P-47 Painting "The Roar of Thunder"

[PeteWenman]

Gents hi

This is my latest painting showing six P-47M's taking of from Boxted (runway04) in April 1945. 44" x 14" oil on canvas



Russ Kyler's "Lorene"



and the rest of the gaggle



I'm pleased to say that this painting has been accepted into this years American Society of Aviation Artists exhibtion, and so will hang in the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum in Savannah from June this year for 6 months.

A limited edition giclee print is available.

Pete

[Steve Nelson]

Very nice! I'm curious..did they normally take off in tight formation like that, or is it a bit of "artistic lisence?" Seems pretty dangerous.

SN

[Zachary]

AWESOME!!! I would have loved to have been around to hear the thunder of that takeoff...

Zack

[Matt Gunsch]

they could take off in pairs, however, the 2nd pair would not be airborn and cleaned up with the first pair just starting to retract the gear.

other than that, good painting

[PeteWenman]

I'm curious..did they normally take off in tight formation like that, or is it a bit of "artistic lisence?"

Hey guys I thought you knew me better than that

This info is from Russ Kyler, who is flying the lead aircraft. The only artistic licence here is that Russ is flying number 3 in his flight, as the intention is that the first element have just passed the viewer.

For a mission, each squadron lined up on the runway, four across & either three deep or four deep, depending on whether we were launching a 12 ship or 16 ship squadron. Flight leader & his wingman took off on the left side of the runway & #3 & #4 used the right side of the runway. #1 & #2 would get airborne ASAP while #3 & #4 would stay on the runway until they were well past the point of "lift-off" of #1 & #2, thus avoiding any prop-wash. This type of take-off was continued until all squadron a/c were airborne. We would hold our position until the flight taking off were passing behind the nose of our a/c & then we would start our roll. We could get 12 or 16 a/c airborne in about two minutes. The second squadron lined up on a different runway & as soon as the last element cleared the intersection, they would begin their take-off. The third squadron was lining up on the first runway & as soon as #2 squadron
cleared the intersection, they would begin their take-offs. The total time for all three squadrons to get airborne was usually 6 to 8 minutes. I've seen as many as eight a/c rolling on the runway at the same time.

Pairs were rolling at (approx) 8 to 10 second intervals and I'd guess at about 200 feet apart on the runway.

With 108 gal tanks the lead a/c would use max power & get airborne ASAP using the same technique as above.

On take-off (04/22) 2800 RPM & 72 in Hg about 2/3 rds of the runway & 2nd elements used about 3/4 ths of the total runway.
(the Easterly runway was a different story as we needed every foot of runway we could get).

The normal position for the wingman on take-off, was to keep his wing tip even with the star on the fuselage of the lead a/c and just far enough out to clear the wingtips if an over-run occurred as per an aborted take-off. Normally, the flight leader took the left side of the runway with #2 on his right wing; #3 (Element leader) took the right side of the runway just about opposite of #2 & #4 positioned himself on the left wing of #3. Clearance was never over a couple of feet & I've had my wing man "overlap" as much as two feet of wing & hold it for the take-off & forming up with the rest of the squadron. (That's a tight formation)

Pete