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.50-Caliber Bullets in a P-47
The P-47 had 4 .50-caliber machine guns on each wing. Each gun could fire at a rate of around 500 rounds per minute, meaning a lot of firepower was needed in each wing. These guns were in addition to the bombs that could be attached under each wing.
.50-Caliber Machine Guns on a P-47
The 8 .50-caliber machine guns on a P-47 could fire at a rate of up to 500 rounds per minutes. Even without the use of bombs, this made the P-47 a very deadly weapon in the hands of a capable pilot.
A Damaged P-47
The heavy P-47 Thunderbolt was built to withstand a lot of damage. According the the National Museum of the USAF, this P-47 from the Ninth Air Force landed with a hung up 500-lb bomb. The force of the landing made it detached and the explosion…
Armament on a P-47
The bombs were positioned just to the outside of the last machine gun, which was also where the bullets to the machine guns were stored in the wings. That made the wings the most vulnerable part of the plane, especially if the bombs had not been…
1,000-lb Bomb for the P-47
P-47s were durable, easy to maneuver, and versatile. Its' versatility was in both the types of missions it could fly and the armament it could carry. For the bombing missions that involved large targets, like storage depots and ships, the 1,000-lb…
A Nebraska Newspaper Touting the Successes of Colonel Joseph Laughlin
In this article, the recent successes of Colonel Joseph Laughlin in France are described. It includes the details behind a Ninth Air Force record-setting flight that was Colonel Laughlin's idea as payback to the Nazis for all that they had done so…
A Tribute to Fighters
There is no indication of which newspaper ran this article, however, it appears to be written by a British gunner in response to a group of P-47s providing escort to his crew. It shows just how thankful airmen, especially those in the bombers, were…
362nd Destroys Multiple German Planes and Trains in One Day
This article describes the destructiveness of the 362nd by describing the amount of German planes and trains that they destroyed in one Saturday.
Colonel Joseph Laughlin Describes Devastation in Germany to his Hometown Newspaper
In this article, Colonel Laughlin describes what he sees on the ground after his 362nd Fighter Group bombed and strafed a region outside Mainz in Germany.
The Omaha World-Herald announces the Return Stateside of Colonel Joseph Laughlin
This article announces the return of Colonel Laughlin stateside after V-J day. It gives a brief overview of his time in the Pacific and European Theaters of Operation.