Community Corner

The History Behind the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt

More than 15,000 were made, the most of any aircraft in military history.


The last P-47 Thunderbolt ever made currently lives in Nassau County.

The Cradle of Aviation Museum, located in Garden City's Museum Row, offers a variety of aircrafts and memorabilia that capture moments from history.

Patch has taken flight on an adventure, exploring some of the museum's most popular exhibits, starting with a 1939 Grumman Goose and then moving on to the Grumman F-14 Tomcat. Next was the Grumman Lunar Module, and then we explored the evolution of flight gear.

This week, we take a closer look at the P-47 Thunderbolt, which is the last of its kind ever made. It was the largest, heaviest and most expensive fighter aircraft in history to be powered by a single piston engine.

"This was one of the main fighters in World War II," Museum Curator Joshua Stoff said. "There were more of these built than any fighter in military history. There's more than 15,000. It really helped achieve air superiority in the skies of Europe during the war."

For more on this aircraft, check out the video above.

Got little kids obsessed with planes? Check out Propwash Junction Patch. It's a sponsored, fictional and completely fun site. No one paid us to mention this, we just thought it might buy you a few minutes of me-time. (And that, we know, is more precious than any antique airplane.)


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