Just read up on Francis Gabreski and the P47

THE original P 51 MUSTANG was the " A" variant powered by the V12 Allison engine with a very basic supercharger.hence poor performance above 15000 feet . Subsequent variants B,C,D were powered by V12 ROLLS ROYCE MERLIN engine with state of the art 2 stage 2 speed supercharger which has superb performance to 40000 feet. The fuel consumption of this was half that of the P47D THUNDERBOLT. This version of the MUSTANG was a m

My great grandfather Doyle Lesley Shaw was an air sea rescue personal in WW2 he told my father stories of how he would be sent out with a piano wire and a knife because a gun made to much noise. Once he was sent to rescue a captured pilot from the Japanese, and when the pilot saw my grandfather and his squad he started yelling and the Japanese soldiers started shooting in their direction, so my grandfather had to leave the man... Who knows what happened to him.

What a great interview👍

The P-47 cost $83k in 1945, while the P-51 cost $51k. The P-51 also had far lower O&M costs. WWII was financed through War Bonds, not infinite deficit spending like we do today. The costs for planes, pilots, fuel, crew, parts were all figured out and decisions were made. The P-47 was probably a better plane, but the P-51 wasn’t that far behind.

Supposedly, the 4th did not like the big P-47. But when the Germans surrendered they were transferred to the Pacific theater to fight the Japanese. They were given P-47D-25RE's to practice on using Spitfire Mk.IX to act as enemy figjters. While they awaited on their new P-47N's to arrive.

Could you imagine the woketards defending the west today.? 🌈 camouflage at the ready. !!!

Thankfully the Japanese Lt. understood that something was off and realized just "opening fire on the enemy" wasnt the safe approach. I assume he pieced things together (to some extent) before he got the translator. Its not like he didnt know things was going badly for them.

my dad felt the same way with the B-17 vs B-24. He said all the PR and media stayed in England where the 17s were, with pubs and nice hotels instead of going down to Italy with mud , tents and no dance clubs. Makes sense.

With all respect, P-51 blowed Mesermitchen; P-47 blowed bridges, trains and trucks. I respectly agree with “the rest of the world” whom believe that P-51 were the best FIGHTER

A close family friend flew both, including piloting the 51 as part of the escort for Operation Aphrodite, an unsuccessful proto-drone mission, in 1944. He said that although the '47 was more squirrely on startup and takeoff than the 51, he far preferred The Jug because it was designed with far more protection for the pilot as as well as being one of the most advanced fighter/bombers of his time; he loved state-of-the-art tech and followed that passion as a tech sales executive after the war. In February of '45, he was on a low-level run busting a train with a wingman in the 51, dubbed for his fiance, "L'il Ev". The train had a covered gun car, and shrapnel from what was probably a 20mm round from a Flak 38 hit his coolant line. He had barely enough time to climb to about a thousand feet to bail out before the engine seized. Injured his back coming down into a tree; captured by the local German home guard, sent to a prison camp, was forced to march to different camps as the Allies were closing in. He was strafed by Allied planes at least once on one of these marches. He was reported MIA for at least two months, which gave great distress to his fiance. Eventually, he made it to camp Lucky Strike. For as long as I knew him, he asserted he would have come home from his last mission if he was piloting the 47. Thanks for posting this video!

A close family friend flew both, including piloting the 51 as part of the escort for Operation Aphrodite, an unsuccessful proto-drone mission, in 1944. He said that though the '47 was more squirrely on startup and takeoff than the 51, he far preferred The Jug because it was designed with far more protection for the pilot as as well as being one of the most advanced fighter/bombers of his time; he loved state-of-the-art tech and followed thta passion as a tech sales executive after the war. In February of '45, he was on a low-level run busting a train with a wingman in early '45 in the 51, dubbed for his fiance, "L'il Ev". The train had a covered gun car, and shrapnel from what was probably a 20mm round from a Flak 38 hit his coolant line. He had barely enough time to climb to about a thousand feet to bail out before the engine seized. Injured his back coming down into a tree; captured by the local German home guard, sent to a prison camp, was forced to march to different camps as the Allies were closing in. He was strafed by Allied planes at least once on one of these marches. He was reported MIA for at least two months, which gave great distress to his fiance. Eventually, he made it to camp Lucky Strike. For as long as I knew him, he asserted he would have come home from his last mission if he was piloting the 47. Thanks for posting this video!

You could say the same of the Spitfire over the Hurricane.

I think the big issue was that the 47 couldn't make to Berlin and the 51 could. Also as a girlfriend long ago said, "it is just so beautiful and sleek. It reminds me of Larry and Kim on the football team." Larry was a hard hitting tackle on the line big and massive. Kim was the fast lean running back. On a 50 yard sprint they were almost even but on a 100 Kim would pull away at about 75. At least that was the way I see it.

P-47D was the A-10 of its day.. Tough as nails and plenty of firepower ! P-51D more like a stinging hornet, like an F-16C. Small, fast and maneuverable. Bite ya on the ass when you're not paying attention !! 🇺🇲🇺🇲

I suppose it's who you asked, which was the better plane. Grunt on the ground looking for air support probably thought the P-47 was better. The B-17 guys probably liked the P-51 since they could tag along longer with the bombers. They both had their purpose and both were important to the war effort.

I love the P47 and it would have been the plane I would have wished to fly.

The same comparison was made between the Hawker Hurricane and the Spitfire during the Battle of Britain. I've never heard or read a pilot talk bad about the P-47. I met John Oliphant who flew both the Jug and the Mustang in combat. He loved the firepower and the strength of the Jug and the speed and maneuverability of the Mustang. He was shot down in his Mustang by one round of ground fire to his radiator during a low-level attack. More than once a pilot was brought home to England by his Thunderbolt with cylinders shot away. The P-47 was a brute!

Better chance coming home in a jug...most badass fighter in the war...love the bolt

The P51 with the Alison engine was a lower level aircraft; however, with the Roll Royce Merlin it performed well at altitude by everything I’ve read.

If think it’s a thoroughbred vs draft horse. Not a perfect analogy but close. Fron a P-38 fan.

The P-47 was an incredible plane. 8 - 50 caliber guns. The US had so many great fighters in WWII, but the P-47 and the P-51 were next level, both for different reasons.

The P38, P47, F4U, and F6F were all just as good as the P51. Some were even better. What the P51 had going for it was the sleek look and the purring sound as it flew past you. No other sound like it.

The P-47 lacked range & moverability for hight alt escort duties. It's that simple. Some improvements came mid 1944, well after the spring deadline to neutralize the LW.

Is not the statistical advantage due to time in service and numbers? Couldn’t this be aggregated out?

It's the same here in the UK, the spitfire gets all the recognition in WW2,and the hurricane is almost forgotten about.

air cooled engine could take the punishment

would rather have something UGLY and could take a lickin and keep on tickin , than something pretty that couldnt take the lickin and keep on tickin

My sentament exactly. I get so tired of how the P51 won the war. The P51 finished what everyother plane before it started to include the P47. It took on more experienced German pilots.

Irritates the shit outta me too. The "Jug" had 8 50cals vs 6, was a more stable gun platform and more heavily armored than the 51. One 30cal gun bullet in the unarmored cooling system of the 51 and the pilot had 30 seconds left of air time. The 51 was pretty but like most pretty things, a bit too fragile.

The P47 was built around it's supercharger. That's why it was so huge. A P51 could fit INSIDE a P47.

My mom worked on the P-47 at Republic one of her favorite planes

I would say the P-47 was the A-10 of its day.

The P-51 could match the FW-190 and Bf-109 at very high altitude above the bomber trains, AND it had the range to escort the bombers deep into enemy territory. The P-47 was a great plane but it could not do everything.

During a strafing run I would definitely have yelled "Have a drink from The Jug!"

You can't please everyone. The P-51 was in service for less time, so it was the number of enemies lost in the short time in service. But some people just don't know how to be a classy winner or be smart. As for k i l l count, the Mustang would reign supreme with somewhere between 4,200-4,900 claimed victories which is unmatched by any other aircraft in the European theater. The Thunderbolt, on the other hand, claimed only between 2,600 to 3,700 victories.

Yes but it had very short legs and could not escort the bombers into Germany which cost thousands of bomber crews

Stories abound of how the 47 could take on major damage yet get back home. It is a legendary aircraft.

My grandfather probably served along side with him. Minor R. Ross was his name. He passed away in 2004 so i haven't been able to get much information as i was little at the time but i recently learned he was part of the 61st field artillery battalion from a old photo i found with his service number written on it. My family mentioned similar experiences he had during the war from extensive shelling and he got involved in alot of intense combat on few of the islands helping the infantry. He was run over by a sherman tank that didn't see him in his fox hole. Helped with air craft mechanics when they weren't doing anything and he learned Japanese very well and was used as a interpreter in his squad. He was the 3rd man off his ship into japan and during the occupation he was made a MP at MacArthurs Tokyo headquarters. He apparently was stationed there for several years after 1945 and was part of alot of the rebuilding of the country and was liked by most of the local Japanese do to his very good understanding of their culture and language. My dad mentioned alot of the old artillery shell casings and Japanese souvenirs he brought home but they were all lost in a house fire in the 60s. The only thing i have left from him is a old photo with him and his buddy standing in from of MacArthurs building in their MP uniforms in 1946. Update: found that he was for sure in the 1st Calvary division, Company A, 61st field artillery battalion. PFC and was in the Philippines near cabantuan and gapan in april 1945.

If you want a girlfriend fly he 51, if you have a wife fly the 47, I’ve heard that a dozen times from the old pilots

That makes you a war criminal.

Wow, great story, insane how he bundled up and fixed a jaw hanging off, very VERY good medical skills.

I totally agree….the media prematurely crowned the p51 the overall best but that was far from being true…There’s no way on the face of this earth the P-51 could handle the workload like the P-47. Without the P-47, our allies would have lost the war….. Both planes had a huge hand in neutralizing German and Japans Air Force…..along with Italy’s plastic army….

Very true!

😂 that smile 😁

Truly the GREATEST generation !!! 💯

That story is straight out of Catch-22 😂😂😂😂

This was just the interview I was looking for. His perspective from horse drawn to mechanized is mind blowing. Thinking on it, he may have had senior NCO’s who were born in the late 1800s. Thanks for capturing this veteran’s memory. King of battle, follow me!

Because the P51 is cheaper?

We still use the 81s today. I was a mortarman in the army. Even the tactics he explains are still done to this day. Dig the 81s in and wait for fire missions or ruck the 60s and send them out handheld if your super close.