Republic P-47 Thunderbolt Walkaround

The first message I received from our website group email list, on the day it was activated, was from Jack Riggar. He was building the Hasagawa 1/48 Thunderbolt he won at the previous meeting and needed some references on the landing gear struts. This prompted me dust off these old negatives and scan them in for all to enjoy.

You will quickly notice that there are two different aircraft shown here. Unfortunately, I haven't kept very good records of when and where I took most of my photographs.

The color shots are of a P-47D-40RA restored by by Bill Klaers and Alan Wojciak of Klaers Aviation in Rialto, California. They were taken at the Half Moon Bay "Dream Machine" exhibit around 1995. There are some more nice photos of this Jug (including an interior shot) on the Flight Journal website.

The black and white shots are of P-47N 44-89320. It is currently listed as belonging to the Air Force Museum. But, these photos were taken over twenty years ago during a great summer museum sweep I made with former IPMS national president Bob LaBouy through the central and southern US. I have no idea where we were!

For those of you who may be looking for interior information, there are scans of the original P-47 pilot's manual (and lots of other cool stuff) on the Zeno's Warbird Video Drive-in website.

Happy modeling! - Greg

Not mine! I found it on the NASM video disk collection.
A more tightly cropped, but clearer version of this photo appeared in the Flight Journal, P-47 Thunderbolt special issue Fall 2003. It identifies the aircraft as Col. Francis Gabreski's "HV-A" 42-26418. The armorers are Sgt. John Koval and Sgt. Joe DiFransa. The 28 victory markings, Gabreski's final total, date the photo to a few weeks before July 20, 1944 when he crashed in Germany and became a POW.