The fighter plane-of-the-year is headed for quantity production. Republic Aviation Corp.'s sleek brute of the substratosphere, the P-47 Thunderbolt (TIME, Jan. 12), has released its design to other manufacturers. That much, and no more. Army censorship allowed Republic to announce last week in its annual statement to stockholders.
To airmen who have flown the Thunderbolt, a slick-handling job for all its weight (around 13,500-lb., about the same as an old Ford trimotor transport), this was news, good & hot. At Republic's Long Island plant, P-47 was already in production. But if the heavily...
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