On October 14, 1941, the U.S. Air Force ordered an additional 850 P-47 Thunderbolt aircraft. However, the Republic factory in Farmingdale was already working at full capacity and could not build the aircraft in time. The company then decided to build a new factory in Evansville, designating the new aircraft the P-47D-RA, which featured new flaps and minor changes. Eventually, the Farmingdale factory caught up, and these aircraft were designated the P-47D-1-RE. Designers mainly changed the cooling system and turbochargers up to the P-47D-10, which was equipped with a new R-2800-63 engine and redesigned hydraulic system. The designers then modified the cooling and canopy release systems until the release of the P-47D-16-RE, which had minor changes to the fuel system and was manufactured at the Farmingdale factory. A total of 254 were built.

These aircraft were used in Europe, with mixed results. On November 7, 1943, an American pilot named William Roach made an emergency landing at a German airfield in a P-47D-16-RE. The pilot was taken prisoner, and the fighter was given German identification marks and the number T9+LK. By the end of the war, American troops recaptured it along with the airfield. Two other captured P-47s are known to exist, and all of the aircraft were used for testing, pilot training, and propaganda.

The German P-47D-16-RE was introduced in Update 2.1 "New Power". The Thunderbolt is an ideal high-speed fighter in terms of its characteristics: powerful armament, good maximum speed, excellent handling at high speeds, and a high speed limit. These features allow players to use air combat tactics favored by many, such as "Boom & Zoom" or other attacks alike. However, it is large by fighter standards, has a low climb rate, and the pilot has almost no armor. In dogfights, it loses to many other fighters.