56th Fighter Group; Author: Freeman, Roger; Paperback

Author: Freeman, Roger
Series#:2; Aviation Elite; Paperback; 30-40 Colour Profiles, 100 B&w Illustrations
128 pages
Published: October 2000
Osprey
ISBN: 1841760471

In addition to being the first P-47 thunderbolt group to see action in the European Theater, the 56th Fighter Group was the only unit in the Eighth Air Force to fly the Jug through war's end. The 56th was also responsible for developing many of the VIII Fighter Command's bomber escort tactics, and by war's end had shot down more Axis aircraft than any other unit in the Eighth, producing two of the theater's leading aces, Francis Gabreski and Robert Johnson. A detailed text outlining the exploits of the 56th Fighter Group and biographies of its leading personalities is complementedby full appendices listing aircraft, bases, officers, kills, and losses, as well as archival photographs and specially commissioned color artwork detailing aircraft, uniforms, and special unit insigniProfile artwork and detailed text, outlining the exploits of the unit, and including detailed biographies of leading pilots. A study of the 56th Fighter Group during World War II, who shot down more enemy aircraft than any other group in the Eighth Air Force. The group also produced the two leading aces, Francis Gabreski and Robert Johnson. The exploits of these men, and numerous others, are featured in this volume.