1/48 P-47 Bubbletop

Gallery Article by Mark L. Rossmann on Apr 13 2018

 

      

History
The P-47 was an outstanding escort and ground attack aircraft and was the heaviest and largest single seat fighter built during WWII. It rose out of a humble beginning which saw its ancestors the P-35 and P-43 fall short of expectations.

Alexander Kartveli continued the lineage with the cream of the crop, the P-47. In 1939 Republic created two prototypes, one with an Allison liquid cooled engine, which turned out quite inadequate, underpowered and woefully short in high altitude performance.

The second built around the new 2000-h-p 18-cylinder Pratt and Whitney Double Wasp radial which was also used by the P-61 Black Widow, F4U Corsair and the F6F Hellcat. The P-47 had an exhaust-gas-powered feeding system where air entered the cowling intake carrying it to the supercharger behind the cockpit, via an air duct passing through the belly of the plane. The turbine used the engine exhaust gasses to run, which caused the compressed air to high temperatures, then passing into the intercooler before entering the engine carburetor via air ducts on either side of the cockpit. This allowed the P-47 to maintain its great performance at high altitudes escorting the B-17 and B-24.

The uniqueness of the engine and supercharger feed system proved exceptional in the test flights as the P-47 reached speeds over 410 m.p.h., with a climb to 15,000 feet in 5 minutes. And mind you, the take-off weight of the test aircraft was nearly 5 ½ tons. 

The XP-47B was submitted to the USAAC in June of 1940, and was accepted on the spot, with an initial order of 773 aircraft. 

In March of '42', barely 3 months after Pearl attack, the first Thunderbolts came off the production line. An initial shortcoming was the fabric skinned rudder which was causing accidents; a change to a metal skin cured the problem.

The first unit to take them to war was the 8th A.F. 56th Fighter group. The "Jug" or "T-Bolt" as it was fondly known saw 15,683 of all versions produced, coming in 3 short of the Mustang at 15,686 aircraft. In comparison about 35,000 BF-109s and 10,500 Zeroes were produced.

Armament throughout the series consisted of 8 Colt-Browning 50 caliber machine guns, each loaded with 267 to 425 rounds. Also capable of carrying over 1 ton of bombs, drop tanks and bazooka tube clusters.

Both the British and U.S. were having visibility problems to the rear of aircraft. British designed the Malcolm Hood canopy for the Spitfire and many were fitted to P-51B and a few P-47D's. However, the "Tear Drop" canopy was devised by the British for the Typhoon, the U.S. liked it so much that the next aircraft to have this type was the P-47, followed by the P-51.

The P-47-D-25 series is when the "Bubble-Top" appeared and the nickname "Jug" came about as it looked like a milk bottle. Others claim it to derive from "Juggernaut" as the P-47 swept through western Europe from D-Day till the defeat of Nazi Germany. 

The YP-47K was fitted with the "Bubble Top" an original P-47-D11RE, The Super Bolt as pilots called it initially, started flying in Europe in May of 1944, as the "-25-RE" It had a Hamilton Standard Hydromatic 13 ft prop driven by a R2-2800-59 or -63 engine. The new set-up allowed for a 2,300 H.P. war emergency rating for this type. Additional features included larger internal fuel tanks and upgraded centerline shackles to carry the 150 gal drop tank. 

At first the flight leads and group commanders received this type, however as the summer of '44' wore on to fall, the heavy ground attack losses saw the -25,26 and 27 become the main P-47 type.

Early on the "Jug" was used as an escort to the ETO heavies but was replaced as the P-51 came on-line; its best role was that of a ground attack aircraft both in the ETO, MTO, PTO and CBI theaters. P-47's was used by the U.S., British, French, Mexican, Brazilian and Russian air forces.

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All models built up well, each has its own building points

Aircraft
Note: After the block number, Evansville aircraft were identified by the -RE suffix, while Farmingdale aircraft were given the -RA suffix.

ETO: 
Aircraft: P-47D-28-RE, Unnamed (420030) - Unknown disposition
Unit: Second Escadrille GCIII/3 "Ardennes", Saint Sauver 1945.
Pilot: Unknown Pilot

Model: Hasegawa 1/48th, Carpena Decals- 48-116

ETO: 
Aircraft: "Eileen", P-47D-28-RA, (428878) - Unknown disposition
Unit: 84th FG, 78th Squadron, Duxford England fall 1944.
Pilot: 1st Lt. Frank E. Oiler

Model: Tamiya 1/48th, AeroMaster Decals - 48-083 Thunderbolts Galore II

MTO:
Aircraft: "Grumpy", P-47D-26-RE, (SN Unknown) - Unknown Disposition
Unit: 527th FS, 86th FG, 15th AF, Italy Autumn 1944.
Pilot: Pilot Unknown

Model: Academy 1/48th, Eagle Strike - 48164 Best Sellers Thunderbolts

CBI:
Aircraft: Unnamed, Type Unknown, possibly a D-25, (HD135) - Unknown Disposition
Unit: #81 Squadron (FL) - (Burma)
Pilot: Unknown

Model: Monogram 1/48th, Kit Decals

Paint: 
Tamiya sprays: AS-6 Olive Drab and AS-7 USAAF Gray (French)
Tamiya sprays: TS-30 Silver, AS-6 Olive Drab, TS-86 Pure Red, Testers Flat White (red 
stripes cut from decal and applied individually). (GRUMPY)
Tamiya sprays: AS-11 RAF Medium Sea Grey, AS-10 RAF Ocean Grey and AS-9 RAF 
Dark Green, Testers Flat White for SEAC bands (RAF)
Tamiya sprays: TS-29 Gloss Black, AS-10 RAF Ocean Grey, AS-14 USAF Olive Green,
Testers Flat White (Eileen)

References: 

1. Rand McNally WWII Airplanes - Volume 2
2. WikiWand - No. 81 Squadron
3. P-47 Thunderbolt with the USAAF in the MTO, Asia and Pacific - SMI Library(Kagero) 
4. Eagle Strike - 48164
5. Carpena Decals- 48-116
6. AeroMaster Decals - 48-083 Thunderbolts Galore II
7. Monogram and Academy instruction sheets

Thanks to Steve for his great site and providing readers a means to provide articles.

Respectfully,

Mark L. Rossmann

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Photos and text © by Mark L. Rossmann