Thunderbolt, The P-47 Kindle Edition

1) Why I chose this book : Love reading about WW2 and this book was superb!2) Any course language present : One use of the f-word and then hel* being the most prevalent thereafter (no surprise)3) Type of book : Memoir4) Formatting/Editing : Well done5) Best/Worst aspect of book : Version I bought back on August 26, 2017 no longer available for sale. Simply incredible to think this pilot never lost a wingman to an enemy fighter6) Favorite Passage : Way too many (which is mark of a great read) including the solemn "The instant of knowing that the skies truly are yours in which to fly and soar..." , the humorous "Without warning, disaster struck. I discovered girls." and the gritty "No newspapers ever truly conveyed the screams of wounded and dying and black and white newsprint is wholly inadequate for portraying the bright splash of spilled blood."7) Bottom-line : Excellent book for learning about the heralded life of only America's second highest scoring ace in the WW2 European Theater which begs the question "Who's number one?" as I'll need to be reading about him next!

ThunderboltType of book/memoir of the 50’s that were a dime a dozen, but this book has a bit of brains and, at least the first half, some decent metaphorical prose. Thunderbolt documents Johnson’s youth in Oklahoma where he developed his passion to take to the sky’s, and how he was able to follow his dreams. On the topic of dreams, the first portion of the book is probably the better written half, and has a dreamlike quality to it. The second half of the book follows his entry into the service, the early days of the American fighter forces in Europe up until D-Day when Johnson’s tour of duty ended. The edition of Thunderbolt I read had no pictures, unlike the version I read in the late 50’s/early sixties.Second half requires edit. At times it’s redundant and littered with typos and mistakes were made as Johnson describes shooting down a FW 290, no such thing, perhaps a prototype FW 190 D, and an ME 209. The ME 209 was a plane used to set speed records and never used in war. If one looks close at photos of Johnson in his Thunderbolt, you can see his “kill” Talley, and beneath two of the crosses one sees, FW 290, and ME 209, so if you have a copy of the book, as I did, with no photos, the description in the text is not a typo.Could be project of ambitious re-write as it documents the European air war at a time over the continent, in early 1943, when US fighter forces began to arrive, there was a parity in regard to aircraft, but German and British pilots were more skilled than their US counterparts as they had been practicing this art form of war for years. Via Johnson’s descriptions, one witnesses the attrition of the Luftwaffe as more experienced pilots were killed to be replaced by young inexperienced cannon fodder, as well as the Luftwaffe becoming numerically overwhelmed.Thunderbolt Touches on the philosophical dilemma of shooting parachuting aviators. Johnson’s writing shows a transition he went through where initially he appeared to be one of the Knights of the Sky, only to evolve into a killer that is the product of war. Johnson admits he shot a very competent Luftwaffe pilot attempting bail out, which is hardly different than shooting a pilot in a parachute. The dilemma, if one doesn’t shoot a parachuting German pilot over Europe, the adversary gets to fly again. The same debate occurred in regard to RAF pilots over England during the Battle of Britain.To conclude, an easy to read book, that is not much different from other books of its kind published during the 50’s, but in the right hands, could be rewritten into a much more philosophical and historical book about the air-war over Europe from 1943 to mid 1944.

I have been enjoying reading books written by participants in WWII. I believe we must recognize these to remember the contributions and experienced by those who are fast disappearing from everyday life. This was about flying a P-47 Thunderbolt against the Germany. You get a feel for the aircraft and its strong points in reading this, and also experience the missions that the author participated in. I have read another book about a P-47 pilot, who flew in the Pacific. This one tells more about the aircraft, while the one about the Pacific high-lights the experiences of the author both in the missions and during the time spent on the ground. I enjoyed both and recommend both to people interested in this history of aircraft during WWII. The price of the books was amazing: $.99 for Kindle editions.

It is hard to believe that this autobiography is written by the pilot who actually lived to tell the tale. No novelist could possibly write a more spellbinding story of air combat. My only complaint is that the read was too short. Well done Major Robert Johnson! Again the movie makers have missed the chance to honor a true American hero by not telling America and all freedom loving people his story on the big screen.God bless your soul.Bpjacks

Good account of being a Thunderbolt pilot.Be warned that the interleaving of the chapters of the book with page after page of footnotes and references make it a disjointed and often frustrating read. This is especially true on Kindle where an incautious twitch of a finger tip when turning a page can leave you wandering in a maze of cross references. I have edited reminiscences for publication and I know that you can equally be faulted for putting the references - and they are often essential if the reader knows little or nothing about the period - at the back of the book. On balance, at least putting the background at the end allows the reader to have an uninterrupted narrative and skip the background if they wish.

Excellent, absorbing personal account (co-authored by the renowned, late aviation writer Martin Caidin) of the exploits of the USAAF's 56th Fighter Group; seen through the eyes of one of its highest-scoring pilots, Robert S. Johnson. He explains how the 56th - at significant human cost - honed its tactics against crack Luftwaffe opposition during 1943 and '44; evolving from greenhorn cannon-fodder to formidable, hardened killers; gaining one of the outstanding kill-to-loss ratios in the ETA in the process. Over this period, they learned to optimise the use of the colossal, but incredibly robust seven ton Republic P-47 Thunderbolt (The "Jug") as firstly an escort fighter; and later as a ground attack fighter-bomber over Occupied Europe. Worth reading if you, like me, always marvelled that these men could learn to consistently outfly the Luftwaffe's quick, higher turn-rate Bf109s & Fw190s in their portly "Jugs."

A terrific account of Bob Johnson's wartime experiences flying the awesome P47 Thunderbolt. If you like blow by blow accounts of air combat then this is the book for you. It goes through all his basic and advanced training and then all his combat experiences in the air war over Europe.I can highly recommend this book.

Witty in places, with a detached sense of his 'personal contribution" to the air war, high (and sometimes low) over Europe, Johnson paints a vivid picture of the bravery of combat pilots on both sides. Culminating in 28 aerial victories he takes the reader on a journey from his childhood, through pilot training and onto his first flights as a fledgling fighter pilot, escorting his 'big friends'. The true danger of the fighter pilots "lot", borne out through his recollection of being attacked on numerous occasions during one raid, that left him practically blind, wounded and in an aircraft that should not be capable of flight, was for me the highlight of the book; an insight to true heroism under extreme pressure. A great book, sadly only let down by poor proof reading and editing with several, sometimes unfortunate, spelling mistakes.

The bravery of ordinary men and women when subjected to the conditions of war, on the ground, in the air,or out at sea for years.,then expect them to revert to ordinary way of life. The experience as Robert S Johnson is a classic example of these acts of courage, A Wonderful book that is difficult to put down once started,