P-47 Thunderbolt

P-47 Thunderbolt
P-47N flying over the Pacific during World War II
Role	Fighter-bomber
Manufacturer	Republic Aviation
Designer	Alexander Kartveli
First flight	6 May 1941
Introduction	November 1942
Retired	1966, Peruvian Air Force
Primary users	United States Army Air Forces Royal Air Force French Air Force
Produced	1941–1945
Number built	15,660 or 15,677
Unit cost	US$ 83,000 in 1945
Variants	Republic XP-72

The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was a World War II era fighter aircraft produced by the United States between 1941–1945. Its primary armament was eight .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). When fully loaded the P-47 weighed up to eight tons (tonnes) making it one of the heaviest fighters of the war. The P-47 was designed around the powerful Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp engine which was also used by two U.S. Navy fighters, the Grumman F6F Hellcat and the Vought F4U Corsair. 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 World War II European and Pacific theaters.

The P-47 was one of the main United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) fighters of World War II, and served with Allied air forces including France, Britain, and Russia. Mexican and Brazilian squadrons fighting alongside the U.S. were equipped with the P-47.

The armored cockpit was relatively roomy and comfortable, offering good visibility. A modern-day U.S. ground-attack aircraft, the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II, takes its name from the P-47.

The P-47 Thunderbolt, nicknamed the "Jug", was a design of Georgian immigrant Alexander Kartveli, and was to replace the Seversky P-35 that was developed earlier by Russian immigrant Alexander P. de Seversky (born in the same place as Kartveli: Tbilisi, Georgia). Both had fled from their homeland to escape the Bolsheviks.