Subject: Number Forty-Seven in the Series--Republic P-47 Thunderbolt (4 of 9)

From: [email-masked]
Date: 27 Jan 93 16:04:08 GMT

>From [email-masked]

In 1943, two P-47D-15-RE airframes (serials 42-23297/23298) were 
selected for testing with the new experimental 2300 hp Chrysler 
XIV-2220-1 sixteen-cylinder inverted Vee liquid-cooled engine.  These 
aircraft were redesignated XP-47H.  The liquid-cooled Chrysler engine 
with its large under-fuselage radiator radically changed the 
appearance of the Thunderbolt, and increased overall length to 39 feet 
2 inches.  With the increased power and improved streamlining, a 
maximum speed of 490 mph was anticipated.  

Although the project was begun in August 1943, the two P-47D-15-RE 
airframes were not actually converted until 1945.  Test flights began 
on July 26, 1945.  One of my sources (Green) says that during flight 
trails, one of the XP-47Hs actually attained a speed of 490 mph in 
level flight.  However, another one (Wagner) says that the Chrysler 
engine failed to deliver the promised power output, and that the 
maximum speed attained during tests was only 414 mph at 30,000 feet, 
poorer performance than the "stock" P-47D.  In any case, the Chrysler 
XIV-2220 engine never achieved production and the advent of jet 
propulsion killed any further USAAF interest in the development of 
even faster piston-engined fighters.  Consequently, no further work 
was undertaken on the XP-47H project.  

Sources: 

  American Combat Planes, Ray Wagner, Third Enlarged Edition, Doubleday, 
  1982.  

  The American Fighter, Enzo Angelucci and Peter Bowers, Orion Books, 
  1987.  

  War Planes of the Second World War, Fighters, Volume Four, William 
  Green, Doubleday 1964.  

  United States Military Aircraft since 1909, Gordon Swanborough and 
  Peter M. Bowers, Smithsonian, 1989.  

  Famous Fighters of the Second World War, Volume I, William Green, 
  1967.  

Joe Baugher       AT&T Bell Laboratories    2000 North Naperville Road 
		  Naperville, Illinois 60566-7033.   (708) 713-4548