How good was the P-47?

[LilMak]

If memory serves…7 of the top 10 American Aces to n the ETO flew the Jug. I believe 5 or 6 of them were 56th pilots. There were many great “fighters”.  The Jug was simply the best all around war machine. It flew more sorties. Destroyed more stuff. And came home when it was done.

[SIM]

Another good read

https://www.cradleofaviation.org/history/history/aircraft/p-47_thunderbolt_aviation_darwinism.html

[oboe]

Learn about the Thunderbolt in under 20 min, find out why it was one of the best planes of WWII:

[GasTeddy]

Also, ground grew found paintwork useful during lull time.

[Tig]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S27wKScRZi4

Thought I'd share this, a freshly restored P-47D razorback "Bonnie" at Oshkosh recently. 
By far my favorite Jug, and probably the only one I think is pretty in any way.
Although I don't have a sub at the moment, I've been fooling around with it in the Match Play arena, and it's a very interesting bird. Picking up a few tricks here and there in a close in turnfight with the razorback.

My favorite trick right now is to lure someone into a vertical climb, let them stall out as I drop full flaps and get a shot on them. Gonna need some refining and practice before I can use that in the MA, but it might just be enough to catch someone off guard. 

Might return sometime in the future! Right now I'm holding onto my cash, I might have a shot to make a cross country flight with a friend in a 1946 Cessna to the Reno Air Races, in which case I'll need all the money I can get. Y'all will know if I resub though! 

[oboe]

Tig, thanks for posting that video.   That was some of the best airshow footage I've seen; the quality of the video and sound is excellent.  And when that guy did low passes he wasn't kidding!   That looks like the razorback '47 that was restored by the outfit in northern Minnesota. 

Hope you get to experience the cross country flight to Reno and the air races there coming up in September.   Come back here when you are able!

More on the Thunderbolt:

 

[TryHard]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S27wKScRZi4

Thought I'd share this, a freshly restored P-47D razorback "Bonnie" at Oshkosh recently. 
By far my favorite Jug, and probably the only one I think is pretty in any way.
Although I don't have a sub at the moment, I've been fooling around with it in the Match Play arena, and it's a very interesting bird. Picking up a few tricks here and there in a close in turnfight with the razorback.

My favorite trick right now is to lure someone into a vertical climb, let them stall out as I drop full flaps and get a shot on them. Gonna need some refining and practice before I can use that in the MA, but it might just be enough to catch someone off guard. 

Might return sometime in the future! Right now I'm holding onto my cash, I might have a shot to make a cross country flight with a friend in a 1946 Cessna to the Reno Air Races, in which case I'll need all the money I can get. Y'all will know if I resub though! 

Sweet video 

The D11 can actually sustain a halfway decent turn if you keep her low on fuel and run it with 6 guns (it is nice having 8 guns but every little bit of wing loading you can spare helps the big girl out a lot).

There is a certain last ditch "im about to get shot down" trick you can do if you run out of air speed and a bandit is almost ready to pull lead on you in a turn fight where you can do a 109 style "tail slide" (I know tail slide isn't the right term but its what I call it). Pull hard up and full right rudder and the plane will pivot on its axis in kinda a controlled departure of controlled flight and literally cartwheel through the sky making it a near impossible shot as your air speed near 0. This only works if he is close enough to you to overshoot before he gets a gun solution and you have enough altitude to recover. Now doing this leaves you at nearly 0 energy so its best to dive away and get your air speed back up and it is sorta just prolonging the inevitable but it is a last ditch solution and might save you from going to the tower if there is friendlies near by.