Thunderbolts Triumphant

The action-packed story of the WWII aviators known as the “362nd Suicide Outfit,” including 150 photographs. During World War II, the Ninth Air Force comprised air-to-ground aviators, charged with destroying the enemy close to the front and below the clouds, often bringing them face-to-face with their German opponents. The 362nd Fighter Group, led by two very different leaders—the tough disciplinarian Col. Morton Magoffin and later the beloved motivator Col. Joe Laughlin—had one of the best track records in the Ninth Air Force. It destroyed over 5,000 trucks, 350 tanks, 275 artillery pieces, 45 barges, and 600 locomotives. But this score came at a cost, as over the course of fifteen months of combat in 1944 and 1945, more than seventy pilots were killed in action; in June 1944 alone, thirty of their P-47 Thunderbolts were lost. The other groups jokingly referred to them as the “362nd Suicide Outfit.” Thunderbolts Triumphant provides a narrative history of the group and gives a glimpse at the fascinating men who flew these missions and maintained the aircraft as they navigated Europe. Starting with the D-Day invasion, the group was the aerial artillery support for US ground forces, first in Normandy, then in reducing the defenses around Brest, then in supporting the US Third Army as it drove across France and Germany. Special emphasis is given to its most spectacular missions, such as the breaching of the Dieuze Dam and its incredible performance during the Battle of the Bulge, where it demolished much of the Sixth Panzer Army as it tried to escape eastward. Illustrated with 150 black and white photographs and twenty-four color aircraft profiles, this is a fascinating and detailed history of a group that played a significant part in winning the air war.