Hobby Master 1:48 Air Power Series Diecast Model

Republic P-47D Thunderbolt (Razorback) – 42-76179, “Little Chief,” Lt. Frank Klibbe, 61st FS, 56th FG, USAAF, RAF Halesworth, England, March 1944

1:48 Scale.  Length: 9".  Wingspan: 10.2”

The USAAF 56th Fighter Group received their P-47 Thunderbolts in June 1942 and six months later they went to England. Over the next two years the 56th became the 8th Air Force highest scoring air-to-air combat group with 665.5 aerial victories. 1st Lt. Frank Klibbe flew with the 61st FS/56th FG and was credited with seven victories with the final two on May 8, 1944. Klibbe flew sixty-three missions and was assigned three different P-47s with two of them wearing the nose art “Little Chief”. 42-76179 was his third P-47 and was used to score four of his seven victories.

The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was a single-seat fighter aircraft used by the U.S. and Allied air forces during World War II. It was one of the largest, heaviest, most expensive fighter aircraft in history to be powered by a single piston engine. The P-47B was first flown on May 6, 1941 with the first production aircraft being delivered in May 1942. The Thunderbolt was very effective as a short-to-medium range escort fighter and as a fighter-bomber proved especially adept at ground attack. The aircrafts eight .50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns could inflict severe damage on lightly armored targets. In the fighter-bomber ground-attack role it could carry ten five-inch rockets or a bomb load of up to 2,500 pounds.

The first P-47 combat mission took place on March 10, 1943 when the 4th FG took their aircraft on a fighter sweep over France. By 1944, the P-47 Thunderbolt was in service with the USAAF in all of its operational theaters, except Alaska. Although the P-51 Mustang eventually replaced the P-47 in the long-range escort role in Europe, the P-47 still ended the war with 3752 air-to-air victories claimed in over 746,000 sorties. A total of 15,678 P-47s of all types were built, the last being a P-47N, which rolled off the Republic Aviation production line in October 1945. The P-47 Thunderbolt served with the U.S. Army Air Force (U.S. Air Force after 1947) until 1949 and the Air National Guard until 1953.


Hobby Master offers a wide selection of quality, pre-assembled, diecast model airplanes. Each model is crafted to a high level of accuracy using specifications of the original aircraft. They are constructed with precision-made diecast metal and some plastic components.

This model of a P-47D Thunderbolt “Razorback” features: