Warbird Information Exchange

Hello All,

I am looking for the first flight date of the Republic XP-43 or YP-43 aircraft. To say that is an elusive date in aviation history would be an understatement.

Comments on the source of the date is helpful.

Any and all help will be much appreciated.

Greg E.
San Diego, CA

For what it's worth, I found just one line about the YP-43's first flight in Warren Bodie's Republic's P-47 Thunderbolt: From Seversky to Victory stating that the first flight of the YP-43 took place in March 1940. No exact day is given. I checked all the other P-47 books in the EAA library and couldn't find an exact date given.

Zack

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Curator - EAA Aviation Museum, Oshkosh, WI
"Let No Story Go Untold!"
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Zack,

Thanks for your reply. I have contacted former Republic employees through their Facebook page with the same request and so far no answers yet so I am beginning to wonder if the date is lost.

Wonder if Maxwell AFB or the USAF Museum might be of help.

Will post to the forum if I get an answer.

Greg

This sounds like a challenge which needs to be met!

I'll do some digging through my FLYING magazine archive from 1940/41, and also poke around in Model Aircraft News and AERO DIGEST from that timeframe... I'll bet one of those will have a blurb about it, particularly AERO DIGEST. I'll let you know what I find!

Cheers,

Lynn

Lynn,

Appreciate your willingness to give it a go.

Looking forward to any results.

Regards,
Greg

An update of sorts on the P-43 first flight hunt.

This from a gentleman connected to a Republic Aviation affinity group back in Long Island.

" I checked the Republic Aviation News for 1939 and 1940. There is no mention of when the YP-43 first was flown. George Burell was Republic's test pilot. The first mention of the P-43 in the RAN was on December 13, 1940 and reports that the aircraft did well in tests by the Army Air Corps."

Still working on this.

Greg