The Thunderbolt was the hammer: big and strong, it could take a lot of punishment and still deliver a lethal blow. “It was not as famous as the P-51 Mustang, but it ranks as one of the best for that era. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. “The P-47 was one of the most versatile aircraft we had in World War II,” says Jeremy Kinney, curator and chair of the aeronautics department at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, which houses a P-47 in its collections-on view at the museum’s Steven F. It was arguably the best ground-attack aircraft America had at that time. Fully loaded with pilot, fuel and armaments, it topped out at more than 17,500 pounds-yet was exceptionally fast as a fighter-bomber, achieving a top speed of 426 miles per hour. Weighing 10,000 pounds empty, the Thunderbolt was the largest single-engine fighter built by any country during World War II. All of the kills would come at the controls of the P-47, one of the most rugged fighter planes of the war. He would go on to shoot down 28 enemy aircraft to become America’s top ace in Europe. Those two kills nearly 80 years ago this month were his fourth and fifth of World War II. On November 26, 1943, Major Gabby Gabreski, flying his P-47 Thunderbolt, downed two German Me-110s to become a World War II flying ace. It spiraled to the ground in a massive fireball. Gabreski fired and hit the plane at the wing root. He throttled up his massive 2,000-horsepower engine and zoomed in on the unsuspecting fighter. Minutes later, Gabreski spotted another Bf 110. He had to dive to avoid colliding with the disintegrating aircraft. 50-caliber machineguns, causing the twin-engine plane to burst into flames. At 700 yards, he let go with a burst from his eight. Gabreski spotted a Messerschmitt Bf 110 and drew a bead. He gunned the turbocharged engine in his powerful plane and went on the attack. As they arrived on the scene, the commander ordered his pilots into the fray. Gabreski, leading the 61st Fighter Squadron, was flying fast to rescue the American bombers, which were being swarmed by Nazi fighter planes. Army Air Forces had been ordered to cover the withdrawal of Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses after bombing the industrial city of Bremen. In the skies high above Germany on November 26, 1943, Major Gabby Gabreski was pushing his Republic P-47 Thunderbolt hard.
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