Thunderbolt!: The Extraordinary Story Of A World War II Ace [Illustrated Edition]

Includes the Aerial Warfare In Europe During World War II illustrations pack with over 180 maps, plans, and photos.'The key to victory in World War II Europe lay in wresting control of the skies from the Nazis. America's most courageous pilots hurled their underrated P-47 Thunderbolts time and again against the Luftwaffe's over-whelming power, and won. This is the true life story of one of the greatest Thunderbolt aces of all, Robert S. Johnson: his training, his early failures, his brushes with death, and his twenty-eight kills that helped smash the German juggernaut. Step by step, dogfight by dogfight, maneuver by maneuver, he details daring aerial exploits against monumental odds with America's fabled 56th Fighter Group, a special breed of men who changed the course of history.'-Print ed.