Ever any civilian or sport Thunderbolts...??

[Lon Moer]

Just about every other warbird from WW2 can be found to have had a civilian commercial or sporting paint job.
Some of them were beautiful and a lot of them were not

But other than the "Reynold's Bombshell" racer from the '40s and the original CAF P-47 in House Livery, I haven't found any other civiltary Thunderbolts.
Anybody??

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[mike furline]

The Bombshell in 1969.

[Kyleb]

What's the deal with the Bombshell's cowling in the last picture? No prop/no engine/cowl not properly mounted?

And what became of that airframe?

[Snake45]

What's the deal with the Bombshell's cowling in the last picture? No prop/no engine/cowl not properly mounted?

Maybe Heller used that airplane for research for their awful 1/72 P-47N model, because that's exactly how it looks!

[JohnB]

D-Day plus 25 = 1969...
Hard to believe a Thunderbolt would have been scrapped after that date.
While a bit early in the warbird movement, by that time it's historical value would have been recognized. And groups (CAF/POF and perhaps the USAF) would have given it a good home.
I hope!

[Matt Gunsch]

What's the deal with the Bombshell's cowling in the last picture? No prop/no engine/cowl not properly mounted?

And what became of that airframe?

http://www.warbirdregistry.org/p47regis ... 27385.html

[Sasquatch]

The D-Day +25 shot is at Earl Reinert's Victory Air Museum in Mundelein, IL. Perhaps by then it was engineless and propless--a fabbed up cowl mount of some kind? One of the guys, I think the guy on the right, is early warbird collector Bill Ross (Der Gabelschwanz Teufel (sp?) P-38, Spitfire, etc), and I believe all the guys are WWII veterans. Somewhere here on WIX there's more info on that photo.

-Tom

[Chris Brame]

This is about the only other one I can think of; not sure if it ever was in anything besides a camo scheme:

http://www.warbirdregistry.org/p47regis ... 23278.html
It still carried the second registration N347M on the tail for some time when it was on display at the NMUSAF.

Earl's YP-47M either was missing the engine when he got it or he sold it very soon afterward.

[k5083]

There is a photo of N5087V in Profile Publication No.7 on the P-47D, showing it with the civil registration and no military markings, but it looks like it was just unpainted, fresh out of the shop on a test flight, so I didn't think it counted as a "civil scheme" worthy of posting to this thread.

August

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[Tiger Tim]

I’d never find it now no matter how hard I try, but I remember an article in a late 40’s or early 50’s Mechanix Illustrated (or similar) that showed P-47s being used as water bombers. IIRC they would fill drop tanks with water and drop them on wildfires tank and all, for whatever effect that would have. No idea who owned those airplanes though, but I imagine it would fall outside the scope of the USAF.

[Mark Allen M]

Only a couple I'm aware of ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXt6qUHMRu4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8jYTFx9uCI

[JohnTerrell]

Hawthorne Flying Services in Jacksonville, Florida operated a number of P-47 Thunderbolts leased from the USAF in 1952-1953 to train a class of Pakistani AF pilots (following previous years using P-51's). They were simply bare metal with flat black glare shield, logo on the cowlings, individual aircraft number on fuselage, and N-number on the rudder (no military markings).

[Sasquatch]

... in Profile Publication No.7...
August

Just seeing those words did my heart good today! I shared a small collection of Profiles with my dad as we built plastic models together when I was a kid. They seemed exotic and worldly to me, such great photos, illustrations and data coming all the way from England, by jove! And I loved saving up my allowance to get the next airplane model and Profile from my local hobby shop. So thanks for that great reminder, August. Happy New Year to you... and all you other wingnuts out there!

-Tom

[JohnB]

I loved Profiles...but they were awfully expensive (i think close to $10 for a thin paperback) for a school kid.
Back then in the early 70's, paying $22.50 (IIRC) for a copy of a Putnam book, U.S. Military Aircraft since 1908 was a ton of money.
I believe I ordered it from the Challenge publications bookstore. Being a kid without a checking account, I had to go to the bank to get a money order.

Last edited by JohnB on Wed Jan 02, 2019 4:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[bdk]

Perhaps by then it was engineless and propless--a fabbed up cowl mount of some kind?

No engine, no prop. I think the cowling might have been held in place with some baling wire.