Republic P-47 (Turbobolt)

History

By the end of 1944, the Germans had put the Messerschmitt Me 262 "Schwalbe" into operation, giving German pilots a clear advantage over Europe. This prompted US authorities to speed up work on their own jets.

However, the traditional long-term development was not promising, so the route of retrofitting the existing airframe was considered in order to bring the jet fighter into service as soon as possible. A business from the Republic whose P-47 Thunderbolt has marked its legacy through years of war.

The P-47 seemed like a natural choice, as its oversized fuselage housed the massive and powerful Pratt & Whitney R-2800 "Twin Wasp" series radial piston engines. The Republic product itself was a workhorse and excellent firing platform, but was also used in bomb-dropping and missile-launching attack roles.

The "teardrop" canopy gives the single pilot excellent fighter visibility, as well as the overall inherent performance of the aircraft - it can compete with the latest Messerschmitt Bf 109 and Focke-Wulf Fw 190 from the German factory Propeller power design.

Initially, engineers were asked to replace the R-2800 on the plane with a GE J31 centrifugal turbojet. The jet engine, the same one used in the upcoming Bell P-59 "Aircomet" fighter jet and the hybrid Ryan FR "Fireball" fighter, can produce up to 1,650 pounds of thrust.

In theory, this pairing seemed feasible, but it was soon discovered that the existing P-47 fuselage, despite its large diameter, was still insufficient to accommodate the J31 engine without major structural modifications - test and service entry delays. So it was decided to replace the J31 with the Allison J35 (about 4,000 pounds of thrust), an engine also originally developed by General Electric.

The engine will also soon power the classic Republic F-84 Thunder and Northrop F-89 Scorpion series of the Cold War era (1947-1991), sized better for the P-47's airframe, namely Work begins to redraw the plane's lines.

Since the R-2800 and its propellers are located on the nose, removing them frees up part for the nose-mounted air intakes and weapons. The air intake is drawn into the J35 unit through a curved duct assembly located under the cockpit floor. The J35 will be buried under the pilot's position, with a fuselage deeper than the original P-47. The turbojet is bleed through a simple opening under the empennage. The 8 x .50 caliber Browning heavy machine guns (four per wing) originally mounted on the wings have now been moved to the nose for more focused fire.

Both the P-47's elliptical wing and circular tail with a single vertical tail were retained. It is assumed that the original rear tractor chassis will be retained.

Nonetheless, this proposed turbojet engine P-47 (no official designation or model designation was assigned to the "paper" project) never went beyond the concept art commissioned by some republics. In the end, the connection of the J31 to the P-47 airframe did not materialize, as it became an impractical exercise best left to the imagination.

Concerns that the engine would introduce an imbalance also lingered for an aircraft originally designed as a front mass. Engineers also realized that in terms of performance, the performance of the P-47 airframe had barely improved, even with the R-2800 already close to its maximum specifications.

As a result, the offshoot of the P-47 never developed into a realistic prospect, allowing the USAAF to follow the traditional path of designing and developing their first jet - which became Bell's slightly successful P-59.

The properties and construction dimensions given on this page are the author's estimates.

Specification

Basic

Production

Roles

Dimensions

Weight

Performance

Performance

Armor

Changes