Warbird Information Exchange

Just another collection of great aircraft for the Turkey Day weekend----------------

STUART PHOTO

A.J. REINHARDT P-47D "HUSKY" 44-20456 KASSEL GERMANY MAY 1945.
(Note A.J. Reinhardt flew with my father's P-51 outfit, 381st Squadron, 363rd Fighter Group before moving to P-47's)


USFG PHOTO

PHOTO DESCRIPTION; Low level flight, P-47D Thunderbolt P-47D "Kathie" (artwork by Milton Caniff) with 75-gallon drop tank buzzes the airfield at Bodney, England. Serial# 42-8424 was assigned to Lt. William D. "Bill" Schwenke, 487th FS, 352nd Fighter Group, 8th Air Force. This aircraft was lost after being struck by flak on 11 March 1944, forcing Schwenke to bail out into the English Channel. He was never seen again.


USFG PHOTO
PHOTO DESCRIPTION; P-47 fighter-bomber pilots at a rough airstrip near St. Mere Eglise on June 15, 1944. By the end of August, all 18 of the 9th Air Force’s fighter-bomber and four of its medium bomber groups were based on the continent.

Photo Removed For Being BOGUS

USFG PHOTO
PHOTO DESCRIPTION; P-47D "Thunderbolts" of the 359th Fighter Group East Wretham Airfield England, World War II.

NASA PHOTO
PHOTO DESCRIPTION; The Republic P-47B Thunderbolt was one of the great fighters used by the U. S. Army Air Force in World War II, and crews praised its ability to absorb punishment. This P-47B was used by NACA engineers to study the horizontal tail loads experienced by a fighter during abrupt maneuvers. March 24, 1942.

USAF PHOTO
PHOTO DESCRIPTION; P-47 does night gunnery.

USFG PHOTO
PHOTO DESCRIPTION; P-47 Thunderbolt from Aloe AAF, Texas, 1943.

USFG PHOTO
PHOTO DESCRIPTION; P-47 of the 355th Fighter Group (World War II)

USFG PHOTO
PHOTO DESCRIPTION; Republic P-47D-25-RE Thunderbolt 42-276552 of the 405th Fighter Wing, 510th Fighter Squadron, RAF Christchurch, 1944

USFG PHOTO
PHOTO DESCRIPTION; First Lieutenant Lawrence F. O’Neill of the 342nd Fighter Squadron,

348th Fighter Group, in the cockpit of his Republic P-47 at Finschhafen,
Papua New Guinea. 1944

USFG PHOTO
PHOTO DESCRIPTION; P-47 of the 325th Fighter Group 1943

USFG PHOTO
PHOTO DESCRIPTION; P-47s of the 36th Fighter Group,UK, 1944

USFG PHOTO
PHOTO DESCRIPTION; P-47D of the 57th Figher Group, Italy, 1944

USFG PHOTO
PHOTO DESCRIPTION; P-47D Serial No. 44-33240 of the 358th Fighter Group, Toul Air Base France, January 1945

USFG PHOTO
PHOTO DESCRIPTION; A deckload of U.S. Army Air Force Republic P-47N Thunderbolt fighters on the flight deck of the escort carrier USS Casablanca (CVE-55) in 16 July 1945. The planes were loaded at Naval Air Station Alameda, California (USA) and were bound for Guam.

USFG PHOTO
PHOTO DESCRIPTION (HEY MAN THAT THING'S GOT A HEMI IN IT ) Republic XP-47H Thunderbolt variant with Chrysler XIV-2220-1 V16 engine

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I used the captions as they were with the photos, I am aware that some of the MODEL DESIGNATIONS may be incorrect.
Robbie

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Fly Fast Make Noise!

Nice group of pics. Slogging across Europe and the South Pacific and keeping the birds flying from make-shift fields must have been quite the challenge

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Aviation Illustration Website
http://shepartstudio.com/illustration/

Where was Aloe Air Field TX?

the 1st pic looks like der fuehrer is on the wing!! uncanny resemblance from a distance!! the pic of the 47 with tracers flying at night became 1 of the most heavily promoted works for advertising republic's products, morale, & propaganda.

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

Any of the 60thFS, 33FG CBI?

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"There are old pilots and bold pilots but few old, bold pilots."

The 353rd FG LH+E is a current flying warbird ie "Jackie's Revenge" hee haw

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Don't touch my junk!!

Looks like it had a fair bit of retouching. I'd guess it was a night shot of an aircraft firing its guns on the ground into a calibration pit. The belly appears retouched, suggesting the landing gear was painted out, along with the rest of the background. Still a wicked cool pic though, as are all the others.

I can't help but notice how shiny and dark the Olive Drab is on some of those razorbacks. I've heard that some fighters were waxed to reduce drag..I wonder if that's the case here. It could also explain an ongoing controversy among us model builders. Some believe that the area under the aft part of the canopy on razorbacks was the cockpit color, others believe it was Olive Drab (I'm in the latter camp.) If the exterior was waxed, it could explain why the more flat and faded area under the canopy appears lighter.

SN

I agree. It HAS to be retouched for numerous reasons, not the least of which is it would be outright dangerous to have the camera plane fly that close and in front of an active firing weapon at night. It would be just plain stupid.

The photo of the checkerboard nose P-47 is not from 1943. It has Confederate Air Force under the tail.

Thanks for the heads up. Photo removed for being BOGUS.
Regards
Robbie

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Fly Fast Make Noise!

Looks like the 359th had a 'Lil Abner' theme going with 'marryin' Sam' and 'Pappy Yokum' in the lineup-or were they based in Dogpatch?

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

http://www.airfields-freeman.com/TX/Air ... .html#aloe

Its still there, I poked around a few years ago.
There were several AFB in Victoria, Texas.
We flew into Foster Field.

Thanks for posting that pic!

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"I've already got four, and I've got thirty cornered" Lt Paul Pablo VF-14 USS Essex

Alright! The original Tarheel Hal.

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"I love the smell of 100LL in the morning."

I really like the shots of the 36th and 57th FG. The Tarheel Hal shot is cool too! Thanks!

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Sure, Charles Lindbergh flew the plane... but Tom Rutledge built the engine!

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