Hobby Master Archive

Hobby Master 1/48 Air Power Series HA8451 P-47D Razorback 42-76179, Lt. Frank Klibbe, 56th FG, 61st FS USAAF, Halesworth, UK, March 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.

The 56th FG received their P-47s in June 1942 and 6 months later went to England. Over the next two years the 56th FG became the 8th AF’s highest scoring air-to-air combat group with 665.5 victories. 1st Lt. Frank Klibbe, with the 61st FS accumulated 7 victories with the final two coming on May 8, 1944. Klibbe flew 63 missions and was assigned three different P-47s with two of them wearing the nose art “Little Chief”. 42-76179 was his third P-47 and used to score four of his seven victories.

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