Russian P-47

[Wurger]

[Skycat]

I know this is an old thread but I found something interesting today while researching the Alaska-Siberia Lend-Lease route. As you may or may not know, this was the only air route for Lend-Lease aircraft to Russia during the war. Almost 8,000 total planes (mostly P-39s, P-63s, A-20s and B-25s) were flown from Great Falls, Montana to Fairbanks, Alaska over the Yukon by American military pilots and then were turned over to Soviet pilots who flew them across the Bering Strait and Siberia to Kranyorsk, Russia. This was a long, perilous journey across a vast wilderness, often under extreme weather conditions.

Anyhow, my main source is a book titled Warplanes to Alaska by Blake W. Smith (c. 1998 ). Almost every source on the ALSIB operations lists three total P-47s delivered via this route. On page 171 of the book a photograph of bubble-topped Thunderbolt with Soviet markings is shown (S/N 227062), and the following caption accompanies:

"Only three P-47 Thunderbolts were delivered to the Russians via the ALSIB Route, serial numbers 42-75201, 42-75202, and 42-75203, two of which were accompanying Lieutenant Billings during his ill-fated flight of October 27, 1943. The P-47D pictured was one of 189 delivered through Abadan."

Since no photographs are offered in the book of the three Thunderbolts that were delivered via the ALSIB route, I next searched the internet using the serial numbers I had at my disposal. This led me to several "Sovereign Senators K. of P." references, including this thread.

Interestingly, while the color profile on page 3 of this thread and other sources identify "Sovereign Senators K. of P." as aircraft 42-75202, it looks to me that the tail number in the photograph on page 3 of this thread actually reads 42-75203! Somebody at another forum suggested that there may have been as many as nine "K. of P." aircraft in total. It doesn't seem unreasonable to me that the patriotic 'Sovereign Senators' -- members of the Knights of Pythias, reportedly Lodge 463 in New York -- might have raised the money for two or even all three of the the Thunderbolts that were sent to Russia through Alaska. Whether this Masonic organization knew beforehand that the Thunderbolt(s) they sponsored was destined for Soviet use is entirely open for speculation.