6. Finding a New Niche in Ground Attack
P-47s were gradually withdrawn from their bomber escort role as longer ranged P-51 Mustangs began to arrive. The Thunderbolts then found a new niche as ground attack fighters, in which role they excelled, wreaking havoc on airfields, locomotives, and road traffic. Indeed, when fully loaded in its fighter-bomber configuration, a single P-47 could deliver about half the payload of a B-17 heavy bomber. And when equipped with rockets, a salvo from a P-47 was equivalent to a battery of 155 mm howitzers.
The Thunderbolt was America’s most used fighter of the war, with nearly 16,000 manufactured. During its production run, improvements were made, with each modification adding to the P-47’s speed, power, range, and maneuverability. During the final year and a half of the war, P-47s comprised nearly half of all US fighters in groups posted overseas. P-47s flew over half a million sorties, during which they shot down about 4000 enemy airplanes from the skies and destroyed another 3000 on the ground. They also destroyed 6000 armored vehicles, 9000 locomotives, and 86,000 trucks.
