362nd Fighter Group

A visitor to the group identified as Meade Clark (a corporal and, if the boots can be trusted, a paratrooper) poses with a 377th FS Thunderbolt with an impressive scoreboard.

The new Valiant Wings book on the P-47 has a painting of Morton Magoffin’s “Carol Ann,” and inside there’s a build article featuring Edwin Fisher’s “Shirley Jane III,” built by Libor Jekl.

The 379th FS's 42-28890 in its early guise as "the Birmingham Special I," flown by Lt. Walter Whited, photographed at Reims/A-79 in the summer of 1944. The neat skull-and-thunderbolt nose art and the black front of the cowling was painted over in yellow and the codes were cleaned up when the plane received the dorsal fillet extension later in 1944. She was salvaged after a close air support mission around Bastogne on Dec. 23, 1944 after returning to base with 25 flak holes in the airframe.

Two unidentified crewmen pose with "Short Sq**rt," Dwaine Thwing's aircraft.

A posed photo showing a 362nd ground crew chief pulling the prop of his Thunderbolt through prior to a flight. The aircraft letter on the chin is a distinguishing mark for the group. Note the lack of external tanks!

We posted an edited version of this great photo of Irving Sly a few years ago - here's the unedited shot, with Bill Fisher's Jug in the background.

The 378th Fighter Squadron was the only squadron in the 362nd with rocket stubs on their Thunderbolts. Here's a good image showing how they were oriented on the wing of this unidentified 378th FS P-47D.

"Bill" Fisher of the 377th (far right) shoots the breeze with some tankers near the group's base in Normandy during June, 1944.