P-47 Crash site August 27th 1944

[yaneck]

Dear all,

With some friends, we found a plane crash site of the WW2.

By chance, we quickly found a tank tag with Republic on it. Basically, the plane must be a P47.
According to the tank plate dated in 1944 and the location, the plane must be one of the 3 listed below.

42-26301 P-47D-22-RE 404th 506th 4K-O MACR 8246 - 27/08/44 vers Lizy-sur-Ourcq (77) - Pilote : Robert L. Daly - Parachuté, WIA & évadé - Combat aérien

42-27349 P-47D-27-RE 404th 506th 4K-N MACR 8247 - 27/08/44 vers Coulommiers (77) - Pilote : Max W. Conn - Evadé - Combat aérien

42-28449 P-47D-28-RA 404th 506th 4K-? MACR 8248 - 27/08/44 vers Lizy-sur-Ourcq (77) - Pilote : Martin E. Adams - KIA - Combat aérien

That day, 4 P47 were shot down. We know the exact location of the one who crashed at Changy (not listed here)

The details readable on the tank plate are:

MFR'S ASSY DWG N° 93-6(3 or 5)...5

SERIAL N° 96-106(7)...

ORDER N° 0507... ...

TANK CAPACITY 272 GAL

DATE MFG'D 6-3-44 (Is it march the 6th or June the the 3rd?)

Any chance, with the informations above, to determine witch one of the 3 aircrafts we found?

[Revi16]

June 3, 1944 (In the U.S. the first digit is always the Month). The fuel tanks s/n has nothing to do with the aircraft s/n. They were not crossed referenced during manufacture.

Since the fuel tank was built in June 44 and the aircraft went down in Aug 44, by comparing the s/n of the aircraft and when they were built, you may get lucky and narrow down your search. Any aircraft completed before June 3, 1944 obviously could not be a contender.

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Originally Posted by Revi16

June 3, 1944 (In the U.S. the first digit is always the Month). The fuel tanks s/n has nothing to do with the aircraft s/n. They were not crossed referenced during manufacture.

Since the fuel tank was built in June 44 and the aircraft went down in Aug 44, by comparing the s/n of the aircraft and when they were built, you may get lucky and narrow down your search. Any aircraft completed before June 3, 1944 obviously could not be a contender.

Would a drop tank have this kind of plate ? If yes, any aircraft could carry it, whatever his production date.

[RSwank]

You may be able to eliminate some of them using the date information.

If we assume the date the fuel tank was manufactured was June 3, 1944 and that this is from an internal tank (which I believe a 272 gal tank was) then the plane was probably manufactured some time after June 3, 1944. Also the other planes at the same manufacturer, being produced around that time would have fuel tanks with dates around that June date. In particular, these planes would not be in combat in June, 1944 but sometime later.

Here is Joe Baugher's serial number page which includes 42-26301. If we look at the loss dates of P-47s close to 42-26301 (we assume they were produced at about the same time) we find some that were lost in June, 1944, e.g. 42-26292 lost June 6 or 24-26281 lost June 14, 42-26305 lost June 21, 1944 etc. It is doubtful that any of these planes could have had an internal gas tank produced in June, 1944.

[Revi16]

Originally Posted by Laurent Rizzotti

Would a drop tank have this kind of plate ? If yes, any aircraft could carry it, whatever his production date.

The data plate that you have is for an internal fuel tank, "Self Sealing". Drop tanks would have a data plate as well (may contain less info on them), any drop tank could be used on any aircraft regardless of date.
https://chicagoboyz.net/wp-content/u...s-for-P-47.jpg

FYI - With the little digging that I've done, not all P-47's had a main fuel tank with a 272 Gallon capacity. Apparently the N's did, not sure on the various D models.
200 Gal. Main, C, D & G - http://www.zenoswarbirdvideos.com/Im...SdiadC,D,G.gif
270 Gal. Main, N - https://ww2aircraft.net/forum/attach...em-jpg.476434/

[Leendert]

Lots of technical info here, including fuel tanks: https://www.mudspike.com/wp-content/...lt%20Guide.pdf

Regards,
Leendert

[RSwank]

Leendert, interesting link. The fuel gage for the Main Tank goes up to exactly 272 gallons.

See page 91 of 182.

[yaneck]

Good morning,

Many thanks for your reply. It's very interesting.

We have found lot of parts with PN on.
We have 2 P-47 parts catalog:
- P-47B, C and D version from -1 to -10 (Ref: AN 01-65BC-4)
- P-47 D version from -25 to -40 (Ref: AN 01-65BC-4A)

For exemple I've the 2 parts: 93C78109-3 L & R in an assembly.
I can't find them in the 2 catalgs.
Regarding that, could we say that the plane revision is between -10 and -25?

Many thanks.

Yanick

Attachment 20472
Attachment 20473

[Revi16]

The part beginning with 93 is accurate for P-47D's.

https://www.aviationarchaeology.com/...rtaircraft.htm

[yaneck]

Many thanks. I mean the full part number is not in our 2 parts catalogs.
I don’t know if the part catalog for the versions in between is available.
The search continues.