Republic Aviation Evansville Timeline By Princess Bryleigh Period: Jan 21, 1941 to Dec 31, 1946 World War || Dec 7, 1941 Japanese Bomb Pearl Harbor Apr 6, 1942 Ground is broken for Republic Aviation plant and office Apr 6, 1942 Ground is broken for Republic Aviation plant and office Jun 10, 1942 Elder Brooks,an African American, is 1st local civilian death when hit by falling steel at Republic Oct 25, 1942 P-47-D aircraft assembly line began operation;P-47-D model production will run for 32 months Jan 3, 1943 Modification Center begins operation Sep 1, 1943 Lt.Herbert Fields,a brave man, is first to fly his P--47 carring bomb,it worked just fine Dec 7, 1943 1,000th Evansville P-47 is completed, named the ,"Tojo Special" Jan 23, 1944 P-47s now flying with 2 1,000 pound bombs at he'd Feb 1, 1944 Republic Aviation has a backlog of 275 P-47's stored on airport grass field areas Apr 28, 1944 Republic Aviation wins 1st E-Award May 3, 1944 P-47's chance to bubble canopy May 3, 1944 Two P-47's bump wings and crash near Inglefield north of airport,no injuries Jul 1, 1944 Modification builds two 2-seat P-47's for training use,nicknamed the "Doublebolt" Aug 11, 1944 3,000th Evansville P-47 completed (this was the day it was announced) Aug 24, 1944 Walter Cockroft,age 17,killed at Republic Aviation by walking into spinning propeller Oct 17, 1944 Republic Aviation wins 2nd E-award Nov 1, 1944 Modification Bulids water- cooled XP-47 with water cooled Chrysley Engine Dec 1, 1944 Re-tooling underway to build engine cowings for B-29 Superfortresses Dec 3, 1944 4,000th Evansville P-47 completed, empoyment is at 8,300 people Feb 1, 1945 Famed south Pacific P-47 fighter "The Jackie" returns home to Evansville plant for 2 week display May 24, 1945 Republic Aviation wins 3rd E-Award Jul 18, 1945 Test point Wm Moose was killed as he killed as he crashed his p-47 into field 3 miles SW of New Harmony Sep 11, 1945 Employment at the Evansville plant is at 250 people Sep 27, 1945 The last P-47 is flown form Evanville plant,it was the 6,670 P-47
