Browse Items (48 total)

Accounts were kept of what pilots destroyed in combat. To tout those successes, pilots would have the record painted on their planes, with tallies next to each symbol for tanks, trucks, and locomotives. The Nazi flags represented downed enemy…

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…

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.

The P-47 Thunderbolt was a heavy fighter aircraft, maxing out at 17,000 lbs. Part of this weight was owed to the extra protection given to the pilot. Armor plates were installed behind the seat and on each side of the cockpit below the window. In…

This insignia was introduced in 1943. The blue and white gloss insignia was referred to as the "star and bar" and was standard on all planes in the U.S. military in WWII. It was painted under both wings to help ground troops avoid friendly fire. The…

The propeller on the engine of a P-47. The engine, a Pratt and Whitney R-2800, helped to determine the size of the plane. The engine was covered with metal plates known as a cowling. During combat, the cowling cover was color-associated with the…

The pitot tube was used as a weather gauge, sending information like air speed and altitude to the console of the pilot. Pilots had to adapt to this plane quickly, but even experienced pilots had trouble in flying it. The pitot tube was located on…

This book tells the history of the Ninth Air Force through illustrations of the various goings-on by men in the Ninth Air Force. From Bomber and Fighter Groups to Intelligence Units, the illustrations tell the story of the men who fought in the Ninth…

This illustration is of a P-47 squadron from the Ninth Air Force in Belgium during the siege of Aachen in October of 1944. This scene was common among all Air Force groups, though how many of them had this groups' sense of humor is unknown. The…

Grounds crews were responsible for getting extra fuel tanks loaded on the planes if the missions called for it, and they gave the aircraft a once over before the pilot came out to do the same. Ordnance men would have to prep bombs before loading them…