P-47-23 Start-up on First Test Flight

Impeccable Restoration

This footage takes us to this P-47’s start-up on a first test flight. This looks like an A+ restoration! It was probably one of the last few during World War II, and it’s now taking the skies again.

The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt is a WWII fighter plane from 1941 to 1945. The plane’s main armament was eight .50-caliber machine guns. In a fighter-bomber-ground-attack role, the plane can carry up to a bomb load of 2,500 lb. It was also one of the heaviest fighters of the war, weighing up to 8 tons.

It was powered by a Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp 18-cylinder radial engine and equipped with an advanced turbosupercharger system that ensured that the aircraft performed well in high altitudes, while also influencing its design and size.