Republic P-47 “Thunderbolt” – the American/ German fighter

The P-47 "Thunderbolt" fighter was built according to the order of the US Army Air Corps by the chief designer engineer Alexander Kartveli of the “Republic Aviation Corporation”. Initially, the machine was planned to be used in the role of a light fighter - an interceptor, but, in the end, it turned out to be an escort fighter. The design of the aircraft took a lot from the P-43 and XP-44 projects. The constructor himself called the fighter "a dinosaur with good proportions." The war, that started in Europe, had already demonstrated, that the fighter must be well armored, have powerful weapons and self-sealing fuel tanks. The prototype XP-47B took off for its first flight on May 6, 1941. It turned out, that the fighter takes off slowly and maneuverability is very poor, but these shortcomings were eliminated in later prototypes. At the end of 1941, the P-47C fighter with a longer fuselage was designed, and later the P-47D was released, which began serial production from the end of 1943. The P - 47D was produced in several variants, which differed in the types of bomb racks, the ability to hang additional fuel tanks, etc. Starting with the P-47D-25 fighters, a drop-shaped cockpit canopy was installed, and the tail section of the fuselage was also narrowed. The last serial modification of the fighter became the P-47N.

Model of medium complexity. Control plates can be made either connected to the main plates or separated. A well-detailed model of the engine - although there are not many details, gluing it together should not be a problem even for modelers with little experience. It is possible to make opening armament compartments in the wing with machine gun strips. Beginner modelers, working under the supervision of a more experienced colleague, can glue this model together in the flight phase - with an opaque cockpit canopy, no cockpit interior, with the landing gear included, only the main parts of the engine model, without the weapon bays in the wings and the separate control plates. The model represents a trophy example of the German Luftwaffe, used for testing in the “KG 200” group.