Hobby Master Archive

Hobby Master 1/48 Air Power Series HA8407 P-47D Thunderbolt 56th FG, CO. Col. David Schilling, “Hairless Joe” England June 1944

1/48 scale pre-finished Die-cast metal with a minimum of plastic. Professionally painted. All markings pad applied for superb results. Cockpit slides open. Comes with a pilot that can be removed. Comes with display stand. Can be displayed with landing gear up or down.

The Republic Aviation P-47 “Thunderbolt” entered service in May 1942 with the introduction of the P-47B. It had a “Razorback”, a high dorsal spine behind the side-ways opening canopy that reduced visibility. As improvements were made a “D” variant was produced with 12,602 being manufactured. The British developed a sliding bubble canopy for their Typhoon and this was adopted by the USAAF starting with the P-47D-5. With its ability to survive enemy fire along with impressive armament and bomb load the P-47 excelled at ground attack roles.

By the end of WWII Col. David Schilling was the third-ranking ace of the 56th FG “Zemke’s Wolf Pack” having flown 132 combat missions with 22.5 air victories and 10.5 ground victories. On December 23, 1944 during the Battle of the Bulge, David Schilling shot down 3 BF-109s and 2 FW-190s when USAAF aircraft encountered over 100 German aircraft. Schilling was promoted to CO of the 56th FG when Zemke was captured. The nose art on 42-26641 was a popular cartoon character of the time “Hairless Joe” from Al Capp’s “Dogpatch”.

Republic Aviation P-47D specifications Number Produced - 12,602 most numerous variant Crew - 1 Dimensions Length - 36 ft. 1 in. (11 m) Wingspan - 40 ft. 9 in. (12.42 m) Height - 14 ft. 8 in. (4.47 m)

Performance Engine - 1 x Pratt & Whitney R-2800-59 twin-row radial, 2,535 hp (1,890 kW) Maximum Speed - 433 mph @ 30,000 ft (697 km/h @ 9,145 m) Service Ceiling - 43,000 ft. (13,100 m) Rate Of Climb - 3,120 ft/min (15.9 m/s) Range - 800 mi. combat, 1,800 mi. ferry (1,290 km combat / 2,900 km ferry)

Armament 8 x .50 in. (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns w/ 3,400 rounds Maximum 2,500 lbs (1,134 kg) of bombs 10 x 5 in. (127 mm) unguided rockets