The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt is indeed iconic:
Lesser known is its forerunner, the P-43 Lancer:
Even lesser known than the Lancer is an aircraft that bridged the gap between the P-43 & P-47, the Republic XLRP-4 Ranger:
Sensing the looming war in Europe in 1939, the U.S. Army Air Corps knew they'd need combat aircraft far more capable than those then in service or in the pipeline. Thus bids were sought for Project XLRP (Xtra Long Range Pursuit).
Republic came up with the winning 4th proposal, an enlarged, lengthened, more powerful and heavily armed version of their P-43 Lancer. The new prototype XLRP was powered by the Pratt & Whitney R-1940 Twin Wasp Senior, a turbo-supercharged 15-cylinder, air-cooled radial engine.
The XLRP-4 was heavily armed with eight .50 machine guns, three in each wing and two synchronized to fire through the propeller. It was also heavily tanked and carried the largest amount of fuel in any U.S.A.A.C. pursuit to date. This gave the XLRP-4 an incredible range, unmatched by anything then in service or on the drawing board. This in turn gave the XLRP-4 its more commonly-known name of Ranger.
The prototype passed flight trials easily and a service test squadron was ordered into production. Initially, performance in service was better than any other pursuit in the Air Corps, so the test squadron was expanded to a full group which received their aircraft in October, 1941.
After the Japanese attack on Dutch Harbor & the Aleutians in June, 1942, the U.S. realized it needed long-range pursuits to handle the vast distances involved, so the 325th Pursuit Group, the "Fighting Elephants" were assigned to Dutch Harbor.
Early on the morning of August 16, 1942, a sharp-eyed observer spotted what looked like a Japanese air raid.
The alarm was sounded and the 325th "Fighting Elephants" were scrambled. Unfortunately, the 15-cylinder Pratt & Whitney R-1940 Twin Wasp Senior engines on the Rangers were a mechanic's nightmare and only one aircraft, #100 flown by Capt. Hogan, managed to get off the ground. Courageously, Capt. Hogan flew his Ranger at top speed towards the enemy.
Whether a case of combat nerves or something else, it may never be known why Capt. Hogan opened up with his Ranger's eight .50s at maximum range, but the raid scattered and a few of the enemy fell from the sky.
The next morning, the press was ecstatic at the successful defense of Dutch Harbor as this edition of the
Daily Metropolitan attests:
Even Prime Minister Winston Churchill was impressed, stating that "Dutch Harbor is a model of modern air defense and proof of American tenacity in the face of a vicious enemy."
However, enhanced processing of Capt. (now Col.) Hogan's gun-camera footage showed he had not actually become an "ace in a day" by downing five enemy aircraft. The enemy was actually a flock of seagulls.
No, not
that Flock of Seagulls...more like this:
By now it was too late to undo what had been done as Col. Hogan was now an internationally recognized air hero on a nation-wide War Bond tour. The Army quietly reassigned Col. Hogan to bomber training to learn how to fly B-17s. Soon Col. Hogan would be far away, over Germany.
As for the Republic XLRP-4 Ranger, its cranky engine, somewhat sluggish performance and expensive to mass-produce all plexi-glass canopy doomed it to ignominy and the last aircraft was scrapped in 1944. However, it remained an all but invisible step on the way to the famous P-47 Thunderbolt.
Brian da Basher