plane,
27:18an FW-190.
27:20That seemed to break
27:21the group's bad luck,
27:23for on the 13th,
27:24pilots from the 56th
27:26surprised a formation
27:27of FW-190s
27:29and blasted three of them
27:30from the sky
27:31without a loss.
27:35From then on,
27:36the 56th went on
27:37a rampage,
27:38more than earning
27:39the nickname
27:39the Wolfpack.
27:40I had a 109,
27:43got a 109,
27:44I think in December.
27:46We'd chased him
27:47from altitude
27:48on down,
27:49and we were really
27:51moving going down,
27:52and so I just
27:54stayed with him,
27:54and then I,
27:55he went into the clouds,
27:56so I pulled back up,
27:58because I knew
27:58I'd overrun him,
27:59and sure,
28:00up there,
28:00he'd come out of the clouds,
28:01and I went back down
28:02at him again,
28:02and got on him
28:04and hit him right
28:04in the right wing,
28:05and he started smoking,
28:07and went on into the,
28:08crashed into the trees.
28:10So I don't know
28:11whether I killed the pilot,
28:12I didn't see a chute.
28:13The 190 I got,
28:15the guy bailed out,
28:17and the Hinkle 111,
28:18I don't know whether,
28:20I don't think anybody
28:20bailed out of that,
28:21I didn't see anybody.
28:23I think we'd been escorting,
28:24and then if we had
28:25a little bit of gas,
28:25we might go down
28:26and see if we could find
28:27up a target of opportunity,
28:29and we ran across
28:30these guys,
28:30about 20 of them.
28:32We tangled with them,
28:32and we got 15,
28:34and one guy chased one guy,
28:36but he couldn't catch him,
28:37and we were on the deck,
28:40working on the deck,
28:41and I think we could
28:42out fly him on the deck.
28:43He couldn't,
28:44he couldn't get away from me.
28:45I could turn in
28:46and keep right with him,
28:47and so I just had him
28:48going and going,
28:49and he finally decided
28:50it was better to get out
28:51than to get shot down.
28:54Toward the end
28:55of the summer of 1943,
28:57the P-47C was gradually
28:59replaced by the D model.
29:01Initially,
29:02Little distinguished
29:03the two versions.
29:06Prior to the fall of 1943,
29:09the P-47,
29:10including the D version,
29:13had really not proven itself
29:14to be effective
29:15as an escort fighter
29:16for the 8th Air Force,
29:18and the major problem
29:19was that they had
29:20this fuel-guzzling engine,
29:21and it limited their range
29:22so that they were unable
29:24to provide cover
29:25for the bombers
29:26into the main targets
29:27inside Germany,
29:28and this problem
29:29really isn't resolved
29:30until the P-47D-15 model
29:33arrives in England.
29:35This model has the ability
29:36to put wing tanks
29:37underneath each of the wings.
29:39Each of those wing tanks
29:40is 108 gallons,
29:42and that gives the P-47D-15
29:44the extra range it needs
29:45to begin to be effective
29:47as an escort fighter
29:48for the heavy bomber force.
29:53The Thunderbolt now had
29:55almost twice the amount
29:56of fuel of earlier versions,
29:58P-47s soon appeared
30:00over Germany
30:01within 150 miles of Berlin,
30:03wreaking havoc
30:04wherever they went.
30:06By the spring of 1944,
30:08the Thunderbolt
30:09had come into its own
30:10as a high-altitude
30:11escort fighter,
30:13yet just as it reached
30:14its zenith,
30:15it was eclipsed
30:16by the longer-legged
30:17P-51 Mustang.
30:24As more P-51 Mustangs
30:26flooded into England,
30:28the Thunderbolts
30:29rapidly disappeared
30:30from the 8th Air Force's inventory
30:32until only the 56th fighter group
30:34continued to fly them.
30:36The 56th refused to change over.
30:40They loved their P-47s,
30:41especially after new
30:43wide-bladed propellers arrived
30:45that greatly enhanced
30:46the plane's climb rate
30:47and acceleration.
30:48also, by this point,
30:50the Republic started to produce
30:52a lightweight,
30:53more powerful version
30:54of the P-47
30:55that only the 56th fighter group
30:57used in combat.
30:59Designated the P-47M,
31:02it was the ultimate Thunderbolt.
31:03There was about 150 of them made,
31:07and they all came
31:08to the 56th fighter group,
31:09except maybe a couple
31:10that a couple generals got.
31:12Actually, it was the best
31:13propeller plane
31:14that was actually in the war.
31:15And I think it was clocked
31:19at the fast,
31:19I think about 470 or 480.
31:22I think the 351 is about 460.
31:26It was supposed to be the,
31:27and we were the fastest,
31:28actually it was the fastest plane
31:29that they had.
31:31The P-47M also came
31:35with a dramatically increased range
31:37thanks to the advent
31:38of larger capacity
31:39external fuel tanks.
31:41This, the ultimate version
31:43of the Thunderbolt in Europe,
31:44was finally able to stay
31:46with the bombers
31:46all the way to Berlin and back.
31:51You just cruise back and forth.
31:53If you're top cover,
31:54you just kind of weave
31:55back and forth.
31:56Or if you were maybe
31:57over at the target,
31:59you'd go over the target
32:00and you just kind of weave
32:01back and forth over the target
32:02until all the bombers left
32:04and then you'd go back.
32:06Usually you'd either have
32:07a duty of taking them in,
32:09you'd pick them up
32:10a certain point,
32:11you'd take them
32:11to a certain point,
32:12then another group
32:13would relieve you.
32:15And then,
32:16because we couldn't
32:16stay up there that long,
32:18see, the bombers fly,
32:19what, 8, 9, 10-mauer mission,
32:22and depending how far it is,
32:23and then you'd go home
32:26and they would take them so far
32:27and then somebody else
32:28would pick them up
32:28and bring them home.
32:31Even in the war's
32:32waning months,
32:33the P-47 proved to be
32:35a formidable air-to-air adversary
32:37and continued to rack up
32:39an impressive toll
32:40against the Luftwaffe's
32:41best and latest fighters.
32:44My squadron flew one mission
32:46where I think they shot down
32:4811 long-nosed F-190s.
32:51Eight P-47s shot down
32:5311 long-nosed F-190s,
32:54didn't lose anybody.
32:55But I was on the Riviera,
32:58on R&R,
32:59on that mission.
33:01By war's end,
33:05the 56th fighter group
33:06had become the top-scoring
33:088th Air Force unit
33:09in air-to-air victories.
33:11While the group lost
33:12128 P-47s in combat,
33:16its pilots shot down
33:17674 German planes
33:20and destroyed another
33:21300 on the ground.
33:25With almost 1,000 planes
33:33to its credit,
33:34the Wolfpack had more
33:36than proven
33:36that when used right,
33:38the P-47 could be a terror
33:40to all its foes.
33:55Throughout 1944,
33:58as its long-range escort role
34:01diminished,
34:01the 9th Air Force
34:02adopted the P-47
34:04for a new role,
34:05ground attack.
34:07Never designed
34:08for low-altitude work,
34:10pilots weren't sure
34:10how the Thunderbolt
34:11would function
34:12down on the treetops,
34:14shooting up German targets
34:15on the ground.
34:16Though it didn't perform
34:21as well on the deck
34:22as it did at 25,000 feet,
34:25the P-47 soon more
34:26than proved its worth
34:28in its new role.
34:30In fact,
34:30by war's end,
34:32it had compiled
34:32a record so remarkable
34:34that it easily became
34:35the best American
34:36fighter-bomber of the war.
34:38Among its many contributions
34:41was as the premier
34:42American ground support
34:44machine.
34:45This was the
34:45close air support fighter
34:47par excellence
34:48in the enormity campaign.
34:51In fact,
34:52Saving Private Ryan
34:53I thought was
34:53an excellent movie,
34:54but at the end
34:55where the tank busters
34:56arrived and saved the day,
34:59their P-51 Mustangs.
35:00It would have been,
35:01I think,
35:01more accurate
35:02and more representative
35:03of what actually happened
35:04to have those be
35:04P-47 Thunderbolts
35:06doing the ground support
35:07mission.
35:08Because the P-47
35:09was a true
35:11ground support star,
35:13whereas the P-51,
35:14yes,
35:15it did those missions,
35:16but that wasn't
35:17its major contribution.
35:20On the deck,
35:21the P-47's ruggedness
35:23was its greatest asset.
35:25Many a Thunderbolt pilot
35:26survived a holocaust
35:28of flack
35:28and machine gun fire
35:30thanks to the sheer
35:31toughness
35:32of his plane's hide.
35:34I was the number
35:36four pilot
35:36being the youngest.
35:37They're the newest
35:38I should say
35:38and tooling along
35:41and suddenly
35:42the field out in front
35:44just lit up
35:45like a Christmas tree.
35:46I took something
35:47in the right wing
35:48that blew off
35:49every shell
35:50I had out there.
35:51I had not fired a round
35:53at that time,
35:55but it had to have been
35:59of incendiary nature
36:00because there wasn't
36:02any ammunition left
36:03when it was all over.
36:04It blew the gun tray lid
36:06on the four guns out
36:08on the right wing
36:08up about that high
36:10and, of course,
36:12holes all over the thing.
36:14Headed for home,
36:15decided the damn thing
36:18was flying
36:18was flying
36:18and I would stay
36:19with it.
36:21Let down then,
36:23oh, probably about
36:2320, 30 miles from home,
36:25put the wheels down
36:26way out.
36:27Everything worked fine
36:28except that the stall
36:29speed was all
36:29screwed up.
36:32Landed.
36:34I don't know
36:34if I burned the brakes
36:35out or not.
36:36I really didn't care.
36:36The Class 2060 airplane
36:38anyway.
36:39They didn't have repairs
36:40for them
36:40and with that wing
36:41the way it was.
36:43I guess I was forever
36:43thankful that the darn
36:44gear went down
36:45but, you know,
36:491,800 rounds
36:50and they, they,
36:52you could see
36:53visible flame in there
36:54from whatever hit it
36:55set it off
36:56or set the ammunition off
36:57and that was,
37:00you know,
37:02be real proud
37:03even though he didn't
37:03like the 47
37:04but having come from 38
37:05but it absorbed
37:08tremendous damage.
37:09As far as I was concerned
37:10it was a testimony
37:11to the manufacturing
37:13talent of the Republic.
37:15The Thunderbolt's
37:16powerful engine
37:17could drag aloft
37:18a dizzying array
37:19of bombs and rockets
37:21making it amazingly
37:22versatile in the
37:23fighter-bomber role.
37:26We had two 500-pound bombs
37:28and then normally
37:29we carried a frag,
37:31fragmentation bomb
37:32on the Bally 260-pound
37:33frag bomb
37:34which was an
37:35anti-personnel bomb.
37:37Carried a wide variety
37:38of bombs
37:40and what have you.
37:41we carried two 500-pound bombs,
37:43we carried napalm,
37:45we carried 1,000-pound
37:48straight GPs,
37:50we carried 1,000-pound,
37:54they were in a shell
37:59similar to a 50-gallon drum,
38:03just pure dynamite.
38:05They were concussion instruments
38:06because some of the areas
38:08that we were dive-bombing in
38:09and against troops
38:11were steep enough
38:12that the concussion,
38:15the blast,
38:16would kill people.
38:18It just depended on what
38:20the particular ground
38:21support mission
38:22requested.
38:25As the P-47's role
38:27as an escort fighter
38:28was eclipsed by the P-51,
38:30so grew its role
38:32as a ground attack weapon.
38:349th Air Force P-47s
38:36played a tremendously
38:37important role
38:38from D-Day
38:39through the end of the war,
38:40supporting the ground troops
38:41as they pushed forward
38:43into the right.
38:45We were almost entirely
38:47there to support troops
38:49on the ground.
38:50In my case,
38:51we were in what we call
38:5229th TAC,
38:53and 9th Air Force
38:54was organized into
38:55three tactical air forces,
38:579th, 19th, and 29th.
38:58And 9th was on the south end,
39:0119th was in the middle,
39:02and 29th was on the north end
39:04of the U.S. forces
39:06as we were going
39:06across France and Germany.
39:11And so we supported
39:13the troops that were
39:15in 9th Army.
39:16From their aerial perches,
39:18Thunderbolt pilots
39:19searched out
39:20any targets of opportunity.
39:22We would go out
39:23and they'd say
39:24armed reconnaissance.
39:26And what that meant
39:27essentially was
39:27if you see anything moving,
39:29go shoot, go hit it.
39:31Because by that time
39:32in the war,
39:33the Germans,
39:34there were no civilian
39:35vehicles moving in Germany.
39:37They were all related
39:39to the military in some way.
39:39Even the horse-drawn
39:40and all that
39:42were usually carrying
39:42ammunition or food
39:44or something for the troops.
39:46Anything from a single
39:47staff car
39:48to a convoy of trucks
39:49would be a target
39:50if it was moving
39:52and we were there.
39:53Sometimes,
39:54while strafing one target,
39:55another presented itself.
39:58I can recall a mission
39:59where we were strafing
40:00about four or five
40:02large trucks.
40:04They weren't semis.
40:05They were big vans
40:07on a truck chassis
40:09and just going down
40:11a road and convoy
40:12and we were strafing those
40:14and they were coming
40:17to an intersection,
40:18a 90-degree intersection
40:19in the road.
40:20and in one corner
40:22of that was a woods
40:23and as my flight commander
40:26was pulling off the target,
40:28he just had them
40:29look down in the woods
40:30and he said,
40:30hey, that woods
40:31is full of airplanes.
40:33So next time around,
40:34he made a pass
40:36on the woods,
40:37strafing.
40:38We hadn't had a shot
40:39fired at us
40:40until then
40:40the whole sky lit up
40:41and he got
40:43104 or 5 holes
40:45in the squadron
40:45commander's airplane
40:46in the process,
40:48lost a cylinder
40:48off his engine
40:49and I lost his radio.
40:53I was flying his wing
40:54and he hollered at us,
40:55don't come in
40:55and none of the rest
40:56of us did
40:57so he's the only one
40:57that got hit.
40:59But he got it home
41:01with 104 holes
41:02in the airplane
41:03and one cylinder
41:04missing off the engine
41:05and so on
41:07and the next day
41:08they went back out
41:08and bombed the airfield
41:10itself and knocked it out.
41:13Tanks were prime targets
41:15for the roving bands
41:16of Thunderbolt pilots
41:17during the Battle
41:18of the Bulge
41:19the P-47 squadrons
41:21helped blunt
41:21the German attack
41:22on those few days
41:24when the weather
41:24cleared enough
41:25to get planes aloft.
41:27Our target ended up
41:28being a row of
41:30I think it was five
41:31might have been six
41:32Tiger tanks
41:33that were parked
41:35in open field
41:36with snow on the ground
41:37so they were
41:38very visible
41:39parked in an open field
41:41and I think probably
41:43because of the fuel
41:44situation
41:44they were out of
41:45the Germans had no fuel
41:46they were out of fuel
41:47and they had parked
41:48them there
41:48and lined them up
41:49and were using them
41:49as artillery
41:50but those were
41:54our targets
41:55and it's kind of
41:56a story in my group
41:57or in my squadron
41:59I just saw the guy
42:00yesterday
42:00dropped a 500 pound bomb
42:04right down the open
42:05hatch of a Tiger tank
42:06it just happened
42:07to go right in the hatch.
42:10During the crossing
42:11of the line
42:12the 9th Air Force's
42:13P-47s once more
42:15played a key role
42:16in the overall operation
42:17thousands of allied aircraft
42:19poured over the
42:20Weik's western frontier
42:22suppressing flak batteries
42:24wiping out tanks
42:25trucks and infantry units
42:27with ghastly effectiveness
42:29yet the Germans
42:33with all their proficiency
42:35were able to strike back
42:36with desperate intensity
42:38We went up there
42:39with bombs
42:40and guns
42:41and waited
42:41to be hollered at
42:43for a target
42:43you know
42:43or something like that
42:44We watched the paratroopers
42:46go in
42:47and the Germans
42:49actually
42:50when the paratroopers
42:50crossed
42:51went across
42:52I don't know
42:53how high they were
42:54but I would guess
42:555 or 6,000 feet
42:56the Germans
42:58actually lowered
42:58the 88s
42:59the 80 aircraft
43:0088s
43:01and fired
43:02so that the shells
43:04broke
43:04in the
43:05amongst the parachutes
43:07after the guys
43:07were out of the airplane
43:08their chutes were open
43:09and it was
43:11it was pretty bad
43:12you could just see that
43:13and the gliders came in
43:14they were getting hit too
43:15but
43:16and while we were doing
43:19I'm waiting for a target
43:20to be called
43:20we had a squadron
43:22of British Lancasters
43:23come overhead
43:24and open a bomb bay doors
43:26and start dropping bombs
43:27just almost through
43:27our formation
43:28there was a lot of
43:31a lot going on
43:33and it wasn't all
43:33coordinated as well
43:34as it could have been
43:35nobody got hit or hurt
43:37so we were okay
43:37by war's end
43:40Thunderbolt units
43:42had destroyed
43:42more targets
43:43than any other
43:44British or American
43:45fighter bomber
43:46tens of thousands
43:48of trucks
43:49hundreds of tanks
43:50thousands of aircraft
43:52troops
43:52and tons of supplies
43:54went up in flames
43:55as a result
43:56of marauding
43:57P-47 attacks
43:58no other aircraft
44:00packed as devastating
44:01a punch
44:02and nothing in the air
44:03could take the amount
44:04of ground fire
44:05and get its pilot home
44:06as could the beloved
44:08P-47 Thunderbolt
44:10when the world
44:16celebrated VE Day
44:17the jugged pilots
44:18in the 8th
44:1912th
44:2015th
44:20and 9th Air Forces
44:22could look back
44:23with pride
44:23on their accomplishments
44:24knowing that they
44:26played a significant role
44:27in defeating
44:28the Nazi war machine
44:30while the P-47
44:47played an integral role
44:48in the war in Europe
44:49Thunderbolts had less success
44:51in the Pacific Theater
44:53until very late
44:54in the war
44:54the major thing
44:56that stymied
44:56the P-47's operational use
44:58against the Japanese
44:59was its massive
45:01fuel consumption
45:02what really
45:05shook us up
45:07when we were getting
45:08P-47s in New Guinea
45:10was the way that thing
45:12consumed gasoline
45:13fuel consumption
45:17was enormous
45:17you know
45:18compared to a P-40
45:21the P-47
45:22represented a lot
45:23of challenges
45:24to the guys
45:24in the 5th Air Force
45:25one of which
45:26was the fact
45:27that it consumed
45:28fuel at such a rapid rate
45:29but when the
45:31348th Fighter Group
45:32arrived in the
45:33Southwest Pacific
45:33its commanding officer
45:35Neil Kirby
45:36became one of the
45:37advocates
45:37for the Thunderbolt
45:39and he went all over
45:40to different fighter units
45:41in the 5th Air Force
45:42to try to convince
45:44he was almost
45:45evangelical about it
45:47to try to convince
45:49the other fighter leaders
45:49that this was a terrific
45:50aircraft type
45:51he was met by
45:53stiff resistance
45:53but eventually
45:54there were several
45:55Thunderbolt groups
45:56that were deployed
45:57into the Southwest Pacific
45:58and they gradually
45:59figured out ways
46:01to work around
46:01the fuel consumption issues
46:02half a world away
46:05Claire Chenault's
46:0614th Air Force
46:08in China
46:08was offered
46:09the P-47
46:10Chenault
46:12with his crippling
46:13fuel shortage
46:13was not impressed
46:15they took the P-47
46:18they carried him across
46:19to China
46:22and when
46:24Chenault found out
46:25the kind of fuel
46:26consumption the P-47
46:27had he kicked him
46:27out of there
46:28in one big hurry
46:29just couldn't afford
46:30that kind of a drain
46:32on his limited
46:33fuel supplies
46:35though the P-47
46:38never saw widespread
46:39use in China
46:40it turned out to be
46:41an excellent
46:42fighter bomber
46:43for Burma
46:43here as in other
46:50theaters
46:50the P-47's
46:51legendary ruggedness
46:52saved many lives
46:54meanwhile
47:06as the front
47:07moved closer
47:08to Japan
47:09in the central
47:09Pacific
47:10the P-47 squadrons
47:12of the 7th Air Force
47:13were in the vanguard
47:14of the advance
47:15when the Marines
47:20and Army
47:21landed in the
47:21Marianas Islands
47:22in June of 1944
47:24the P-47s
47:26of the 318th
47:27fighter group
47:28were operating
47:28from the island
47:29within just a few days
47:31after the invasion
47:32of Saipan
47:32getting to Saipan
47:36however proved
47:37to be a great challenge
47:38unable to ferry them in
47:40from any forward
47:41central Pacific air bases
47:42the 7th Air Force
47:44resorted to putting
47:45the 318th's P-47s
47:47on escort carriers
47:49the baby flat tops
47:51sailed to the Marianas
47:52laden with the
47:53ungainly thunderbolts
47:55once off of Saipan
47:57the men of the 318th
47:58climbed into their
47:59P-47s
48:00and catapulted off
48:01the narrow carrier decks
48:03miraculously
48:04not a single
48:05P-47 was lost
48:07during the operation
48:08and the 318th
48:10was soon operating
48:11in support of the
48:12ground troops
48:13from Isley Field
48:14on Saipan
48:15it was the only time
48:21in history
48:22where thunderbolts
48:23were launched
48:24from aircraft carriers
48:25and it had been
48:26a rousing success
48:27at war's end
48:31the 7th
48:3213th
48:33and 5th
48:33air forces
48:34P-47 groups
48:35were being marshaled
48:36around Ishma
48:37and Okinawa
48:38in preparation
48:39for the invasion
48:40of Japan
48:41flying ground attack
48:43combat air patrol
48:44and long range
48:45escort engines
48:46right up to
48:47the Japanese surrender
48:48the Pacific thunderbolts
48:50gave a solid
48:50if unspectacular
48:52account of themselves
48:53in one of the last
48:56great thunderbolt fights
48:58the 318th
48:59fighter group
48:59managed to shoot
49:01down 34
49:02kamikazes
49:03off Okinawa
49:04in a running
49:054 hour battle
49:06the last major
49:15production variant
49:16of the P-47
49:17was the N-Mon
49:18and about 1800
49:19were built
49:20and Republic Aviation
49:21had designed them
49:22specifically
49:22to overcome
49:23the vast distances
49:24involved in the
49:25Pacific war
49:26the P-47N
49:27had a much greater
49:29internal fuel capacity
49:30and they were capable
49:31of escorting
49:32B-29s
49:33all the way
49:34to Japan
49:34and back
49:35from bases
49:35on Iwo Jima
49:36and Okinawa
49:37when Japan
49:39finally surrendered
49:40in August of 1945
49:42the thunderbolt
49:43had become
49:44the most heavily
49:44produced American
49:45fighter of its
49:46generation
49:47with over 15,000
49:49being produced
49:50as an escort
49:52aircraft
49:52and ground
49:53attack weapon
49:54the P-47
49:55formed the backbone
49:56of the Army Air Force's
49:57fighter commands
49:58through the tough
49:59middle years
50:00of World War II
50:01in the post-war years
50:03the P-47
50:04quickly disappeared
50:06by the early 1950s
50:08the once
50:09omnipresent
50:10P-47
50:11had become
50:12as scarce
50:12as the
50:13Dodo Bird
50:14as the war
50:19faded into memory
50:20the thunderbolt
50:21and its accomplishments
50:22were steadily obscured
50:23by the P-51 Mustang
50:25for 55 years
50:28the P-47
50:29has lived
50:30in the P-51's
50:31shadow
50:32in reality
50:33no other fighter
50:35contributed more
50:36to victory
50:36than the thunderbolt
50:38it did the dirty work
50:40the trying
50:41ground attack
50:42and close air
50:42support missions
50:43that held no glory
50:45but saved the lives
50:46of countless GIs
50:48in the process
50:50the P-47
50:51thunderbolt
50:51played a key role
50:53in the defeat
50:53of the Wehrmacht
50:54on the western front
50:55at the same time
50:57the P-47
50:58helped crush
50:59the Luftwaffe
51:00in the air
51:00and on the ground
51:01setting the stage
51:03for total
51:03allied air superiority
51:05by D-Day
51:06a workhorse
51:12loved by some
51:14despised by others
51:15the P-47
51:17ranks as one of the
51:18greatest aerial weapons
51:20of World War II
51:21by D-Day
51:23the P-47
51:24who is the
51:26one of the
51:27battles
51:28I don't know
51:28about the
51:29war
51:29but the
51:30the
51:31of the
51:32varied
51:34and
51:35I don't know
51:36the
51:37the
51:37the
51:38the
51:39of the
51:40the
51:40the
51:40the
51:40the
51:41the
51:42the
51:43the
51:44the
51:45the
51:45the
51:46the
51:47the
51:47the