Word: thunderbolts
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...English orders, a mechanically apt youth, a small backlog of trained personnel. And in spite of everything, nine types of combat plane were already in production: the Flying Fortress (B-17), Liberator (B-24), Mitchell (B-25), Marauder (B-26), Lightning (P-38), Airacobra (P-39), Warhawk (P-40), Thunderbolt (P-47) and Mustang...
Bombers' Pets. The bomber men have other favorites in the Eighth Fighter Command: Captain Walker Mahurin, 25, has the highest U.S. score in the theater: 13 kills. Twice he downed three Nazis in a day; twice he hit a daily double in his Thunderbolt. Captain Joe Meyer alone fought off a dozen Germans, safely shepherded home two crippled F-38s and a wounded Fortress. Lieut. Colonel Eugene Roberts believes in tight formations. His group's score: 36 Germans destroyed, seven U.S. planes lost...
...before, when the Eighth went to Bremen, Fortresses, Liberators and long-range Thunderbolt fighters shot down 142 Nazis, lost 30 bombers, three fighters. This week Fortresses set fire to Minister. The bombers shot down 81 Nazi fighters, escorting Thunderbolts 21 more. U.S. losses: 30 bombers, two fighters...
More bombers dropped out of the overcast, ghosted through long streamers of cloud below. Their job was easier: the target area could be plainly seen. They made short bombing runs, unloaded while Thunderbolt fighters took on the German pursuit in short, angry dogfights. Then the bombers crawled back into the clouds and headed for home...
...Thunderbolt (Republic P-47). First fought in the European Theater only a few months ago on a large scale, the turbosupercharged P47 is a hard-hitting, high-altitude specialist. Heavy as the familiar Ford trimotor, it has been used almost exclusively as a long-range bomber escort (as at Emden). Bombers run into comparatively little trouble when P-475 are escorting. The P-475 themselves, against German fighters, knocked down 5.8 German aircraft to every P47 that was lost in one recent month. Its overall ratio, from a fairly unimpressive start...