Originally posted by bkbandit
the 51 was in the fightin the japs aswell as the jug. And the jug didnt do most of the work. 51 maintained air dominace over both europe and japan. And the 51 more or less replaced the 47. And still we are forgeting the p38s,f4us,f6fs and even the p40. The allies had alot of good fighters but the 51 was the top of the line. DOnt get me wrong i like jugs but to say they did most of the work is disrespectful to all the other great fighter planes.
I think the aces high jug isnt what its supposed to be and needs to be reworked. I have read some storys about jug being chased by 109s and just taking all the punishment until the 109 run out of ammo and went home. Pilot lands and counts over 150 hits all over the plane from machine guns and cannons but thats a whole new post in itself.
Long before the P-51 arrived in Britain, P-47s were escorting bombers as far as Bremen. Thunderbolt units went operational in March and April of 1943. They were finally assisted by P-38s in November of 1943, with the first P-51 units arriving a few weeks later. Before the P-51 made any difference in the ETO, P-47s had already badly mauled the Luftwaffe. However, they suffered through the learning curve and much of what was learned was applied after units began re-equiping with P-51s in the spring and summer of 1944. P-51s were excellent fighters, but had nothing on the P-47 at high altitude.
A P-47 Group, the 56th had more air to air kills than any other Group in the ETO, with the exception of the 354th, which claimed 24 more than the 56th. However, 37 of the 354th's claims were of trainers. Only the 56th fighter group was to retain P-47s throughout the war within the 8th AF.
Thunderbolts saw combat in every major theater of the war. From the ETO to the MTO, down the SWPA, the PTO and the CBI theater. In the central Pacific, the P-47N was quite numerous in the last months of the war, and it numbers were rapidly growing when the war ended. Designed specifically for the Pacific war, the P-47N out-ranged even the P-51D.
No other American fighter in Europe had a lower loss per sortie rate than the Jug. Which is remarkable in that the P-47 was the primary close support fighter in the various Army Air Forces.
You can certainly claim that the P-51 finished off the Luftwaffe, but it was the P-47 that badly beat up the Luftwaffe during 1943, and significantly changed how the Luftwaffe would combat the bomber raids thereafter.
BTW, P-47s were incredibly rugged aircraft. However, a single 20mm hit could bring down any fighter, including the P-47 if hit in a critical location.
My regards,
Widewing
