Republic TP-47G Thunderbolt, G-CDVX / 21953, The Fighter Collection
This picture is © Martin Laycock and may not be used or published without permission.
Registration: G-CDVX
Construction Number: 21953
Code Number: 225068 / WZ-D / 'Snafu'
Model Republic TP-47G Thunderbolt
Operator: The Fighter Collection
Airport: Duxford (QFO / EGSU), UK - England
Airshow: Duxford - Flying Legends Air Show - 2013
Photographer: Martin Laycock
Date Taken: 13/07/2013
Date Submitted: 07/08/2013
Close-up of The Fighter Collection's beautiful P-47G taxiing out towards Runway 06 at Duxford for Flying Legends 2013. From this angle you can really appreciate the size of the machine and why it was nicknamed the 'Jug'. She is one of only two Curtiss-built examples left in the world and was the 129th P-47G constructed at the Curtiss factory in Buffalo, New York early in 1944. She was taken on charge by the USAAF in September 1944 and assigned to the Third Air Force in Tallahassee, Florida where she was re-designated a TP-47G and used in the Advanced Fighter Transition role. Struck off charge in late 1945 she passed to the Aero Industries Technical Institute at Oakland Airport, California where she was used to train aeronautical engineering students. In 1952 she was bought by Jack Hardwick, a former Cleveland National Air Race pilot, who rented her out in 1953 to Allied Artists for some ground scenes in the film 'Fighter Attack'. Following her movie appearance she was parked up at El Monte, California until 1975 when she passed to a new owner who started to restore the rare machine. The work was never completed however, and the project passed to Ray Stutsman in late 1979 and he commenced a full restoration the following year culminating in her return to flight in April 1982. She was awarded the Grand Champion Warbird trophy at Oshkosh in July of that year. In 1987 she passed to the Lone Star Flight Museum in Galveston, Texas but rarely flew during her time there. Shipped to the UK by Flying A Services in the early 1990s she remained in her container until she joined the fighter Collection fleet in 2006. TFC began a full restoration to stock wartime condition and she returned to flight on the 21st April 2012 at the hands of TFC's chief pilot Pete Kynsey. The scheme she wears is that of 84th Fighter Squadron P-47D 42-74742 - 'Snafu', the mount of Lt. Severino B. Calderon in late 1944.
Picture ID:1414291