Republic Aviation Company
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Based in Farmingdale, Long Island, New York, the Republic Aviation Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer responsible for the design and production of many important aircraft, including the P-47 Thunderbolt, F-84 Thunderjet, and F-105 Thunderchief.
Contents |
[edit] Seversky Aircraft
The Seversky Aircraft Company was founded in 1931 by Alexander de Seversky, a Russian expatriate and veteran WWI pilot who had lost a leg in the war. In the beginning, many of Seversky Aircraft's designers were Russian engineers that Servinsky had rescued from Stalin's purges by bringing them to the United States, including Michael Gregor and Alexander Kartveli, who would go on to design many of Republic's most famous aircraft.
After several failed attempts, the Seversky Aircraft finally won a design competition for a new Army Air Corps fighter, and was awarded its first military contract in 1936 for the production of its Seversky P-35. The P-35 would achieve fame on December 7, 1941 when it became the first American aircraft to engage Japanese planes during WWII when several P-35's managed to get airborn during the Battle of Pearl Harbor.
In 1939, Seversky Aircraft again entered in a military fighter competition, this time with the much improved AP-4. Unfortunately, the contract was instead awarded to the somewhat inferior Curtiss P-40, but the Army Air Corp was very pleased with the aircraft's medium and high altitude performance and ordered 13 additional AP-4's for testing.
[edit] Republic Aviation
By April 1939, the Seversky Aircraft Corporation had lost $550,000, and Seversky was forced out of the company he had founded. The board voted Wallice Kellet as President to replace him, and in September 1939, the company was reorganized as the Republic Aviation Corporation. Seversky continued to fight for his company, and the matter was not resolved to his satisfaction until September 1942.
Meanwhile, Seversky's AP-4 continued in development, finally going into production as the P-43 Lancer. 272 P-43 Lancers would eventually be produced, with 108 of them being sent to China to be used against the Japanese. Many of these aircraft would pass through the hands of The AVG Flying Tigers, who were very pleased with the plane's performance at altitudes up to 30,000, while their P-40's were ineffective at altitudes over 20,000. Unfortunately, Claire Chennault disliked the early P-43's lack of self sealing fuel tanks and armor and declined to retain the plane for his crews.
In 1939, both Republic and Curtiss participated in an Army competition to develop a lightweight interceptor. Curtiss submitted a light weight version of the P-40 designated the XP-46 while Republic submitted a similar design designated the XP-47. Both designs were based on a lightweight aircraft built around an Allison V-1710 V-12 engine, with the Republic design using a turbo-supercharger. In the end, neither design showed a significant improvement over the P-40 and neither would see production.
Further development of the P-43 continued in the form of a lightweight version using a Pratt & Whitney R-2180 radial engine. The resulting aircraft was known as the XP-44. When the R-2180 didn't produce the expected horsepower, Republic switched to the Wright R-2600. Despite possessing 1,600 horsepower, his engine couldn't be turbo-supercharged and Republic finally modified the design again, this time to accommodate the enormous Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp engine, which produced an incredible 1,850 horsepower. The resulting aircraft, now known as the P-44, was truly impressive. Capable of speeds of 404 mph at 20,000 ft, and a climb rate of 4,000 ft. per minute, the aircraft would have been an exceptional interceptor. Unfortunately, the aircraft was capable of carrying no more fuel than the P-43, and the Double Wasp engine was far more thirsty, significantly limiting the aircraft's range.
As the air war in Europe progressed, the Army was discovering that what it really needed was a long range fighter capable of escorting bombers into Germany. Alexander Kartveli was called to the Army's Experimental Aircraft division and told of the new requirements, and that the P-44 would not be ordered in its current configuration. This was a devastating setback for Kartveli and Republic Aircraft because Kartveli knew the XP-44 could not be redesigned to meet these new requirements. On the train back to New York, he began sketching a new design. This aircraft would become the P-47 Thunderbolt.
[edit] P-47 Thunderbolt
The USAAF refused to give Republic any money for the development of the new XP-47B, so Republic paid for the construction of the first mock up, reusing the cockpit area of the P-43. By the time the prototype was ready for testing, it weighed over 12,550 lb., 900 lb. over the Army's limit for the new fighter design, and far more than any single engine fighter ever developed. It also could carry only 298 gallons of fuel, 17 gallons less than the requirement, but the Army was generally pleased with its performance, achieving speeds of 412 mph at 25,800 ft, and overlooked these issues.
The U.S. entry into the war in December 1941, rapidly increased the need for the XP-47B and work on the plane progressed quickly. In June 1942, the Army took delivery of its first P-47B's. They soon placed an order that required Republic Aviation to quadruple the size of their factory and build three new runways at the Farmingdale, New York factory. Eventually this proved inadequate, and in November 1942, the Army authorized the construction of a new factory adjacent to the Evansville, Indiana airport.
Throughout the war, the P-47 would undergo constant development. A bubble canopy was added to increase backward visiability. The final version of the P-47 would be the P-47N. A long range version with longer wings and fuselage, and an increased fuel capacity. The P-47N was designed to escort B-29's on long missions to Japan for a planned invasion of the Japanese homeland that never came. Production of all versions ended in November, 1945. By then, 15,660 P-47's had been built, making it the most produced U.S. fighter of the war. 1,816 would be the long range P-47N model. This model would continue to serve with Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard units until the mid 1950's.
[edit] RC-3 Seabee
In 1946, Republic temporarily left the field of military contracts to produce the Republic RC-3 Seabee, an unusual all metal amphibian. The Seabee was the brainchild of Percival "Spence" Spencer, a former Republic P-47 test pilot. He convinced the Republic board of the need for a light sport plane to meet a demand for private aircraft from pilots returning from WWII. The expected sales of 5,000 Seabees a year never materialized, as most returning pilots never flew again, though Republic did manage to sell 1,060 Seabees in two years of production. This was a respectable number at a time when many small aircraft manufacturers were producing only a handful of aircraft before going bankrupt. Much of this was due to the Seabee's remarkably low price of just $3,500 to $6,000.
[edit] F-84 Family (Thunderjet, Thunderstreak, Thunderflash)
In 1946, Republic again turned its attention to military contracts, developing a single engine jet fighter to meet an Army requirement for a fighter with a top speed of 600 mph. The first YP-84A Thunderjet flew on February 28, 1946, but the aircraft was plagued with so many developmental problems that the first F-84B didn't enter Air Force service until 1949. The straight wing F-84D would go on to become an important aircraft during the Korean War, flying 86,408 missions. In 1949, a swept wing version known as the F-84E Thunderstreak was developed but additional development and engine problems resulted in the aircraft not entering service until 1954. A photo-reconnaissance version known at the RF-84F Thunderflash was developed and 715 were produced. The final version, known as the F-84G, would continue in service with Air National Guard units until 1971, when corrosion forced them to be withdrawn from service.
[edit] F-105 Thunderchief
In 1951, Alexander Kartveli began to design a replacement for the F-84 Thunderjet. The new aircraft would be a single engine fighter, but larger than any single engine fighter ever designed for the Air Force. By the time the mock-up was completed in October 1953, the aircraft had grown so large that a more powerful engine was needed, finally settling on the Pratt & Whitney J75. On June 28, 1954, the Air Force placed an order for 15 of the new F-105A Thunderchief's. The aircraft weighted 50,000 lb, but could carry up to 14,000 lb of bombs and missiles, and could fly at Mach 1 at sea level and Mach 2 at altitude. Although it had only one engine, the F-105 Thunderchief could carry a larger bomb load than a four engine WWII bomber, and travel a much greater distance at much higher speed. The F-105 would become the primary ground attack aircraft of the Vietnam War, flying over 20,000 missions until replaced by the F-4 Phantom II in November 1970. 397 of 833 F-105 Thunderchief's produced were lost in combat in Vietnam. 17 were shot down by North Vietnamese MiG's while the rest were lost mostly to ground fire. The F-105 was to be Republic Aviation's last independent design.
A two seat "Wild Weasel" version known as the F-105G was later developed to replace the "Wild Weasel" version of the F-100. The first F-105G flew on January 15, 1966, and deliveries began arriving in Southeast Asia in June 1966. This version continued operating in theater long after the ground attack versions had been withdrawn and was still in service at the end of the war.
[edit] The final years
In December 1957, Republic developed a helicopter division, building the French Alouette helicopter under license but with marginal sales success.
In an effort to keep the company going, Republic developed a medium range civilian turboprop called the "Rainbow." The aircraft would be very fast for a prop plane, but interest from airlines was not sufficient to continue development of the aircraft and the project was cancelled.
Republic Aviation made one last attempt to survive by returning to military contracts. In 1960, Republic Aviation acquired a minority interest in the Dutch aircraft company Fokker, and attempted to market a Fokker designed attack plane to the Air Force, but the Air Force showed little interest in the foreign design and no contracts were offered.
In the early 1960's, the aerospace company Fairchild began purchasing Republic's stock and finally acquired Republic Aviation in July 1965. In September, Republic became the Republic Aviation Division of Fairchild Hiller and ceased to exist as an independent company.
Republic's tradition of naming aircraft was carried forward by Fairchild Hiller with the A-10 Thunderbolt II (first flight May 1972), although the aircraft is better known by its unofficial title "Warthog."
