1:72 Republic P-47D Thunderbolt

The Wolfpack from Halesworth and Boxted

The 56th Fighter Group was the only unit of the Eighth Air Force that stayed with the Republic P-47 to the end of the war, while the others switched to Mustangs. It earned the nickname Zemke's Wolfpack and to this day counts as the most successful user of this heavy fighter in Europe.

All four variants on the sheet belong to it and all capture the older form of the airframe with a dorsal spine behind the cockpit. The machine 42-75510 with the letters HV-A was flown in January 1944 from Halesworth by Lieutenant Colonel Francis Gabreski, with twenty-eight victories the most successful American fighter pilot of the European theater. The aircraft 44-25836 with the code HV-M belonged in July 1944 at the Boxted base to Captain Boleslaw Gladych, a Pole who reached the Americans by a roundabout way through the Royal Air Force. The remaining two variants are 42-75242 of Captain Michael Quirk of the 62nd Fighter Squadron of February 1944 and 42-26044 of Major Leslie Smith of the 61st Fighter Squadron of May of the same year.

For a modeler this selection is rewarding: the group used pronounced white bands on the fin and the leading edges, so once the print has been applied a varied whole comes out even without individual paintings on the fuselage.

The sheet reckons with a finished model of the Thunderbolt in the version with a spine; the later variant with a bubble canopy has a different layout of areas.

The Republic P-47 was a giant for its day: the empty weight exceeded four tons and a turbocharger housed in the rear fuselage made it an excellent hunter at great altitudes. In a display case the mighty fuselage therefore stands out against the fairly thin wing.