P-47 Thunderbolt At War

In the latest installment from Zenith Books' "At War" series, author Cory Graff has compiled a nice concise history of the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt in World War Two. While there are quiet a few books that deal with the subject matter, few offer a balanced look at the aircraft from its pre-war development through its post-war service and still provide an interesting perspective to its development and operations through the war in all theaters of operations.

Take a look at the table of contents:

• Introduction
• Bloodline: Origins of the P-47
• Building the Monster: Construction of the P-47
• The Home Front: The Battle to Build P-47s
• Ramrod: P-47 Fighter Escorts
• The War to the South: P-47s in the Mediterranean
• Ground Pounders: P-47 Fighter Bombers in Europe
• Island Hoppers: P-47s Over the Pacific
• Still Flying: P-47s After World War II

The author provides operational highlights from Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Pacific. The title is also well-illustrated with a good mixture of period color photographs, a few contemporary color photographs, and numerous black and whites from combat photographers. Some of the photos have appeared in other titles, but there are some nice shots in this book that I haven't seen available previously. There are some nice color shots of Thunderbolts operated by the Mexican and Brazilian Air Forces as part of Allied operations in Europe.

This is a well-written book that will provide a unique look into some operational history and some interesting statistics of this historic symbol of American air power during World War Two.

This title is highly recommended!

My sincere thanks to Motorbooks International for this review sample!