Editing P47 Thunderbolt (section)

==In Real Life==
[[File:Republic P-47N Thunderbolt in flight (cropped).jpg|thumb|When you absolutely positively need to make some fresh [[Dakka|swiss cheese]], accept no substitutes.]]
The Thunderbolt was an aircraft developed by the now-defunct Republic company during the Second World War. American fighter design during the early part of the war favored survivability over other factors. The Thunderbolt achieved this goal while also supporting no less than '''EIGHT''' Browning .50 Caliber machine guns (most American fighters only had 4-6 Brownings).

The Thunderbolt lacked the maneuverability of other aircraft, such as the Spitfire, Mustang, or BF 109, but they got around this in two ways. The first was that American pilots just didn't give a shit and flew straight in guns blazing. In fact the Germans were often shocked by the balls out suicidal bravery of such tactics. Given that said batshit insane pilots also had eight .50 cals and a highly durable aircraft did not make things any easier. The second factor was the P-47's superior dive characteristics. A common tactic for P-47 pilots was to gain altitude, dive towards whatever poor idiot made themselves a target, and hold down the trigger until said target disintegrated.

That said, despite the aircraft's ruggedness and the pilots' bravery, the P-47's downside of weighing almost 8 tons eventually proved too much: while it claimed an impressive tally of around 4,000 air-to-air kills (total over all theaters) it also suffered around 3,500 combat losses once the enemy realized they should not dive away, thus denying "The Jug" its major advantage. This led to the P-47 being replaced by the P-51 Mustang in the primary fighter/bomber escort role due to the Mustang's superior performance at the B-17's operational altitude.

However, the P-47 received a second lease of service in another role. Due to its durability and large weapons load the Thunderbolt developed a secondary reputation as an effective fighter-bomber, providing close air support for ground units and advancing armies. The latter part of the air war in Europe had General Doolittle order his P-47's to strafe Luftwaffe airfields to great effect, though this decision was not terribly popular among bomber crews at the time.
{{US Forces in Flames of War}}