Germans Laughed at This 'Fat' Fighter - Then It Destroyed 7,000 Aircraft скачать в хорошем качестве

Germans Laughed at This 'Fat' Fighter - Then It Destroyed 7,000 Aircraft

On April 15, 1943, German ace Werner Schroer radioed his wingmen: "The Americans are flying barrels." The new P-47 Thunderbolt looked ridiculous—fat, crude, twice as heavy as any German fighter. Luftwaffe pilots laughed. By 1945, nobody was laughing. This is the story of how a 2,300-pound engine and 15,683 "flying barrels" destroyed more than 7,000 enemy aircraft and broke the Luftwaffe's back. • Robert Johnson's legendary June 26, 1943 mission—200+ bullet holes, 21 cannon shells, still flying • Why the massive R-2800 Double Wasp engine could lose entire cylinders and keep running • German reactions: from "we laughed at them" to "nobody laughs now" • The ground attack terror: 86,000 railway cars, 9,000 locomotives destroyed • 746,000 combat missions with only 0.7% loss rate—the numbers that terrified Germany #WWII #P47Thunderbolt #MilitaryHistory PRIMARY SOURCES & REFERENCES Official Military Records: United States Army Air Forces combat mission reports, 8th Air Force, 1943-1945 56th Fighter Group operational records, National Archives Eighth Air Force claims board documentation Republic Aviation production records, 1941-1945 Memoirs & First-Hand Accounts: Johnson, Robert S., and Caidin, Martin. "Thunderbolt!" (Bantam Books, 1958) Personal combat accounts from 56th Fighter Group pilots Technical Documentation: Republic P-47 Thunderbolt flight manuals and technical orders Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp engine specifications General Electric turbosupercharger technical documentation Museums & Historical Institutions: Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum archives National Museum of the United States Air Force records American Heritage Museum collections RAF Museum historical documents German Sources: Luftwaffe tactical assessments, 1943-1945 Jagdgeschwader 26 war diary (Caldwell, Donald, "JG 26 War Diary - Volume 2, 1943-45," Grub Street Ltd, 1998) Captured Luftwaffe pilot interrogation reports, March 1945 Academic & Historical Publications: Freeman, Roger. "The Mighty Eighth" (various editions) Chapis, Stephen. "Allied Jet Killers of World War II" Various aviation history publications and peer-reviewed articles Unit Histories: 56th Fighter Group "Zemke's Wolfpack" records 61st, 62nd, and 63rd Fighter Squadron documentation 9th Air Force tactical reports Production & Statistical Records: Republic Aviation manufacturing data Army Air Forces statistical summaries Combat loss and sortie reports Historical Accuracy Note: This documentary uses creative dramatization to bring historical events to life. All core facts, statistics, and outcomes are verified through primary sources listed above. Some dialogue, internal thoughts, and emotional responses have been dramatized based on historical context and reasonable inference. All dramatization is grounded in documented circumstances and military training of the era.