I guess its not entirely related to real life fighting, but when flying in Il2 I tend to fight lower down than the P47s peak altitude, which has probably biased me to a certain extent against the Thunderbolt. I like light, powerful fighters with a good climb rate and decent firepower, which usually means a Bf109 for me although the Spitfire XIV has become a firm favourite of mine since the mod for it came out.
If I'm trying to kill B17s or B24s with a fighter, which is about the only place you are likely to go up against P47s in their element, I will almost always be flying a late model Bf109 with the centreline 30mm cannon and no gun pods. The Mk108 isn't really a gun for dogfighting, but over time I've become quite proficient at hitting fighters with it, and even one hit will ruin the day of any enemy fighter pilot. It helps to set the gun for long range, around 800-1000m, because not only does this mean you can shoot bombers from outside the effective range of return fire, but the upwards angle of the gun helps correct the low muzzle velocity which usually makes shells go behind where you would be aiming to pull a deflection shot on a fighter.
In their favour, P47s are one of the few aircraft that can survive a 30mm round without having to be very lucky, but even they will often be crippled by it.
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