P-47 Thunderbolt Aces of the Ninth and Fifteenth Air Forces (Osprey Aircraft of the Aces No 30) (Aircraft of the Aces, 30)

Jerry Scutts is a well-reputed historian and Osprey publishing author dedicated to areas of the German Luftwaffe and U. S. Army Air Forces in World War Two. This volume gives credit and honors the P-47 pilots of lesser renown as their primary mission was ground support. The Ninth Air Force figures most prominently in this volume as the Fifteenth Air Force had only the 325th Fighter Group flying the "Jug". As with other Osprey titles in the Aircraft of the Aces series, there are terrific first hand accounts, great black and white photos of the aces and their "Jugs". There are thirty beautiful aircraft profiles executed by Chris Davey. The cover artwork by Iain Wyllie features the P-47 "Big Stud" of Lt. Colonel Robert L. Baseler, the CO of the 325th FG. on a mission of January 30, 1944 in which the unit received a Distinguished Unit Citation and "Bob" Baseler, a Silver Star for their outstanding success! There are six appendices dedicated to the combat claims and 1/72nd scale drawings of a Republic P-47D-15 Thunderbolt provided by Mark Styling. I highly recommend this volume to any WWII aviation enthusiast!

thank you

Great book! Profiles are awesome!

To complete their coverage of P-47 aces, Osprey combined the Jug aces from the ETO-based 9th AF, a tactical organization, with those assigned to the 325th FG, the lone Thunderbolt group in the strategic 15th Air Force in the Med. It's a literary marriage of convenience...but it works. While the aerial exploits of the 'Checkertail Clan' are fairly well known, those of the 9th AF aren't, so Jerry Scutts' book, #30 in the 'Aircraft of the Aces' series, is a useful visit with old friends and new acquitances.Though 9th AF Thunderbolts' main duty was fighter-bombers ops, almost two dozen 9th AF pilots made ace in the Republic fighter. Air combat between the Luftwaffe and 9th AF Jugs was fairly rare, resulting in many 9th AF groups having only one ace or none. High-scoring aces included Ed Fisher (362nd FG), Bob Coffey (365th FG), Bob Johnston (50th FG), Ed Edwards (373rd FG) and John Wainwright (404th FG); none of whom had totals in the double digits. By contrast the top 325th FG ace - 'Herky' Green - scored 10 kills while flying Thunderbolts.If half votes were allowed, I would have given P-47 THUNDERBOLT ACES OF THE NINTH AND FIFTEENTH AIR FORCES 4 1/2 stars. While Scutts does a fair job on the 9th AF aces, he spends too much time describing the 9th's fighter-bomber exploits. I would have preferred more combat reports, etc. dealing with the air-to-air trade. Likewise he didn't include an index!On the plus side, Scutts is a fine author and the narrative flows easily, especially the shifts back and forth between covereage of 9th AF units and the 325th sections. There's 90 photographs of pilots and aircraft along with 10 pages of nifty color side-views by Chris Davey. Ninth Jugs had some spectacular nose art as borne out by Davey's profiles of 'Wee Speck,' 'Five by Five' and 'Live Bait!'Air combat and especially Jug fans should latch on to Scutts' book. It's an enjoyable, informative guide to some famous and not-so-well-known aces who flew that monster of a fighter. Recommended.

A comprehensive read about a little known conflict involving the P47.The colour reproductions are essential for the aero modeller wishing to build a more obscure aircraft.