![]() At full power, the pipes glowed red at their forward ends and the turbine spun at 21,300 rpm. The engine exhaust gases were routed into a pair of wastegate-equipped pipes that ran along each side of the cockpit to drive the turbosupercharger turbine at the bottom of the fuselage, about halfway between cockpit and tail. ![]() The cowling admitted cooling air for the engine, left and right oil coolers, and the turbosupercharger intercooler system. The loss of the AP-4 prototype to an engine fire ended Kartveli's experiments with tight-fitting cowlings, so the engine was placed in a broad cowling that opened at the front in a "horse collar"-shaped ellipse. Power came from a Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp two-row 18-cylinder radial engine producing 2,000 hp (1,500 kW)-the same engine that would power the prototype Vought XF4U-1 fighter to just over 400 mph (644 km/h) in October 1940-with the Double Wasp on the XP-47B turning a four-bladed Curtiss Electric constant-speed propeller of 146 in (3.7 m) in diameter. The olive-green pipe returns the compressed air to the engine Uncompressed air enters through an intake under the engine and is carried to the turbosupercharger behind the pilot via the silver duct at the bottom. gal (1,155 L).Ī P-47 engine with the cowling removed. Main and auxiliary self-sealing fuel tanks were placed under the cockpit, giving a total fuel capacity of 305 U.S. The air-conditioned cockpit was roomy and the pilot's seat was comfortable-"like a lounge chair", as one pilot later put it. The XP-47B was of all-metal construction (except for the fabric-covered tail control surfaces) with elliptical wings, with a straight leading edge that was slightly swept back. The XP-47A, which had little in common with the new design, was abandoned. The Air Corps ordered a prototype in September as the XP-47B. Kartveli then designed a much larger fighter, which was offered to the USAAC in June 1940. Republic tried to improve the design, proposing the XP-47A but this failed. In the spring of 1940, Republic and the USAAC concluded that the XP-44 and the XP-47 were inferior to Luftwaffe fighters. The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) backed the project and gave it the designation XP-47. 50 in (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns. The latter was a lightweight aircraft powered by the Allison V-1710 liquid-cooled V-12 engine and armed with eight. ![]() A small number of Republic P-43 Lancers were built but Republic had been working on an improved P-44 Rocket with a more powerful engine, as well as on the AP-10 fighter design. In 1939, Republic Aviation designed the AP-4 demonstrator powered by a Pratt & Whitney R-1830 radial engine with a belly-mounted turbocharger. Both had fled from their homeland to escape the Bolsheviks. The P-47 Thunderbolt was a design of Russian immigrant of Georgian ethnicity Alexander Kartveli, and was to replace the Seversky P-35 that was developed earlier by Russian immigrant Alexander P. P-47 firing its M2 machine guns during night gunnery 7 Specifications (P-47D-30 Thunderbolt)Īmerican pre-war fighter Republic P-43 Lancer.ground-attack aircraft, the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II, takes its name from the P-47. The armored cockpit was relatively roomy and comfortable and the bubble canopy introduced on the P-47D offered good visibility. Mexican and Brazilian squadrons fighting alongside the USAAF also flew the P-47. The P-47 was one of the main United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) fighters of World War II, and also served with other Allied air forces, including those of France, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union. The Thunderbolt was effective as a short-to medium-range escort fighter in high-altitude air-to-air combat and ground attack in both the European and Pacific theaters. Marine Corps fighters, the Grumman F6F Hellcat and the Vought F4U Corsair. The P-47 was designed around the powerful Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp engine, which was also used by two U.S. When fully loaded, the P-47 weighed up to eight tons, making it one of the heaviest fighters of the war. 50-caliber machine guns and in the fighter-bomber ground-attack role it could carry five-inch rockets or a bomb load of 2,500 pounds (1,103 kg). The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was a World War II era fighter aircraft produced by the United States from 1941 through 1945.
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