4th Fighter Group

4th Fighter Group PDF Author: Chris Bucholtz
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 178200873X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
With first-hand accounts and colour artwork, this title describes the planes and pilots of the famous 4th Fighter Group 'Fourth but First' that became the highest-scoring unit of the mighty 8th Air Force in World War 2. Formed around a nucleus of pilots already seasoned by their experience as volunteers in the RAF's Eagle Squadrons, the 4th Fighter Group was established in England in October 1942. Initially flying Spitfires, the Debden Eagles went on to fly the P-47 and P-51, becoming, in July 1943, the first Eighth Air Force fighter group to penetrate German air space. The group's record of 583 air and 469 ground victories was unmatched in the Eighth Air Force, and the group produced a cast of characters that included legendary aces Don Blakeslee, Pierce McKennon, “Kid” Hofer, Duane Beeson, Steve Pisanos and Howard Hively. Involved in the D-Day landings, Operation Market Garden, the Battle of the Bulge and the crossing of the Rhine, the group's achievements came at a high price, with a 42 percent casualty rate. Packed with pilots' experiences, detailed aircraft profiles and full combat histories, this book is an intriguing insight into the best-known American fighter unit in World War II.

4th Fighter Group

4th Fighter Group PDF Author: Chris Bucholtz
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 178200873X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
With first-hand accounts and colour artwork, this title describes the planes and pilots of the famous 4th Fighter Group 'Fourth but First' that became the highest-scoring unit of the mighty 8th Air Force in World War 2. Formed around a nucleus of pilots already seasoned by their experience as volunteers in the RAF's Eagle Squadrons, the 4th Fighter Group was established in England in October 1942. Initially flying Spitfires, the Debden Eagles went on to fly the P-47 and P-51, becoming, in July 1943, the first Eighth Air Force fighter group to penetrate German air space. The group's record of 583 air and 469 ground victories was unmatched in the Eighth Air Force, and the group produced a cast of characters that included legendary aces Don Blakeslee, Pierce McKennon, “Kid” Hofer, Duane Beeson, Steve Pisanos and Howard Hively. Involved in the D-Day landings, Operation Market Garden, the Battle of the Bulge and the crossing of the Rhine, the group's achievements came at a high price, with a 42 percent casualty rate. Packed with pilots' experiences, detailed aircraft profiles and full combat histories, this book is an intriguing insight into the best-known American fighter unit in World War II.

4th Fighter Group in World War II

4th Fighter Group in World War II PDF Author: Larry Davis
Publisher: Squadron/Signal Publications
ISBN: 9780897475150
Category : Fighter pilots
Languages : en
Pages : 79

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Book Description


Adventures of the 4th Fighter Group

Adventures of the 4th Fighter Group PDF Author: Troy L. White
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780578166056
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
The thrills, spills and lucky escapes of the 4th Fighter Group during World War II. From clandestine training in Canada and early days as the legendary RAF Eagle Squadrons forged in the fire of the Battle of Britain, to wild dogfights over the Reich. The youthful enthusiasm of the fliers turned to dogged determination until victory was theirs! Adventures of the Fourth Fighter Group combines the personal recollections of veteran pilots then and now, and thoroughly researched true tales full of rich and evocative detail. Adventures of the 4th Fighter Group is over 330 pages long, measures 6"x 9" with 199 images. Author/artist Troy White covers new ground with his latest book about the adventures of the keen young pilots of the fourth FG.

Air Force Combat Units of World War II

Air Force Combat Units of World War II PDF Author: Maurer Maurer
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1428915850
Category : United States
Languages : en
Pages : 520

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Book Description


One-Man Airforce [Illustrated Edition]

One-Man Airforce [Illustrated Edition] PDF Author: Major Don Salvatore Gentile
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
ISBN: 1782894489
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 59

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Book Description
Illustrated with 14 photos of the Author and the Aircraft he flew. Gentile was born in Piqua, Ohio. After a fascination with flying as a child, his father provided him with his own plane, an Aerosport Biplane. He managed to log over 300 hours flying time by July 1941, when he attempted to join the Army Air Force. The U.S. military required two years of college for its pilots, which Gentile did not have, so he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force and was posted to the UK in 1941. Gentile flew the Supermarine Spitfire Mark V with No. 133 Squadron, one of the famed "Eagle Squadron" during 1942. His first kills (a Ju 88 and Fw 190) were on August 1, 1942, during Operation Jubilee. In September 1942, the Eagle squadrons transferred to the USAAF, becoming the 4th Fighter Group. Gentile became a flight commander in September 1943, now flying the P-47 Thunderbolt. Having been Spitfire pilots, Gentile and the other pilots of the 4th were displeased when they transitioned to the heavy P-47. By late 1943, Group Commander Col. Don Blakeslee pushed for re-equipment with the lighter, more maneuverable P-51 Mustang. Conversion to the P-51B at the end of February 1944 allowed Gentile to build a tally of 15.5 additional aircraft destroyed between March 3 and April 8, 1944. After downing 3 planes on April 8, he was the top scoring 8th Air Force ace when he crashed his personal P-51, named "Shangri La", on April 13, 1944 while stunting over the 4th FG’s airfield at Debden for a group of assembled press reporters and movie cameras. Blakeslee immediately grounded Gentile as a result, and he was sent back to the US for a tour selling war bonds. In 1944, Gentile co-wrote with well-known war correspondent Ira Wolfert One Man Air Force, an autobiography and account of his combat missions.

F-86 Sabre Aces of the 4th Fighter Wing

F-86 Sabre Aces of the 4th Fighter Wing PDF Author: Warren Thompson
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472802128
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 221

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Book Description
A compact, illustrated history of the 4th Fighter Wing and the beginnings of combat in Korea for the United States. The entry of the United States' premier jet interceptor into the Korean War was triggered by the ever-increasing presence of the Soviet-built MiG-15 south of the Yalu River. The possibility of the USAF losing air supremacy over the Korean Peninsula was unacceptable. The 4th Fighter Wing got the call for combat in Korea. They were made up of a combination of new pilots right out of jet training and the older combat veterans of World War II vintage. This combination of pilot types wrote and re-wrote the text books on jet warfare. Of the 40 jet aces that the war produced, the 4th Wing boasted 24 of them. With first-hand accounts and stunning illustrations inside, this book details these incredible pilots and the planes they flew.

Thunderbolts Triumphant

Thunderbolts Triumphant PDF Author: Chris Bucholtz
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1612006744
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description
The action-packed story of the WWII aviators known as the “362nd Suicide Outfit,” including 150 photographs. During World War II, the Ninth Air Force comprised air-to-ground aviators, charged with destroying the enemy close to the front and below the clouds, often bringing them face-to-face with their German opponents. The 362nd Fighter Group, led by two very different leaders—the tough disciplinarian Col. Morton Magoffin and later the beloved motivator Col. Joe Laughlin—had one of the best track records in the Ninth Air Force. It destroyed over 5,000 trucks, 350 tanks, 275 artillery pieces, 45 barges, and 600 locomotives. But this score came at a cost, as over the course of fifteen months of combat in 1944 and 1945, more than seventy pilots were killed in action; in June 1944 alone, thirty of their P-47 Thunderbolts were lost. The other groups jokingly referred to them as the “362nd Suicide Outfit.” Thunderbolts Triumphant provides a narrative history of the group and gives a glimpse at the fascinating men who flew these missions and maintained the aircraft as they navigated Europe. Starting with the D-Day invasion, the group was the aerial artillery support for US ground forces, first in Normandy, then in reducing the defenses around Brest, then in supporting the US Third Army as it drove across France and Germany. Special emphasis is given to its most spectacular missions, such as the breaching of the Dieuze Dam and its incredible performance during the Battle of the Bulge, where it demolished much of the Sixth Panzer Army as it tried to escape eastward. Illustrated with 150 black and white photographs and twenty-four color aircraft profiles, this is a fascinating and detailed history of a group that played a significant part in winning the air war.

Pursue & Destroy

Pursue & Destroy PDF Author: Leonard Carson
Publisher: Sentry Books, Incorporated
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 176

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Book Description


Eighty-one Aces of the 4th Fighter Group

Eighty-one Aces of the 4th Fighter Group PDF Author: Frank Speer
Publisher: Schiffer Publishing
ISBN: 9780764333743
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 144

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Book Description
The 4th Fighter Group, armed with P-51s and aggressive, seasoned pilots, battled the Luftwaffe in the air and on the ground, achieving an impressive score of 1,016 German planes destroyed, the highest score of all Allied Groups. Instrumental in achieving this record were eighty-one pilots who became aces and men whose stories are the subject of this book. Their accounts go beyond the battles and individual victories to give a glimpse of their original motivations and their subsequent successes, failures, and often violent deaths. The accounts are written by the author, a fellow ace, who lived with them, fought with them, and survived to tell their fascinating stories.

The 363rd Fighter Group in World War II

The 363rd Fighter Group in World War II PDF Author: Kent Miller
Publisher: Schiffer Publishing
ISBN: 9780764316296
Category : Mustang (Fighter plane)
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
This history sheds light on the achievements of the 363rd for the period it flew escort and ground support missions over Europe. The day-to-day operations are interspersed with quotes from the group and squadron diaries, and supplemented by an exhaustive appendix to give the reader a look into the combat activities of this little known Army Air Force organization.