[Bearcat]

Chris.....I remember those days and you are so right. Nobody...Oleg included cared for the Jug. Only a few of us really dedicated jug pilots kept up the fight thru the years. It is so refreshing to see serious work being done. The FM and DM was porked cause Oleg said himself....the p-47 was no fighter.

Didn't the He-111 have a better roll rate than the initial P-47?

Well, just playing through devil's advocate here, in Russia it wasn't. The lend-lease tests and operational sorties that the Soviets did with the P-47 very quickly proved in their minds that the plane could not be used as a fighter in their war. It was a different kind of air war that the P-47 was wholly unsuited for. Instead, it was used as a light bomber with the 255 IAP in an anti-shipping role for a few months, then rotated out of service. So looking back on history with a Russian perspective, Oleg is right. We also have to remember that the P-47's we sent as part of lend-lease were not the quality P-47's that we used on the Western front. Most of the lend-lease thunderbolts had de-rated engines, and were much earlier versions. The first one sent over, a D-10 by the name of "Knight of Pythias" which was donated by a group of US Senators, was a dog.

While I agree injustice has been done to the Jug, we still saw people fighting with it quite successfully a soon as it became available. I only just got the hang of the heavy bird and I love it, although skinning for it is a tad annoying. I am very enthusiastic about the cockpit re-paint and can't wait until it's done!

Kwaitos comes to my mind right off the bat... He waas a killer in that plane.. even the FB 1.0 jug.