Republic P-47D-25-RE Thunderbolt (new project) - November 3rd, 2021
Hello everyone. It's me Antony, back with another Blog. We are now on November 3rd - approaching the end of 2021; hoping for the things to get better as the World continues in this fight for survival and to develop a (possible) cure for the COVID-19 pandemic.
For this month, my university semester is in course - in which my attention will have to be re-directed to the new tasks, in addition to my service at the public health center. Fortunately I concluded the tasks to reach level 30 in the new Nightwave chapter, which makes things easier for me now that I don't have to go for the prizes.
Now for this Blog. I'm going to show you new rendered images of my new project here on Blender: the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt. Precisely the model P-47D-25-RE. Curious fact about the 'RE' is: it is the initial letters of its main industrial plant: Republic Aviation. I also noticed when I looked at LO from the P-38 Lightning (LO - Lockheed), NA from the P-51 (NA - North American), CO from the B-24 (CO - Consolidated) and VN from some P-38 Lightning (VN - Vultee. And yes, some other major aviation plants built planes from the original plants in order to attend the great demand for new planes during WW2). I started it yesterday after I was looking at some photos of the Thunderbolt on Google and other sources - including some from the Brazilian Air Force (Força Aérea Brasileira on Portuguese). Then I had the idea of starting it.
In case you want to learn the history of this plane, I'll share its brief history here. Alexander Nikolaievich Prokofiev de Seversky - a former Russian airman prior and during WWI, emigrated to the United States in 1918 when the Bolshevik Revolution started. Instead of returning to his homeland (which after that event became the Soviet Union), Seversky chose to remain in the United States where he raised his own company: Seversky Aircraft Company. One of his first aircraft was the Seversky P-35A and Republic P-43 Lancer - which the name Republic replaced Seversky by the board after Alexander was replaced by William Wallace Kellett in 1939. From that time, Alexander Kartvelishvili - a Georgian engineer that was invited to work at Seversky / Republic Aviation, designed from the P-43 Lancer a new plane that would be the strongest in armor plating, well armed and would carry a vast payload in bombs and extra armaments. The first prototype (XP-47A) was powered by an Allison V-1710 in-line engine, but it proved to be inferior. The next prototype (XP-47B) received a Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp two-row 18-cylinder radial engine producing 2,000 hp (1,500 kW), making it a bit faster and capable of reaching high altitude for its performance. The result was the P-47 Thunderbolt. Nicknamed as 'Jug' due to its nose, the Thunderbolt was a resilient plane, armed with four pairs of .50 caliber Browning machine guns and it could carry about three 2,500 lb bombs or a pair of three rocket launcher tubes for ground attack operations. In addition, its cockpit could also provide comfort to the pilot and a proper spacing and air-conditioned conditions - perfect for a pilot to call it a 'luxurious flying palace'. Despite its size, it could perform ground attack missions well. The Americans thought of using the P-47s as escort planes to protect the B-17 that proceeded to Germany from enemy planes, however, even with drop tanks the air fighter didn't have the necessary range to follow the bombers to Germany. During the Italian Campaign, the P-47 served in the Brazilian Air Force - with one in particular the 1st Grupo de Aviação de Caça - popular known for the Senta a Pua emblem (consisting an angry ostrich carrying a pistol / revolver, a shield and a cap). It also served in the Royal Air Force, the Soviet Air Force, the Chinese/Taiwanese Air Force during the Chinese Civil War and the Mexican Air Force during the Pacific Theater - precisely the Philippines. Few P-47s fell to the Germans and some were used for flight evaluations - the Zirkus Rosarius program. After WW2, the P-47 Thunderbolt remained in service until 1950 when it was retired by the USAAF while in other countries the P-47 served the Peruvian Air Force until 1966. The Brazilian Air Force retired their P-47s on November 26, 1957, after some serious accidents, the lack of spare parts and with the arrival of the Gloster Meteor to equip the Brazilian Air Force. Some planes remain in museums under good conditions. There was one in particular that a group of enthusiasts tried to bring it back to its flight conditions - they restored it at their best, but before the plane could lift off, they received an order to maintain the P-47 on the ground - canceling any event that could involve historical planes flying to the skies. I'll leave one of the videos I found out of that Brazilian P-47 here in this Blog.
Now, the initial renders of this majestic warbird.
Amazing, huh? The rudder was painted with green and yellow - the two main colors from the Brazilian Flag. I plan to start this plane with Brazilian markings, including the Senta a Pua! emblem. As for the Squadron numbers, I'm not sure which one I'll select: B4, D3, B2, C5, D5, C1, C8? Who knows? The Squadron numbers represented a pilot from that time.
The model has almost all components made - from the bubble-glass canopy to the main armaments, the elevator, engine, propellers, wings and some flaps from the main fuselage. The wings were made after I started the fairings instead of the entire wing. I had the idea of starting by the fairings as a way to spare me from some trouble of adjusting the mesh after extracting some pieces of it to make the fairings that link to the landing gears. It worked well. The canopy was a little tricky to adjust to the blueprint after I appended it from the P-51D Mustang project. The engine was appended from the B-17 (with some small modifications) and the propellers from the P-40 Warhawk project. For now, it's looking good.
The next components are: the fairings to the tail, the landing gears, the ailerons and flaps, the aerial attachments, the antenna, the engine exhaustion outlet, the cockpit internal components, the bombs, the decals, a nice texture and rigging it.
The blueprint I selected of the P-47D Thunderbolt based on the P-47D-25-RE after I searched on Google was this one:
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| Source: The Blueprints |
There are some with tail fins, others with clipped-wings and a P-40 Warhawk like canopy - the ones nicknamed as the Razorback. Honestly I like the D version of the P-47 - the one with bubble-glass canopy and without tail fins.
Well, that's it for now my friends. I hope you enjoy this Blog. In case I have some spare time to enjoy, I'll be working on other things aside from Blender projects and my personal things. Until the time comes, you will be surprised to see them. See you next time.
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