Thunderbolt!: The P-47

by Robert S. Johnson

They were outnumbered and underrated. They were fresh from the training fields in American and ordered to fight an enemy that had rewritten the book of war and brutally controlled a continent and the air above it. But the men of the 56th fighter group had courage and, more importantly, they had the P-47 Thunderbolt. This is the incredible story of the U.S. 56th Fighter Group as told by one of its best pilots, Robert S. Johnson, who would rack up a score of twenty-eight kills against the Luftwaffe and become one of America's top aces - one of a special breed of men who changed the course of history.

257 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2001

About the author

Robert Samuel Johnson was a fighter pilot with the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) during World War II. He is credited with scoring 27 victories during the conflict flying a Republic P-47 Thunderbolt.

Johnson was the first USAAF fighter pilot in the European theater to surpass Eddie Rickenbacker's World War I score of 26 victories.

He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross (x8) and the Purple Heart.

Reviews

[Debby · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of a WWII fighter pilot from his childhood discovery of flying up to his days in the war. I found the first half of the book fascinating because we have lived in Lawton, OK and identified with many of the places he went. It made the book a little more relatable to me. It was interesting how much training they had to go through to get to fly and how it was conducted. The air battles aren't all that familiar to me and this explained how the fighters went about their work.
An interesting true life history lesson.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I last read this when I was 12 or 13, and loved it. I need to read it again now that I'm longer in the tooth, and can take in more of the historical aspect.