"Why should we have a navy at all? There are no enemies for it to fight except apparently the Army Air Force."
- General Carl Spaatz, Commander of the US 8th Army Air Force, after WWII

Nicknamed the "Jug" for its bulky shape, the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was considered a monster of a machine. Despite its size, the Thunderbolt proved to be a fast and maneuverable warbird able to hold its own in combat. In fact, when Allied pilots climbed aboard a P-47, they knew the were in control of a fighting machine with enormous power. More importantly, they knew that if their aircraft was hit but gunfire, they had an excellent chance of making it home.

Refinements to the Thunderbolt continued throughout its career, leading to the P-47D, which was the most produced version with 12,558 built. The "D" model actually consisted of a series of evolving production blocks, the last of which were visibly different from the first.

The first P-47Ds were actually the same as P-47Cs. Republic could not produce Thunderbolts fast enough at its Farmingdale plant on Long Island, so a new plant was built at Evansville, Indiana. The Evansville plant first built a total of 110 P-47D-1-RAs, which were completely identical to P-47C-2s. Farmingdale aircraft were identified by the -RE suffix after the block number, while Evansville aircraft were given the -RA suffix.

The P-47D-1 through P-47D-6, the P-47D-10, and the P-47D-11 successively incorporated changes such as the addition of more engine cooling flaps around the back of the cowl to reduce the engine overheating problems that had been seen in the field. Engines and engine subsystems saw refinement, (the P-47D-10 introduced the R-2800-63, replacing the R-2800-21 seen in previous P-47s) as did the fuel, oil and hydraulic systems. Additional armor protection was also added for the pilot.

The P-47D-15 was produced in response to requests by combat units for increased range. "Wet" (equipped with fuel plumbing) underwing pylons were introduced to allow a bomb or drop tank pressurized by vented exhaust air to be carried under each wing, in addition to the belly tank.

Pictured here is a 1:48 scale replica of a P-47D Thunderbolt fighter that was piloted by Lt Col Benjamin Mayo, who was attached to the 82nd Fighter Squadron "Death with Finesse", 78th Fighter Group, then deployed to Duxford Air Base, during 1944. Sold Out!

Dimensions:
Wingspan: 10-inches
Length: 8-3/4-inches

Release Date: July 2013

Historical Account: "On Target" - The 82nd Fighter Squadron saw combat in the ETO, April 13th. 1943 - April 25th, 1945. Training, maneuvers, and air defense, April-September 1945. Part of the occupation forces in Germany, August 1946 - June 1947. Air defense in United States, January 1949 - March 1953 and October 1954 - February 1966.

It was a fighter squadron based at Travis Air Force Base, California until 1966, when it was deployed to Naha Air Base, Okinawa. The prime aircraft of the squadron was the F-102 Delta Dagger, or "Deuce", which was the more common nickname. In order to deploy to Naha, each plane was configured with refueling probes and required extensive training. This was one of the few times, it was done to a relatively short-ranged fighter jet. In January 1968, the 82nd was scrambled to South Korea in response to the Pueblo Incident, where North Korea had seized the USS Pueblo. The 82nd Fighter Interceptor Squadron maintained a presence in South Korea with a detachment of temporarily assigned aircraft (12) and personnel (TDY) to Suwon AB ROK. The squadron continued service until May 31st, 1971, when the 51st Fighter Interceptor Wing along with all the other support squadrons (including the 82nd Fighter Interceptor Squadron) were inactivated.