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First published in Great Britain in 2017
This electronic edition published in 2017 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.
© 2017 Osprey Publishing Ltd
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be used or reproduced in any form without prior written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. All enquiries should be addressed to the publisher.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
PB ISBN: 978 1 4728 2352 6
ePub ISBN: 978 1 4728 2353 3
ePDF ISBN: 978 1 4728 2350 2
XML ISBN: 978 1 4728 2351 9
Edited by Tony Holmes
Cover artwork by Mark Postlethwaite
Aircraft profiles by Jim Laurier
Page layouts by PDQ Digital Media Solutions, Bungay, UK
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Front Cover
On 25 March 1945 the ‘Mighty Eighth’ sent its entire bomber force (although only 243 B-24s made it to their designated targets) against oil refineries in Germany, and amongst their powerful fighter escort were Thunderbolts from the 56th FG. Maj George E Bostwick, CO of the 63rd FS, was flying P-47M 44-21160 “Devastatin Deb” when his flight engaged a number of Me 262s that were recovering at Parchim airfield. Bostwick initially lined up behind one of the fighters as its pilot made his final approach, although he quickly shifted his sights to a jet that was taking off. As Bostwick opened fire his opponent banked sharply to the left and the jet’s wingtip dug into the ground, causing it to cartwheel before exploding in a fireball. This was Bostwick’s sixth success, and he claimed two more kills on 7 April to finish the war as an eight-victory ace – he also had seven strafing kills to his name. Squadronmate Capt John C Fahringer scored his fourth, and final, victory in 44-21160 when he shot down an Me 262 on 5 April 1945 (Cover artwork by Mark Postlethwaite)
Acknowledgements
The JG 400 archive photograph on this page was kindly supplied by Hans-Hermann Cammann.