re: "Masters of the Air" | WWII Miniseries | Apple+ Trailer

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Agreed but the evolution from Thunderbolts with very limited range to Lightning’s with moderate range to P51s to P51s with drop tanks meant an ever expanding ring of concentric circles within which they could hammer targets with near impunity.

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It is so funny we talk about this when the P-47 was just as capable of long range duty. Had army provided the drop tanks that were needed to make the 2nd Schweinfurt Raid in Oct. '43, the P-47 had the ability to make the trip with the bombers and back. Take into account as they pilots got more familiar with their aircraft, they could push their range out a bit more.

Funny how when we take a look at source material at the time we compare like-aircraft. 47 models in Oct '43 and 51 models in Oct '43 (not 51s in late '44.....they have roughly the same range. It is sad you have to go to aircraft manuals at the precise time/month to look at fuel burns for taxi/takeoff/climb/cruise and look at photos of drop tanks at the time to see this.

Not saying it was some sort of conspiracy, but the P-47 had the same capabilities if supplied with the proper drop tanks. Another note, a P-51 needs to be 70% fuel to have no maneuver restrictions. A fully-fueled P-47 had no restrictions.

Both were fine aircraft.