Detail & Scale published its first book on Republic’s P-47 Thunderbolt in 1998. Twenty-five years later, this new publication, P-47 Thunderbolt in Detail & Scale, significantly revises and expands our original coverage of the big, radial-engine fighter that endeared itself to many pilots as the rugged and survivable aircraft that would bring them home.

Bert Kinzey graduated from Virginia Tech in 1968 with a degree in Business Administration. Upon graduation, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U. S. Army and was sent to the Army’s Air Defense School at Fort Bliss, Texas. During his eight years as an officer, Bert commanded a Hawk-guided missile battery just south of the DMZ in Korea. Later he originated, wrote, and taught classes on the air threat, military air power, and air defense suppression at Fort Bliss. Bert was dissatisfied with the existing manuals and other materials available for his classes because they were inaccurate and incomplete. As a result, he wrote his own reference books and other publications. Although he intended for these to be used only in his classes, they were soon placed on the Army’s official publication list and distributed throughout the military. Bert has also flown with active, reserve, and National Guard squadrons on training missions to observe the conduct and procedures of air-to-air and air-to-ground combat. While he was working for the Department of Defense, Bert started Detail & Scale, a part-time business to produce a new series of books on military aircraft. Later Bert added aircraft carriers to the Detail & Scale Series, and he also began a second series called Colors & Markings. In June 2004, health issues caused Bert to have to retire from his work. In 2013, Bert teamed up with Rock Roszak to begin producing the books again, but the new ones are now greatly expanded digital publications that are available in both the Apple iBooks and Amazon Kindle formats.

Colonel Richard S. “Rock” Roszakis the son of immigrants who came to America from a war-ravaged Europe. He grew up in Staunton, Virginia and graduated from VPI in 1971 as a member of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets. He was commissioned into the United States Air Force where he amassed over 2,000 flying hours, mostly in B-52D/F/G and C-135 aircraft, over a 27-year active-duty career. An avid modeler in his younger years, he has been a digital artist for over 13 years and has illustrated several books in partnership with Bert Kinzey. Besides being the vice president of Detail & Scale, Rock also creates all the artwork in the digital volumes and handles the electronic publishing end of the business. Rock currently lives in Blacksburg, Virginia, with his wife, Patty, two daughters, and six grandchildren.

Detail & Scale published its first book on Republic’s P-47 Thunderbolt in 1998. Twenty-five years later, this new publication, P-47 Thunderbolt in Detail & Scale, significantly revises and expands its original coverage adding some twenty pages. This edition is dedicated to the late aviation artist, Jerry Crandall, who passed on June 12, 2022. The cover shows off his painting of Colonel David Carl Shilling and his mount “Hairless Joe” on a December 1944 mission over Bonn, Germany. The commanding officer of the 56^th Fighter Group flew his personal P-47D-25-RE [42-26641] from July 1944 to his last combat mission on January 5, 1945. The rear cover is a color photograph of the P-47M-1-RE at the Yanks Air Museum in Chino, CA. Note the Mk. VII gunsight that replaced the earlier K-14 gunsight. I counted 67 black and white photographs and 221 color photographs. Rock Roszak provides nine aircraft color side profiles. There are 11 black and white line drawings by Lloyd S Jones and six specification tables.

Bert Kinzey maintains the overall format of the 1998 first edition in that there are three major sections: 1) Individual variants, 2) Detailed photographs, and a 3) Modeling section.All three components are expanded over the earlier book. The two-color photographs on Page 9 are a good example. The upper color picture is of “Gloria”, a Pacific Theater P-47D-2-RE that was with the 348^th Fighter Group. The lower color photograph is of 1Lt William Bateman’s “Pudgy the Flying Hangover” of the Fighting Cocks of the 65^th Fighter Squadron [57^th Fighter Group]. Note the chromate green framed windscreen, along with some of the other interesting wear on the wing walkway of this P-47D-15-RE [42-75739] based in Corsica, 1944. Sadly, Bateman was killed while strafing a power station near the Durance River on August 18, 1944, after flying into high-tension lines.

Bert Kinzey does carry over some drawings from the first edition with a good example being the Lloyd S. Jones 1/72 drawings of the P-47C-1-RE. A key feature of these drawings is the pointers to key features for each variant. The P-47C was the last Thunderbolt with the shallower keel line that gave way to a bulged keel in the P-47D-5-RE. The control surfaces were changed to being metal skinned after several crashes in the P-47B. The 8” forward fuselage extension improved handling, which was welcomed by the pilots. Richard Roszak’s color side profiles of P-47Ms are displayed on Page 41. All three aircraft exhibit variations of the dark blue (previously described as black) upper surfaces with light blue highlights, albeit on the bottom P-47M, only the national insignia is highlighted in light blue.

The Detail section kicks off with color cockpit details. The P-47B and P-47C cockpits are in black and white photographs from flight manuals with detailed legends of the controls. Color photographs of the remaining variants are well captioned as are the P-47G cockpit details on Page 50. The Modeler’s Section goes from 9 pages of build reviews to 17 pages. Page 92 shows off the 2023 Dora Wings 1/48 P-47B, the first kit of that variant on the market in 1/48 scale. The Dora Wings 1/48 P-47C was not released in time for this book, but initial reviews are favorable. Dora Wings has a future release of a 1/48 P-47C-2 and early versions of the P-47D Thunderbolts. The new Miniart 1/48 P-47D Thunderbolts are also not reviewed as they were released too late for publication as well. The Miniart 1/48 P-47D-25 made it in time for Christmas in 2023. Other variants will be in 2024 that include the P-47-28-RE, P-47D-30-RE, and P-47D-30-RA.

The sections include:

• Dedication
• Introduction
• Thunderbolt History [Page 09]
• Thunderbolt Variants
  • XP-47B
  • P-47B
  • P-47C [Page 20]
  • P-47D
  • XP-47E
  • XP-47F
  • P-47G
  • XP-47H
  • XP-47J
  • P-47K
  • XP-72
  • P-47M [Page 41]
  • P-47N
• Thunderbolt Details
  • CockpitDetails
  • P-47B Cockpit Details
  • P-47C Cockpit Details
  • P-47D Cockpit Details
  • P-47G Cockpit Details [Page 50]
  • P-47M Cockpit Details
  • P-47N Cockpit Details
  • Windscreen & Canopy Details
  • Fuselage Details
  • Wing Details
  • Landing Gear Details
  • Internal Armament Details
  • Pylons & External Stores Details
  • Tail Details
  • Propeller Details
  • Engine Details
• Modelers Section
  • General Comments
  • 1/144^th Scale Kits
  • 1/72^nd Scale Kits
  • 1/48^th Scale Kits [Page 92]
  • 1/32^nd Scale Kits
  • 1/24^th Scale Kits
• Bibliography
• Notes

This is a worthy follow-up to the original Detail & Scale edition that was issued in 1998. The addition of 22 pages and a lot more color photographs really makes this new edition worth it. Although there are some carry-overs in photographs and drawings, it is notable how much more color there is in this latest book. The photographs are different, the color profiles are different, enough so that I will be keeping my 1998 edition. If you are planning on building any Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, this is an essential book.

My thanks to Detail & Scale Aviation Publications and IPMS/USA for the chance to review this great book.

Highly recommended!

Frank Landrus, IPMS# 35035