B-17's were getting their asses shot off til the P-51 came along. P-47's had a relatively short range and could not escort B-17's all the way to Germany. P-51's could.
It had the range. It was a fine fighter. It just wasn’t utilized that way. It was expensive, the P-51 was cheaper. Perhaps?
It had half the range as the p51 and didn't handle well that high up. It was a terrible escort for half the distance. The p51 made all the difference.
P-47s and P-38s where perfectly capable of escorting B-17s to Germany and back. Unfortunately USAAF staff believed in the Flying Fortress concept and did not want to waste very expensive fighter aircraft defending B-17s that could defend themselves. 1943 proved them wrong very very wrong.
I think the joke amongst the pilots at the time was you want to be an ace? Fly the P-51. You want come home alive? Fly the P-47. The German pilots agreed. P-47s were perfectly capable of escorting Bombers to the target and back. I’m not sure what happened. But think about this, P-51 we’re parked and scraped after the war ended. P-47s continued to fly in the USAF and the guard long into the jet age.
The p47 had superior armor, when fully installed. It was a more survivable aircraft when absorbing damage.
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