The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt: Flown By America’s Top 2 Aces in Europe During WWII

In the annals of American WWII combat fighter plane history. The North American P-51D Mustang is typically assessed as the game changer in the Western European Theater of Operations, and understandably so, as she was indeed the fighter plane that was able to finally provide full mission-length to the B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator heavy bombers as they took their strike packages to the industrial heart and guts of Nazi Germany. In the process, the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt (AKA “Jug,” “T-Bolt,” “Flying Bathtub”) typically plays second fiddle to the Mustang.