The Republic Aircraft P-47 Thunderbolt may not have been as sexy as the P-51 Mustang, or had it's own television series like the F-4U Corsair, but with over 15,000 of them produced, it was definitely a work horse during World War II.

Powered by a massive 18 cylinder, 2000 HP, supercharged Pratt and Whitney radial engine, the Thunderbolt could reach speeds of 430+ mph and climb at nearly 4000 feet a minute. Primarily flown by the US Army Air Force, the P-47 proved adept at both aerial combat and ground attack.

Despite it's higher than average weight, the eight wing mounted 50 caliber machine guns helped the Thunderbolt live up to it's name. The P-47 would relentlessly pound ground targets, raining down armor piercing and incendiary rounds on lightly armored ground targets. The bullet proof windshield and armored cockpit gave pilots confidence that they could safely make it home despite taking heavy opposing fire. The heavy armor plating earned the P-47 the nickname "the Jug".

The Parkzone BNF (Bind and Fly) war birds include everything you need to fly except for a DSM2 capable transmitter. Bind it to your favorite radio and the Thunderbolt can be in the air in about the time it takes to fully charge the battery and set the CG and control throws.

Parkzone listened to what their faithful customers wanted and delivered a model that not only looks great out of the box but can be upgraded with optional flaps and retracts with very little extra work. We installed both the flaps, and the E-Flite no fuss retracts, so read on as we take a closer look at the Parkzone P-47 Thunderbolt BNF.

Kit Name: Parkzone P-47 Thunderbolt BNF.
Price: $249.99
Wing Span: 42.2" (1070mm)
Flying Weight as tested: 43 oz (1219 grams)
ESC Used: 30Amp (Included)
Motor Used: 15 size 950kv BL (included)
Battery used: 3S 2200Mah LiPo (included)
Radio used: JR 11X 2.4 Ghz

• DSM2/DSMX 4 channel radio (minimum)
• 6 channel DSM2/DSMX radio (optional) if you want to install optional functional flaps and retracts
• Phillips screw driver
• 12 volt power source
• Sharp hobby knife (if installing flaps)

FIRST LOOK

I've always loved war birds, so when I was asked to review the Parkzone P-47 Thunderbolt BNF (Bind and Fly) the decision took all of about 2 seconds. In days gone by, to fly a model war bird you really had to LOVE war birds. The planes were heavy, flew fast, and the resulting high wing loading made them a real challenge to land.

Since a war bird really wouldn't look like a war bird with the wheels hanging down (unless of course it's a Stuka) you just "had" to install retracts which could be a nightmare in themselves. Each time I covered Top Gun I saw more problems with retracts than engine, radio, and other problems combined. E-Flite's electric retracts make installing retractable landing nearly as easy as bolting servos in an ARF. No linkages, no air lines, just screw them in, plug the special Y harness (provided) in to your receiver, and flip a switch.

Parkzone has come to the rescue with a line of ready to fly war birds that fly as good as they look. The Z-foam construction makes for a sturdy but very light airframe.

When the P-47 BNF arrived I unpacked everything and was very impressed with the packaging. All of the Parkzone planes that I have handled have been packaged to survive all but the most traumatic shipping. The container was segmented and the airframe pieces were fitted into pockets with form fitting foam parts holding the fuselage and wings securely in place. Anywhere that the shipping materials met the model surface the surfaces had a layer of bubble wrap so they were untouched by tape or wire ties.

I have come to expect a well written and nicely illustrated instruction manual from Horizon products and the P-47 booklet doesn't disappoint. Everything that I consider essential including a full kit inventory, safe battery handling, clearly written steps, clear photos and illustrations, repair parts listing, and support contact information are all included.

The same manual accompanies the plug and play, and bind and fly versions. If you have the bind and fly version without the optional retracts and or flaps, there's about 7 pages of instructions that apply to you. The steps for installing the optional flaps and retracts are shown in the provided instruction manual as well so you don't have to make due with generic instructions, the steps to install them in the Thunderbolt are clearly laid out.

BATTERY, CHARGER, and ESC

The P-47 comes with a Parkzone 2200mah 3S 25C LiPo battery pre-soldered with EC3 style connectors. The kit also includes a 2S/3S balance charger that will charge at up to a 2 amp rate. Parkzone obviously had in mind heading to the field with minimum support equipment because the charger is equipped with a cigarette lighter plug.

The charger connects the battery through the balance tap so that you're balancing the battery each time you charge it. The charger is also equipped with an externally accessible automotive blade style fuse so you can change the fuse quickly and easily in case you accidently short something out.

Charging the battery is as easy as plugging in the unit, setting the charge rate, connecting the battery, and pressing the start button. When the light comes on green you're ready to fly. As with any LiPo charging, don't leave a LiPo battery charge unattended and if you think the battery suffered any crash damage, replace it.

The supplied speed controller is an E-Flite 30Amp Pro brushless ESC. The ESC is programmed with a Low Voltage Cutoff (LVC) that shuts down and pulses the motor while still providing power to the servos to let you know it's time to land. If you want your battery to last however, I recommend setting a timer and landing before the battery gets low enough to invoke LVC. Like the battery, the speed controller comes with EC3 connectors for the battery and bullet connectors for the motor pre-soldered. I gave a tug on all of the soldered connections to check for possible cold solder joints but didn't find any problems. I really like it when someone else does the soldering!

Attached the the business end of both the aircraft and the ESC is a 15 size 950Kv (Kv = rpm per input volt) brushless outrunner motor. Unless you're planning on reenacting Reno racing or trying to out run the Space Shuttle in to orbit, the supplied motor is plenty for this plane.

ASSEMBLY

With the optional landing gear and flaps, the P-47 is easy to assemble. If you stick with the out of the box version, your little sister could put it together. Unpack the plane, charge the battery, screw the fixed landing gear in place, and secure the horizontal stabilizer/elevator halves (which is impossible to misalign!). When the battery is charged, bind it to your DSM2/DSMX compatible radio, verify the control throw directions, and set the throws according to the manual. With the supplied LiPo battery slipped into its form fitting pocket the CG is spot on.

Access to the fuselage is via the removable turtle deck and cockpit. The whole thing is attached via two pins at the front, and powerful small magnets at the rear. A clear tab is provided at the rear of the cockpit to assist in getting it open without hurting the foam airframe. The cockpit looks good and as my roommate noted "this one even has a little driver guy in it"; clearly she was impressed. The net result is very easy battery access which is an important quality to me, I don't like opening Chinese puzzle boxes to get flight batteries in and out.

Honorable mention goes to the folks at Parkzone for the horizontal stabilizer and elevator attachment. The way the elevator halves attach is by a small square rod. Unless your elevator halves are off by 90 degrees, which would surely look funny, the square rod guarantees perfect alignment of the elevators. Once the stabs are fully seated and the elevators connected, there is no way for the tail to be anything but perfectly square unless the entire back half of the fuselage is warped.

Wing installation is accomplished via 3 screws. The provided Y harness for the ailerons can be connected either way, as can the flaps if you installed them. I have plenty of room to transport the Thunderbolt assembled but even with the plane broken down for transport, it can be assembled in just a few minutes at the field.

Also, in the attention to detail department, Parkzone has provided clear belly skids. If you opt to fly in the grass you can leave the fixed gear off and do belly landings on grass fields. The clear skids protect the foam on the bottom of the plane without impinging on the visual appeal of the P-47.

The fixed gear mount on the P-47 is designed to accept the E-Flite 10-15 size electric retracts. Indeed some of the hardware from the original installation is used to install the retracts. Like the flap servo pockets, the wheel wheels are already formed into the bottom of the wing. Even the outline for the gear doors is molded in. Installing retracts was clearly a design goal from the start.

If you have wanted retractable landing gear but were afraid of the fuss, these electric retracts are definitely the way go to. Each landing gear leg has a small electric motor directly attached to it. This does away with the long linkages required for servo activated landing gear and the special servo needed to drive them. A special Y harness plugs into the gear channel on the receiver and you're done. Flip the assigned gear switch and the landing gear cycle from lock to lock. If something happens and they jam they shut down automatically so they don't deplete your flight battery.

The only thing better than seeing your pride and joy climb out with the gear retracting, is knowing for certain they are going to come back down when you flip the switch to land. I decided to test the current draw so I ran a Hangar 9 inline amp meter between the Y harness and the retract units. The added draw during retraction or extension was between 200 and 300mah and at that, only for a few moments.

If you really want to be lazy they have pre-bent struts for the P-47 but the struts supplied with the landing gear only take a few moments to cut to length. Grind or file flat spots for the set screws, and put all of the set screws together with a dab of thread lock and you're done.

RADIO SETUP

When the battery was charged it was time for the Bind portion of Bind and Fly. I cleared out a model memory in my JR 11X 2.4 DSM2 radio, installed the supplied binding plug and powered up the AR600 6 channel receiver. When the receiver light starts flashing, press and hold the bind button on the transmitter and turn it on, when the light on the receiver comes on solid, turn everything off, remove the bind plug and that's it.

When working with electric models with the battery connected, always assume the speed controller is armed, restrain the model, and keep removable parts such as fingers well clear of the propeller arc.

Setting up the radio is pretty easy. A couple of the channels have to be reversed and you need to pick where you're going to put your flaps if you have a radio with that offers choices. Users of radios such as the DX6i are pretty limited, put your flaps on the three position switch and the gear on a toggle. On my JR 11X I have a bit more flexibility so I assigned the slider on the back left of the radio to the flaps so I have proportional flap control.

Control throws and linkage locations are specified in the manual and work perfectly for the Thunderbolt. In fact, after the first flight the only changes I made to the radio were to add 35 percent expo to the ailerons and elevator and 45 percent on the rudder for ground hanlding. I personally prefer high rates and expo over using low rates but you should find out what works best for you and your style of flying.

With the battery snug in its slot in the fuselage and the canopy firmly attached I double checked the control throws and directions and the center of gravity. The P-47 balanced right at the recommended 60mm with the included battery. If you use a different battery be sure to verify the CG because as my favorite magazine editor used to say "Nose heavy planes fly poorly, tail heavy planes fly once"

MAIDEN FLIGHT

Taxi tests revealed that the tail wheel had a lot of throw. I dialed in 45 percent expo and that seemed to do the trick. On testing day the wind was 5-10 down the runway. I lined up on center, gave some up elevator to hold the tail on the ground, and smoothly advanced power. As the rudder gained effectiveness I let off the elevator and made an uneventful takeoff and procedure turn away from the pits.

Maiden flights always attract watchers and there was a lot of interest in the P-47. After a few clicks of trim to get her flying straight and level I made a slow pass down the runway (to make sure everyone was watching) and flicked the gear switch. The main gear disappeared and the Thunderbolt looked great in the air as it visibly picked up speed.

I took the P-47 up high, pointed it into the wind, and reduced power and added elevator until it stalled. It didn't so much stall as mushed straight ahead. At such low airspeeds the ailerons completely loose effectiveness but until I was 90 degrees to the wind the wing didn't fall off. This might look like a war bird but it definitely flies like a sport plane.

Since the battery only had one cycle on it, I cut the flight at 3 minutes and set up for the first landing. The wheels reappeared as soon as I told them to do so and I dropped full flaps to see what would happen. The Thunderbolt slowed dramatically with the flaps at full extension but exhibited no change in pitch.

Final approach with the light wind called for almost half power or the Thunderbolt would have stopped in mid-air when I turned final. Crossing the landing threshold I reduced power and the P-47 settled on to the mains and stuck to the runway until the airspeed bled off and the tail wheel came down.

FLYING

It didn't take long to really start enjoying the P-47 Thunderbolt. It tracks well through all of the basic maneuvers that a P-47 should be able to do. It's got enough power for large majestic loops and enough aileron for crisp point rolls. The rudder isn't large enough for any knife edge but dog fighting and ground attack runs don't call for much knife edge flying.

The Thunderbolt is reasonably fast and with a stiffer prop I suspect it would be even faster. It slows down well for landings and with the flaps extended it will land at just above walking speed. Since not everyone is going to install flaps I did several landings without them deployed. As expected it landed slightly faster but nothing the average sport pilot couldn't handle. In addition, if the flaps aren't installed it's likely the retractable landing gear won't be either.

If you choose to fly without the options the result will be a reduced flying weight, so the no-flap landings will be even better than my model and mine lands just fine without them. The main reason I use them is because they are cool looking, not because it needs them.

I let friend and fellow club member Bill McNeal fly the P-47 for the video portion of the review. We already have 3 of these planes at the field that he has setup or flown so there were no surprises as he put the P-47 through its paces.

As a P-47 owner you have a few choices. You can keep it simple and fly the P-47 with a basic 4 channel radio (DSM2 required for the Bind and Fly version) and fixed landing gear. You can add the optional retractable landing gear and flaps either when you assemble the P-47 or any time after the fact, like when you see another one flying with the gear up. You can also omit the landing gear entirely, install the belly skids, and fly from grass using a hand launch.

There are two questions that I must satisfy before highly recommending a model.

1. Am I planning on keeping the model as my own at the end of the review? 2. Would I replace the model with my own money if something happened to it?

The answer to both these questions is YES so I can say that I highly recommend the Parkzone P-47 Thunderbolt. I also encourage you to add the optional retractable landing gear and flaps if your budget allows as they really add the finishing touches to an already great model.

Parkzone and JR
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