The RC P-47 Thunderbolt.

Many RC versions of the P-47 Thunderbolt  are described, along with a brief history of the full size Republic p-47 and links to the best ww2 warbirds sites, featuring the P-47.

The Full Size P-47.

The P-47 was affectionately referred to as the "Jug", a nickname in itself derived from the term "Juggernaut". It was a heavy and not so nimble WW2 warbird, that could sustain a remarkable amount of battle damage and still keep flying,

The Thunderbolt was used as an escort fighter for US daylight bomber raids, over Germany. It did not have the range of the drop-tank equipped P-51 Mustang, so could not follow the Boeing B-17 all the way to the target.

However it excelled in the role of fighter bomber and on ground attack missions the P-47's speed (over 430MPH) and firepower (2,500lbs of ordnance plus 8 heavy machine guns) proved a devastating weapon in the hands of skilled pilots.

The prototype first flew on May 6 1941 and the P-47 Thunderbolt flew it's first combat mission in April 1943. By the end of WW2, more than 15,600 Republic P-47's  had been built and over two thirds survived the war.  Considering how dangerous ground attack missions were, this is a remarkable survival rate and a testament to the aircraft's ruggedness.

The power plant for the P-47 Thunderbolt was the massive Pratt & Whitney Double Wasp Radial. A two row, supercharged radial engine that developed 2.430 HP.

Production P-47B, C and early P-47D and G series aircraft were equipped with a metal framed cockpit canopy and rear fairing and referred to as the "Razorback" version. Late D series and later versions were given the clear "bubble" canopies, which gave improved all around vision.

Recommended Web Sites featuring The Republic P-47.

Cybermodeler Online has lots of good color photos and information, Primarily intended for the plastic modeler, it has some good stuff.

Aircraft Resource Center. Good detail photos.

This site has some excellent photos of a P-47D in a Brazilian museum.

Prime Portal has excellent photos of "Tarheel Hal"- the popular paint scheme used on the Top Flite version.

Bob Banka's Aircraft Documentation. Has 3-views and photos of the P-47 as well as thousands of other aircraft.

Will the P-47 Thunderbolt  make a Good Flying RC Airplane?

A look at some of the photographs and 3-views shows us that the P-47 Thunderbolt has many of the attributes of a good flying model.

The semi-elliptical wing plan form has reasonable area at the tip, assuring good tip stalling characteristics. The nose has a good length, giving a chance that balancing will be OK. The tail area looks very good, when compared to the wing, meaning that good stability is possible.

The landing gear is nice and wide, meaning that ground handling should be excellent. The angle of the gear, when retracted, makes for a simple installation.

There is a wide range of models available from various manufacturers-take a look at the ones listed below.

The Parkzone P-47 Thunderbolt.

Here we look at the latest of the WW2 warbirds available from Park Zone.

As can be seen from the photo, the P-47D is retract ready and flaps can be installed.

This is a first for this manufacturer and hopefully the start of a trend!

With a wingspan of 42.2" and an all-up weight of 42.5 oz. this is a nice size model.

The retracts must be purchased separately, but the model can be flown with fixed gear, if preferred or with no gear.

Special clear plastic belly covers are included, if the no-gear option is selected, to give protection to the underside, during belly landings.

I would personally go for the retract and flap version. The flaps are included in the wing and just need to be released and mini-servos installed.

The retracts recommended are made by E-Flite and are all electric in operation. This makes for a very simple installation .

A 15 size outrunner brushless motor is installed along with an E-Flite 30 amp RC ESC.

This photo shows the E-Flite 10-15 Size Main Electric Retracts  

This little units weigh just 3.1 oz, complete and of course, being all electric, no air tanks or valves are required and no separate servos!

The voltage required is 4.8 to 7.4. The speed of operation is from 1.25secs (at 4.8V) to 0.8secs( at 7.4V)

The P-47 Thunderbolt is available as a BNF   or a PNP model. The BNF (Bind aNd Fly) version is totally complete and just requires a 2.4 Ghz transmitter.( 6-channels if you use flaps and retracts) The Lithium Polymer batteries and charger are included.

The PNP (Plug aNd Play) type requires installation of a suitable receiver and use of a matching transmitter. The servos for the 4-channel version are installed but the lithium polymer battery and charger are not included.

The Top Flite P-47 Thunderbolt. 60-91 size ARF.

This is one of the Top Flite 'Gold Edition" ARFs and is full of scale details and first class painting and covering. Top Flite say that 15 to 20 hours are required to assemble this P-47 Thunderbolt.. I find that is quite refreshing as manufacturers are always claiming super fast assembly times! Either that or maybe it takes a lot longer!

In the reviews I have read, the assembly times seem to be accurate and the only criticism was in regards to the retract servo position, in the wing. A minor point that can be easily corrected.

The flying seems to be first class with no bad habits or traits that can get the pilot into difficulty.

 I enclose this photo to give you an idea of what you can expect for your hard earned dollar!

Note the paint detail on the cowl, the detailed cockpit components and the first class covering job using flat finish monokote.

The manual is up to the usual Top Flite standards and is a very refreshing change from some of the "Chinglish" versions, from other kits, I have read lately!

My only criticism is that no pilot is included! Surely a suitable pilot could have been supplied, without increasing the cost to much. I know I have spent a lot of time looking for pilots for other projects and wish the manufacturer had included one with the kit.

The ideal model aircraft engine seems to be the OS 91 4-stoke. although a good 61 2-stroke could be used.

The Top Flite  Giant  P-47 Thunderbolt Kit.

For a change of pace, let us take a look at a real kit. Yes this is not an ARF but a true "Glue part A to part B" builders kit. You can save quite a bit of money by going this route but DO NOT try this model for your first kit building experience!

It will take you a lot longer to build this giant scale RC plane but it can be a very rewarding project.

This kit is CAD engineered, with interlocking parts that can help with the accuracy of the build. The airframe is fully sheeted which lends itself to a fiberglass scale finish.

There are parts included for both the bubble canopy and the razorback versions but the razorback canopy must be purchased separately.

Robart retracts are available for this beauty-622P47 Mains Top Flite Giant P-47 (2) as well as other scale details i.e  cockpit interior, pilot and dummy radial engine.

 This link will take you to an Amazon page of scale details.

Take a look at the manual, to give you a good idea of how much work is involved in building from a kit.

The Top Flite  Giant  P-47 Thunderbolt ARF.

The above described kit is now also available as an ARF.

The photo here shows how it comes to you, out of the box!

The cowl is fiberglass and of course, completely finished painted. The model is covered in Monokote and requires 15-20 hours of assembly time.

The kit includes all the parts for you to build a detailed cockpit.

For those of you who would like to apply your own finish, this model is also available in a ready to cover condition(ARC).

The price for the ARF version is $569.97 and the ARC is $529.98.

The manual is available here and should give you an excellent idea as to what you get for your $500+!

To sum up this page on the Republic P-47, you can see there are many versions available from the smaller electric power to giant scale.

There are many other versions out there and I am sure they all fly well so you should seriously consider the P-47 Thunderbolt for your next RC warbird.

Take a look at the Top Flite video, that shows the Giant scale version.

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