January 1945, Boxstead Airfield, Essex, England.
A thin layer of frost covered the hards of the 56 Fighter Group, America’s legendary Wolfpack.
For 2 years, these pilots had dominated the skies over Europe, shooting down more enemy aircraft than any other US fighter group of the entire war.
But on this bitter January morning, something new arrived on the tarmac.
something faster, sharper, and far more dangerous than anything they had flown before.
The aircraft was the Republic P47M Thunderbolt, a machine built for one reason, speed.
It would go on to become the fastest Allied piston engine fighter of World War II that actually saw combat.
The story began months earlier.
In late 1944, US commanders were alarmed by Germany’s newest threats.
the jet powered Mi262, the sleek FW190D9, and the high-speed V1 flying bombs.
America needed a fighter that could chase down these weapons and win.
Republic Aviation turned to its chief engineer, Alexander Cartvelli, with an urgent order.
Build the fastest piston fighter the world has ever seen.
The result was the P47M.
It featured a boosted R28000-57C engine with uprated turbo supercharger, aerodynamic refinements across the airframe, weight reductions, and fuel flow increases, a peak speed of 473 mph in official USAAF tests.
No P47 variant had ever moved like this.
Few prop fighters of any nation ever would.
But early deliveries were rough.
Engines surged.
Power dipped without warning.
The aircraft felt unstable at the highest altitudes.
Only one fighter group was willing to tame it, the 56th.
Their commander, Colonel Hubert Hub Zama, personally tested the new Thunderbolt.
After returning from a brutal high alitude run, he gave a simple order.
We’ll make this airplane work, and when we do, nothing will outrun it.
The Wolfpack’s pilots and ground crews began their own unofficial test program, experimenting with oil settings, boost pressures, prop governors, and fuel mixtures.
Week by week, they transformed the raw prototype into a refined high-speed interceptor.
Across the front lines, the Luftvafa was gathering its last remaining fighters for a series of desperate counter strikes.
Germany still had teeth, and very soon the P47M would meet them headon.
February 1945, Western Germany.
The 56th Fighter Group received a new mission.
Protect a major eighth air force raid striking the industrial heart of the ruer.
German radar picked up the incoming bombers and multiple groupupin of FW190D9s and BF109G10s scrambled to intercept.
For months, these German interceptors had been almost impossible to catch.
But now, the Americans had something different.
At a.m., cruising at nearly 27,000 ft, Major George Bostwick of the 63rd Fighter Squadron spotted a formation of FW190D9s lining up for an attack on the B17.
The Doris were fast, around 430 mph in level flight.
Before the P47M, the US fighters simply couldn’t close the gap, but Bostwick pushed the throttle forward.
Turbo pressure surged.
The P47M leapt ahead.
Climbing through thin winter air, he hit a speed near 470 mph, rapidly closing the distance.
At 846, he dove into the attack, firing all 850CL Brownings.
The trailing FW190 rolled away, trying to dive out of reach.
But for the first time, a thunderbolt kept gaining.
Seconds later, smoke poured from the German aircraft.
Bastwick had just scored the first confirmed air-to-air kill for the P47M.
Moments later, a group of BF-109G14s tried to break toward the bomber stream.
Lieutenant Walter Gresham pushed his own P47M into a shallow dive, accelerating so quickly that he overshot his own wingman.
He intercepted the lead 109, firing a short controlled burst and forcing the German pilot to bail out.
For years, the Luftvafa had been able to rely on speed to initiate or break off combat.
Not anymore.
By the end of the mission, the Eighth Air Force reported something remarkable.
German fighters had been stopped before they reached the bombers, thanks not to numerical advantage, but to raw speed.
The P47M had tasted combat, and it had changed the rules of engagement.
March 1945, near Castle, Germany.
The war was nearing its end, but Germany unleashed its final hope.
The jet powered Messersmid Mi262, the fastest operational fighter of the war.
Capable of more than 540 mph, it could strike bomber formations almost at will and escape before Allied escorts could react.
Shooting down a Mi262 in level flight was nearly impossible.
But the Americans had discovered a weakness.
German jets were vulnerable during takeoff and landing when their engines produced slow, unstable thrust.
On March 5th, a flight of P47s from the 61st Fighter Squadron spotted a lone MI262 attempting to climb after a failed attack run.
The section leader, Captain Gerald Johnson, recognized the opportunity instantly.
He pushed the P47M into a 20° dive, exceeding 500 mph, right on the edge of the aircraft’s structural limits.
The Thunderbolt vibrated, but held firm.
Johnson opened fire from several hundred yards.
Tracers struck the right engine of the Mi262, which burst into flames.
The jet broke apart before the pilot could recover.
It was one of the rarest kills of the war.
A piston engine fighter downing a jet, and it was fully documented.
A week later, on March 14th, Lieutenant Vernon Richards repeated the feat, catching another Me262 moments after takeoff and forcing the German pilot to crash land.
The Wolfpack became one of the only Allied units with multiple confirmed victories against the 262.
Speed alone hadn’t won these engagements.
Timing, altitude, and aggression mattered, too.
But without the velocity of the P47M, none of these interceptions would have been possible.
The Americans had found a way to challenge Germany’s jet age with piston engine technology pushed to its absolute limit.
April 1945, Central Germany.
The German air force was collapsing.
Fuel shortages, destroyed airfields, and relentless Allied pressure left only fragments of once elite fighter wings still operational.
Yet units from JG26, JG2, and JG3001 continued to launch their last FW190D9 and BF-109 K4 into combat.
And the aircraft they feared most was the P47M.
On April 11th, during a large strike on Leipick, a formation of FW190D9s attempted a desperate attack on a column of B17.
They never made it.
The 56 was already above them and faster.
Major Boston claimed another confirmed kill, as did Lieutenant Francis Pinky O’Neal.
For the Dora pilots, altitude and speed, once their strongest advantages, were no longer enough.
By the final week of April, German resistance in the air had nearly ended.
When Germany surrendered on May 8th, 1945, the 56th Fighter Group had roughly 80 P47s on strength, making it the highest speed operational piston engine fighter group in the world.
Legacy, the P47M, represented the absolute peak of American piston engineering.
It became the fastest US propeller fighter to see combat.
A reliable counter to the FW190D9, one of the few piston fighters with documented kills against the Mi262, a symbol of late war American technological superiority.
It never gained the fame of the Mustang.
Its combat career was too short, and the jet age arrived too quickly.
But among aviation historians, the P47M remains one of the most underrated fighters of World War II.
It was the last great American piston engine interceptor, a machine that proved that even at the very end of the war, the United States could outgineer and out accelerate its enemies when it mattered post.
