I also agree with halting construction of the P-47. Not only that you may not enough have sufficent building skills to construct it properly, (i.e. light, strong, and sound with the right equipment) but IF you do finish it and THEN learn to fly on a trianer, I am almost 100% sure you will jump to the P-47 too soon (most likely right after you solo, instead of flying a few planes until the P-47) The temptation to fly the warbird will be too great, and then it will be destroyed way short of it anticipated life-span. Then where will you find yourself? No money, no plane, no flying.....

Let me give you an example: I've been building Guillow's kits for years, learned to fly on a .25 size trainer, have built 2 R/C kits and am working on the 3rd, have 2 foamies (warbird and 3D shockflyer) that I'm using to advance my flying/aerobatic skills, and I will be using a low wing arf, followed by a pattern plane with retracts (which will be my intro to retracts operation alsp) to finally prepare myself enough to build and fly my Top Flite Fw-190. And even then, I hope I'll be ready enough.....

Here are my suggestions:
-get a trainer and learn how to fly WELL
-learn with an INSTRUCTOR
-get help from other experienced R/Cers
-unfortunately, this hobby requires $$, so if you dont have any available at the moment to properly get into the hobby, suggest waiting until you do? You need to be willing to invest in proper material, and a few planes and build up the equipment necessary over a period of time so that you can build up experience in R/C flying in general. You think it sounds hard? Think how hard it is for me as a college student!
-join a AMA sanctioned club

The P-47 is not a 2nd or 3rd plane...probably a 6 or 7, and thats pushing it. Some people will say thats rediculous, you can fly it as a 4th or 5th plane. That may be good an true. However, I dont know about you, but when I build my TF Fw-190, I want it to last a long time. Had I already built it and flown it, it probably would be gone by now.....I want to do it right so I can fly it well, and fly it for a long time.

This hobby requires dedication to get to the point of flying warbirds properly, since you need to invest the time and money to be fully prepared for the kind of planes you want to fly. But, then again, you can learn even more from talking to real people at a club or fun-fly, etc, so go find a club and learn!

I really hope I didnt scare you off, because this hobby is a blast if you get inot it the right way!