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This insignia was introduced in 1943. The blue and white gloss insignia was referred to as the "star and bar" and was standard on all planes in the U.S. military in WWII. It was painted under both wings to help ground troops avoid friendly fire. The…

The P-47 Thunderbolt was a heavy fighter aircraft, maxing out at 17,000 lbs. Part of this weight was owed to the extra protection given to the pilot. Armor plates were installed behind the seat and on each side of the cockpit below the window. In…

This illustration shows the pathway of air into the engine of the P-47, showing how effective it made the P-47 at higher altitudes. The thinning air was compressed in the turbines as it passed on to the engine. This helped to increase horsepower and…

A side by side comparison of the original Razorback canopy (right) and the updated Bubble Top canopy (left) on P-47s. Complaints with the Razorback canopy included difficulty in bailing out for pilots in flight, as well as overall visibility.

In addition to the .50-caliber machine guns, the P-47 was able to hold multiple kinds of bombs. This P-47 decorated as the one flown by Colonel Joseph Laughlin has 500-lb bombs attached under each wing. The planes were also capable of holding…

The P-47 had 4 .50-caliber machine guns on each wing. Each gun could fire at a rate of around 500 rounds per minute, meaning a lot of firepower was needed in each wing. These guns were in addition to the bombs that could be attached under each wing.

The 8 .50-caliber machine guns on a P-47 could fire at a rate of up to 500 rounds per minutes. Even without the use of bombs, this made the P-47 a very deadly weapon in the hands of a capable pilot.

The heavy P-47 Thunderbolt was built to withstand a lot of damage. According the the National Museum of the USAF, this P-47 from the Ninth Air Force landed with a hung up 500-lb bomb. The force of the landing made it detached and the explosion…

The bombs were positioned just to the outside of the last machine gun, which was also where the bullets to the machine guns were stored in the wings. That made the wings the most vulnerable part of the plane, especially if the bombs had not been…

P-47s were durable, easy to maneuver, and versatile. Its' versatility was in both the types of missions it could fly and the armament it could carry. For the bombing missions that involved large targets, like storage depots and ships, the 1,000-lb…