Engine start-up of a rare 1945 Republic P-47D Thunderbolt "Tallahassee Lassie" (NX7159Z) followed by a taxi-off with the North American P-51B Mustang "Impatient Virgin" (NX5087F) @ the 2013 Arlington Fly-In (Arlington, WA USA).

This beautiful restored Thunderbolt is based at the Flying Heritage Collection. The Flying Heritage Collection is Paul G. Allen's collection of rare military aircraft and based at the Paine Field Airport (KPAE) in Everett WA USA.

Marvellous!!!

The P-47 sounds so much better than
the V-12, which is rather flatulent and
lightweight in comparison.

It's too bad the P-47 is so rare. WWII
could not have been won without it, and
very few people have any interest in them.
Fantastic airplane.

My favorite WWII fighters:

P-47, Sea Fury, Corsair, FW190.

Real airplanes. The FW190 was designed by
a guy named "Tank". Really. And the Sea Fury
was actually designed by Hawker after they
examined a captured FW190. And guys with
huge balls of steel used to land Corsairs on
straight-deck carriers (no bolter). Incredible.



Compare them to the V-12 fighters, which
could be brought down by a kid with a .22
to the radiator.

But it has an oil filter!!!!!!!

Colonel Sanders wrote:
It's too bad the P-47 is so rare. WWII
could not have been won without it, and
very few people have any interest in them.

Not quite, they just would have won the war with different airplanes. Maybe not in as much style. Unfortunately at the end of the way the Mustang won the popularity contest when the new USAF was trying to standardize things, so P-47s went to the bone yards and Mustangs were the surplus fighter of choice that went to new fledgeling allied airforces in the post war time. Consequently less of them survived or were sold as surplus. Neat bit of trivia: The only Mexican unit to serve in Europe in WWII was a squadron of P-47s.

Fantastic airplane.

Indeed. Once one realises that it was designed by a Russian, it all makes sense.

The FW190 was designed by
a guy named "Tank". Really. And the Sea Fury
was actually designed by Hawker after they
examined a captured FW190.

You must have been pretty disappointed when the end version of the FW190 was switched back to a liquid cooled V (and the plane that bear's Kurt Tank's name was a variant of this plane). The Sea Fury evolved from the Typhoon, by way of the Tempest Mk II when they finally decided that H block engines in planes wasn't a great idea. The Fury (and later Sea Fury) were lightened versions there of, by then which the fleet air arm was looking to replace the Seafires in anticipation of increased operations against Japan. Surprising you're not a bigger fan of Japanese aircraft, whom almost exclusively used radial engine fighters.

My personal favorite of which would have to be the N1K "George". Too bad none are in flying condition. Anyhow, here's some real Japanese radial noise.



I also like the early war radial engine fighters. The Hawk 75 is a neat little plane.



And Who doesn't love the Wildcat?

A friend of mine (John) owns this lovely Grumman F8F "Bearcat":



Interesting airplane. Different times:

As a weight-saving concept the designers came up with detachable wingtips; if the "g"-force exceeded 7.5 "g", then the tips would snap off, leaving a perfectly flyable aircraft still capable of carrier landing.

While this worked very well under carefully controlled conditions in flight and on the ground, in the field, where aircraft were repetitively stressed by landing on carriers and since the wings were slightly less carefully made in the factories, there was a possibility that only one wingtip would break away with the possibility of the aircraft crashing.

This was replaced with an explosives system to blow the wing tips off together, which also worked well, however this ended when a ground technician died due to accidental triggering. In the end the wings were reinforced and the aircraft limited to 7.5 "g".

Yeah, sure it was. And speaking of departing the zone vertically:

An unmodified production F8F-1 set a 1946 time-to-climb record (after a run of 115 ft/35 m) of 10,000 ft (3,048 m) in 94 seconds (6,383 fpm). The Bearcat held this record for 10 years until it was broken by a modern jet fighter (which still could not match the Bearcat's short takeoff distance).

Here is a really good video on the P-47

http://youtu.be/75RwPrdAej8

G'day Shiny

The P-47 and later re-designated the F-47 (in 1948) served the U.S.A.A.F./U.S.A.F until 1949. Thunderbolts served with the Air National Guard until 1953. Many Air National Guard units had their Mustangs appropriated for service in Korea and were given F-47's as a replacement aircraft.

During the Second World War, the 201st Fighter Squadron of the Mexican Expeditionary Air Force flew Thunderbolts while assigned the the U.S.A.A.F.'s 5th Air Force in the Philippines.

The Brazilian Air Force (part of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force) flew Thunderbolts in support of the Italian Campaign during the Second World War.

Cheers...Chris

The brazillians! How could I forget the brazillians!

Either way, for whatever reason the P-47 didn't stay in US inventory for as long as the Mustang did after the war. Not as glamorous I guess.

And... The P51 Mustang was designed by a German.

And the Beaver was designed by a Pole....


I love the Jug..... it just epitomizes the American thought process that there is nothing that can't be solved by simply adding more power...... the AC Cobra, the SS United States, the Saturn V.... just awesome!

Real airplanes. The FW190 was designed by
a guy named "Tank".

Don't you think the aerobatic Extra looks very much like a FW 190.