USAAF Aircraft Upgrade Procedure

[Andy Fletcher]

A friend of mine is involved with game developement and is working on various order of Battle issues. In a recent discussion he said that USAAF aircraft were upgraded to the latest variant with a program of rolling upgrades, once the latest model was in service, involving a couple of hundred manhours of maintenance.

as an example I said that 4th FG for 17Aug43 should have P-47C-2-RE, P-47C-5-RE, P-47D-1-RE, P-47D-5-RE on strength but he said that they would all be modified to P-47D-5 standard.

Does anyone know if this was the case or were the older models kept on strength in an unmodified state until lost or struck off charge or were they fully modified but kept their original designation (as there are many examples of P-47Cs being lost after 17Aug43) ie P-47C-2 modified to P-47D-5 standard but still called a P-47C-2 or partially modified as and when possible and still called a P-47C-2

I note in the Top USAAF Fighter Group thread that Drgondog states that 1) they had the shorter range 47 throughout the war and missed out in some of the huge air battles fought in April and May 44 until the late model D's gave them the range to engage,

This would imply that not all if any of the aircraft were modified to a later standard. If anyone can shed any light on the matter I would be grateful.

Regards

Andy Fletcher

[drgondog]

Andy - the question has variable answers that usually start with 'it depends on'....

For example mass wing changes on P-51's would not have been done in 'kit form' for Group or Wing Depots, while elevators were converted from fabric to metal on late model B's and D's after August 1944. Ditto up-locks for main gear doors and other structural mods to reduce structural failures from dives.

Having said that - a ship that started out as a P47-2RE remained a -2RE with engineering records to indicate what mods were installed to upgrade radios, props, trim tabs, elevator covering, canopies, etc., to 'convert to a -5.

Ditto P51's

For example, I'm not aware of 85 gallon fuselage tanks being installed in the field but someone else could shed light on that subject. And certainly no B/C's were converted to D's (major wing/fuselage changes).

The same applies to the P-47D's. When the D's got the tear drop canopy and wet wing - the older models were re-assigned to other groups or retired (to FTU or Group 'hacks') as the newer long range ships came into the inventory... and when the M's came in, the 56th was the only USAAF/ETO Group to get them - while they shipped out the -25's to Ninth AF Groups.

[Andy Fletcher]

Many thanks Drgondog, that clarifies things somewhat.

Regards

Andy Fletcher