The 15,000+ thunderbolts produced and used in world war ii, saw service in every theatre of operations except alaska By the end of 1944 it equipped 31 usaaf groups and served with many other allied air forces, including the raf who took 830 machines. By the end of wwii, more than 15,000 thunderbolts had been built The thunderbolt, in addition to being a standard fighter in the u.s Army air forces, was also supplied, under lend/lease to great britain, russia, france and brazil. As the number of thunderbolts on order increased, republic realised that their farmingdale factory would not be able to keep up with demand
Their response was to build a new factory at evansville
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