It’s a ‘Gotspe’ (Jiddisch for ‘Not Done’) for USAF-fans to say that the U.S.Navy negotiated with the Republic Company to make a version of the P-47 for Fighter-Bomber targets. They did. There was a great possibility that the US needed to invade Japan and the Navy wanted a Fighter-Bomber bigger and faster than the SB2C Helldiver. The last one, which was called ‘the Beast’ wasn’t liked by most of the Navy pilots. That was needed for ground attacks on Japanese territory and also to have the ability for fighter actions. Seversky had already with the XFN-1 an early possibility in getting a foothold on the Navy market. It didn’t work at that time.
Republic started with a fighter version, the F2N-1 at the end of 1943 (maybe I draw it sometime) but the Navy was already busy with turning off the corsair. So it came to develop a fighter-bomber. Begin 1944 they upgraded a P-47D to fighter-bomber. It was the FB2N-1 Thundershark. Because it was heavy and fast only the new build long-bow carriers could be used to test the new FB2N-1 if it was possible to use them on board carriers. They made squared off wingtips, who were a little bigger than the usual P-47 wings and two carriers were equipped with new heavy catapults. The USS Ticonderoga and the USS Randolph. There was also a safety net to catch any problems with the cable landing. After several attempts the Thundershark was able to do carrier landings and takeoffs.
VB-15 on board USS Randolph was the first bomber-squad to get the Thundershark. Also at the end of 1944 several Thundersharks were delivered tot he RAAF and RAF. They had still their tailhooks on but were only used from airstrips and bases. Here are two examples. One from VB-15 and one from No. 258 Sqn.
Best regards
Lauhof
Best regards
Lauhof