TAPS
Welcome home and RIP
1st Lt Robert G Fenstermacher WWII, Army Air Force
Posted on 10/16/2013 9:01:21 PM PDT by robowombat
Welcome home, airman.
/johnny
Ping
young good men dying for this country and what have we done?...allowed?....
God help us all....
“what have we done?...allowed?....”
Agreed.
Salute to the young Airman.
That happened all too often.
When he flew over D-Day to observe the battle, Jimmy Doolittle used a P-38 Lightning (the plane with the twin booms) precisely to minimize the danger of friendly fire.
No disrespect to LT Fenstermacher, who died a hero. The P-47 was a short range fighter, relegated to recon missions by December 1944. The P-51 Mustang had superseded the Thunderbolt in every respect by then.
The Battle of the Bulge was the largest, costliest and continuous single battle the US Army ever fought. From the time the battle began on December 16, 1944 to when it was declared ‘’contained’’ on January 27, 1945 there was never a day, an hour or a minute that any American unit was not in contact with the enemy. Some 80,000 Americans were either killed, captured or wounded, one of those wounded was my late Uncle Fred who served with the 84th. Infantry Division.
Welcome home LT.
It was a great plane, but emphasis on "perhaps" in "perhaps the apogee."
Ironic, isn’t it? The home he is welcomed back to is more like the regime he fought than it is like the home he left and fought for.
Thank you for posting this, Robo!
Canteen PING!
Bump.
Rest well young Airman.
The P-47 was known to be able to absorb a fair amount of punishment and get you home, too. The Mustang’s weakness was the radiator vs the air-cooled P-47.
Welcome home Sir!
Welcome home and RIP
1st Lt Robert G Fenstermacher WWII, Army Air Force
Not so. The P-47 was probably the most vital fighter of the war. More than any other weapon the Germans utterly dreaded the “jabos”. German fighters were generally unable to deal with their speed, heavy armor, and armament.
The range was on longer an issue after D-day gave them French bases.
Despite its extremely dangerous assignments, it had the lowest loss rate of any USAF fighter in the ETO. It’s ability to survive battle damage was legendary, as was its ability to dish it out. The paddle bladed D model dominated any German it encountered.
And with its 8 guns, nothing matched its firepower.
The P-51 is and was beautiful, but its main trick was its range. It was delicate and not a good choice for ground attack. A solid case can be made that aside from the Corsair, the P-47 was indeed the apogee of prop fighters.
He was with the 506 th Fighter Squadron of the 404 th Fighter Group.
P47 D 42-28933
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