Amazing engineering

[GH85Carrera]

Uncrating and Field Assembly of the P-47 Thunderbolt Fighter - 1944





Amazing the thought process that went into the design of the packing....with just a "standard set of mechanic's tools"..and 50 of your best buddy GI's. Nothing goes unused.

I would love to see the reality of how long it took a regular crew to do this in the field.

[Z-man]

Reminds me of this:

Jeep teardown and rebuild:

[silverc4s]

That was one of the coolest artifacts of WWII that I have ever seen! Thanks for sharing.

[TimT]

The P47 was built about 10 miles from where I live. My grandmother worked for Republic as a "Rosie the Riveter" while my grandfather was of gallivanting in places like Guadalcanal. My father and uncle both worked at Republic for awhile. There were a lot of really talented tin knockers and panel beaters on Long Island...sadly we lose more every day.

I actually found cleco clamps among a stash of my dads tools that I inherited that probably came from Republic...

Cool video..

[Scott Douglas]

That was pretty cool. Thanks for posting it.
I never would have guessed they could get it down to as few connections as they did.

[afterburn 549]

Thanx !

[M.D. Holloway]

I wanna see the instructions !

[masraum]

I didn't get through the whole thing (at work), but that is very cool.

[fastfredracing]

" tighten the bolt to the correct tension which is a two finger pull, on an 8 inch wrench" Love it, no torque wrench even required. When the men were men.
Super cool video, thanks for posting. I just shared it with my uncle and cousins on facebook, all pilots, and aircraft junkies.

[Don Ro]

"First order of business is for the crew chief to read the instructions."
~~~~~~
Well, I guess.
Amazing video/movie.
Thanks for posting. I enjoyed that.
~~~~~~~~
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fastfredracing: "When the men were men."
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Amen, brother!

[Bamberg96]

I work with a guy that worked at Republic Aviation both before and after the war. 91 and still working part time! I'll have to show this to him.

[afterburn 549]

I did not notice a lot said about cutter pins , safety wire! Not even slippage paint !
Probably not going to around long enough for a nut to back off was the thought ?

[Jrboulder]

No product liability lawsuits to worry about!

[oldE]

Originally Posted by afterburn 549

I did not notice a lot said about cutter pins , safety wire! Not even slippage paint !
Probably not going to around long enough for a nut to back off was the thought ?

You may not have noticed there were a few references to cotter pins and clevis pins and some references to 'non-slip' nuts.

Indeed a good piece of engineering, to allow the job to be done in less than ideal conditions.
My thought was: How did experienced crew chiefs modify this protocol to make things go faster?
Did they have shallow pits in place with blocks to fill in once the landing gear was tested?
I could imagine using the same base/support structure over and making a mini-assembly line. Lots of lumber left over to make shelters and partitions.

Something else I never knew about was the flywheel starter system you see the ground crews cranking on towards the end.

Thanks for posting
Les

[Don Ro]

Let's see now:
Crow bars, claw hammers, 1" roping, hand saw, shovels, crescent wrench, ball peen hammer & mandrel, plastic hammer, drift pins, open-end wrenches, screw drivers, hand pump, kerosene & bucket, rags, safety wire, grease, and...gobs of man power.
"The Thunderbolt is in the air!"
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Best movie I've watched in a long time. (I don't get out much. )
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Brings back memories: Cannon plug, tech orders, etc.

[GH85Carrera]

I just wish my grandpa had bought one of those airplanes in a box at the surplus store and stuck it in the garage.

I suspect we will never see an modern airplane packaged in a crate for assembly in the field ever again.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

I suspect we will never see an modern airplane packaged in a crate for assembly in the field ever again.

That is a fact. I loved the film.

Today, the amount of engineering that goes into logistics supportability of military aircraft and equipment is very impressive: design to maintainer, human factors, etc.

On board ship the problem is magnified 10 fold. Everything has to be able to fit into confined spaces through narrow passage ways. Think about removing four rotor blades underway on a Frigate in big seas

I hired a firm called Pit Stop Engineering to help me solve a lot of deployment problems with Unmanned Systems. The came from the F1 world and helped the Army quite a bit, which is how I heard of them.

Check this out:

[sand_man]

Great stuff! Fascinating to me! That Pit Stop vid with the Humvee was especially cool!

[intakexhaust]

"Wrench head video post of the year!"