{"id":11037399,"date":"2026-08-10T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/?p=11037399"},"modified":"2026-08-24T16:57:34","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T14:57:34","slug":"republic-xp-72-super-thunderbolt-fastest-p-47","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/republic-xp-72-super-thunderbolt-fastest-p-47\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ultimate Thunderbolt That Arrived Too Late"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style><p>By 1944 the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was already one of the biggest, heaviest single-engine fighters of the war &mdash; a seven-ton brute that pilots adored. Then Republic asked a wild question: what if we made it even bigger, and bolted on the most powerful piston engine America ever built? The answer was the XP-72, the Super Thunderbolt, and for a brief moment it was one of the fastest propeller fighters on Earth.<\/p><p>It never fired a shot in anger. The jet age caught it first.<\/p>\r\n<div style=\"background:#f5f5f5;padding:20px;border-radius:8px;margin:24px 0\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 10px;font-weight:700;font-size:18px\">Quick Facts<\/p><ul style=\"margin:0;padding-left:18px;line-height:1.8\"><li><strong>Aircraft:<\/strong> Republic XP-72 &ldquo;Super Thunderbolt,&rdquo; a prototype interceptor<\/li><li><strong>Based on:<\/strong> the P-47 Thunderbolt, scaled up around a monster engine<\/li><li><strong>Engine:<\/strong> Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major - 28 cylinders, ~3,450 hp<\/li><li><strong>Top speed:<\/strong> about 504 mph<\/li><li><strong>First flight:<\/strong> 2 February 1944; second prototype had contra-rotating props<\/li><li><strong>Fate:<\/strong> 100 ordered, then cancelled as jets arrived<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">A fighter built around an engine<\/h2><p>The heart of the XP-72 was the Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major: a colossal 28-cylinder radial arranged in four rows, producing around 3,450 horsepower.<\/p>\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #1565c0;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;border-radius:0 8px 8px 0;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;This was the most powerful piston engine to enter production during the Second World War.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>HistoryOfWar.org<\/strong> &mdash; military history reference<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n<p>To feed that engine enough air at altitude, Republic mounted the supercharger behind the pilot, driven by a long extension shaft &mdash; the same trick used on the P-47. The rest of the aircraft was essentially a Thunderbolt grown to superhuman proportions. The first prototype flew on 2 February 1944 with a conventional four-bladed propeller; the second, completed that June, swung a pair of contra-rotating propellers to absorb all that power without simply torquing the aircraft off the runway.<\/p>\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img data-opt-id=1831439470  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/08\/pratt-whitney-r-4360-wasp-major.jpg\" alt=\"A Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block;border-radius:6px\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">The Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major - 28 cylinders in four rows. The XP-72 was built around this engine. Photo: Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SdSbc--KZsU\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0;border-radius:8px\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Blistering performance<\/h2><p>The numbers were spectacular for a piston fighter. In testing the XP-72 hit roughly 504 mph, with a ferocious rate of climb that made it a natural high-altitude interceptor &mdash; exactly the kind of aircraft you would want to catch fast bombers or, as the British were then discovering, incoming V-1 flying bombs.<\/p>\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;border-radius:0 8px 8px 0;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;The Republic XP-72 was one of the fastest piston-engine fighter prototypes ever built, delivering outstanding performance with the world&rsquo;s most powerful WWII radial engine.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Vintage Aviation News<\/strong> &mdash; aviation history publication<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n<p>Impressed, the Army ordered 100 production P-72s. On paper, the Super Thunderbolt looked like the ultimate expression of the piston-engine fighter.<\/p>\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img data-opt-id=645309247  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/08\/p-47-thunderbolt-flight.jpg\" alt=\"Republic P-47 Thunderbolt and F-84 Thunderjet\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block;border-radius:6px\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">A P-47 Thunderbolt beside a jet-powered F-84 - the two eras that met, and passed, in 1944. Photo: Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Overtaken by the jet<\/h2><p>Timing killed it. By the time the XP-72 was flying, the war had shifted: what the Army Air Forces needed most was long-range escort fighters, not short-legged interceptors. And on the horizon was something the XP-72 could never beat &mdash; the turbojet. Republic&rsquo;s own jet-powered P-84 Thunderjet was already coming, and it promised far more growth than any piston engine ever could.<\/p><p>The production order was cancelled. Only two XP-72 prototypes were ever built, and neither survives. The Super Thunderbolt became a footnote: the magnificent end of a line, arriving just as that entire line went obsolete.<\/p>\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fgIz5N11TZ8\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0;border-radius:8px\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n<p>It is one of aviation&rsquo;s recurring stories &mdash; a machine perfected exactly when perfection stopped mattering. The XP-72 was arguably the finest piston fighter Republic ever designed, and precisely for that reason, the world had already moved on.<\/p>\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1tGtyHGl6rg\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0;border-radius:8px\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n<p style=\"font-size:14px;color:#777;font-style:italic\">Sources: Vintage Aviation News; HistoryOfWar.org; Old Machine Press; Wikipedia (Republic XP-72; Pratt & Whitney R-4360).<\/p>\r\n<div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px;border-radius:0 8px 8px 0\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Related Posts<\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/xf-84h-thunderscreech-loudest-aircraft-supersonic-propeller\/\">The XF-84H Thunderscreech: The Loudest Aircraft Ever Built<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/republic-xf-12-rainbow-reconnaissance-2\/\">The Perfect Spy Plane That Arrived Too Late<\/a><\/p><\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Republic XP-72 Super Thunderbolt paired the P-47 with the mightiest piston engine of WWII and hit 504 mph &#8211; then the jet age made it obsolete before it could fight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":11037132,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[666,664],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11037399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history-and-legends","category-military-aviation"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Republic XP-72: The Ultimate Thunderbolt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Republic XP-72 Super Thunderbolt paired the P-47 with WWII&rsquo;s mightiest piston engine and hit 504 mph - then the jet age made it obsolete before it could fight.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/republic-xp-72-super-thunderbolt-fastest-p-47\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Republic XP-72: The Ultimate Thunderbolt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Republic XP-72 Super Thunderbolt paired the P-47 with WWII&rsquo;s mightiest piston engine and hit 504 mph - then the jet age made it obsolete before it could fight.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/republic-xp-72-super-thunderbolt-fastest-p-47\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Afterburner - MiGFlug&#039;s Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MiGFlug\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-10T14:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-24T14:57:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:450\/h:275\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/08\/republic-xp-72-super-thunderbolt.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"275\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Max Gr\u00fcnwald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@migflug\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@migflug\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Max Gr\u00fcnwald\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/de\\\/republic-xp-72-super-thunderbolt-fastest-p-47\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/de\\\/republic-xp-72-super-thunderbolt-fastest-p-47\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Max Gr\u00fcnwald\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/it\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/da89e4a5834c9a932ee20751ed75569c\"},\"headline\":\"The Ultimate Thunderbolt That Arrived Too Late\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-10T14:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-24T14:57:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/de\\\/republic-xp-72-super-thunderbolt-fastest-p-47\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":598,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/it\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/de\\\/republic-xp-72-super-thunderbolt-fastest-p-47\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\/\\/migflug.com\\/afterburner\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/sites\\/4\\/2026\\/08\\/republic-xp-72-super-thunderbolt.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"History &amp; 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