The Republic P-47 was the successor of a line of airplanes derived from the Seversky P-35, the XP-41, P-43 Lancer and XP-44 Rocket. The P-47 design team headed by Alexander Kartveli, Republic Aircraft Corporations's chief engineer, originally presented a design that was to be powered by a 1,150 hp Allison V-1710-39 engine with an armament of only two 0.50 inch machine guns.