Republic’s P-47 Thuderbolt and Pilots of the 56th Fighter Group Who Flew Them
(Adapted from "Wolfpack At War," by Don Hollway, published in "WWII Air War")

"A fighter pilot must possess an inner urge for combat. The will at all times to be offensive will develop into his own tactics. I stay with an enemyuntil either he’s destroyed, I’m out of ammunition, he evades into the clouds, or I’m too low on fuel to continue the combat."
Colonel Hubert Zemke

It was April 1943 when the 56th Fighter Groupmet the enemy over German Occupied Holland for the first time. Before the survivors of that battle betgan arriving at their British air base, it was clear to their commanding officer – Lt. Colonel Hubert "Hub" Zemke – that things had gone wrong, for he had been listening to their radio communications. The 62nd Squadron commander – Major Dave Shilling – had not been heard from. As Major Shilling’s plane landed, he explained to Col. Zemke that when his fighter was hit by the Lufwaff, his radio went out before the group even reached the cost of Holland. Rather than relinquish command, he led the 62nd’s attack on a pair of bandits they had sighted. They, and the group’s two remaining squadrons, the 61st and 63rd, were able to escape over the English Channel. Many of the missing pilots, their aircraft running low on fuel, had simply set down on the first English airfields they came across. However, two did not return.

Even before shipping to England, the 56th had lost 18 men, which Col. Zemke attributed to the combination of inexperienced, gung-ho young pilots and a brand-new, trouble-prone fighter – Republic’s P-47B Thuderbolt, nick-named the "Jug." "The eager pilots thought the Thunderbolt was a terrific fighter simply because they had flown nothing else," said Zemke. "Above 20,000 feet, the P-47 was capable of speeds up to 400 mph and had the quickest roll rate of any fighter in the U.S. inventory, but even with a turbo-supercharged Pratt & Whitney R-2800 hp, the plane required almost a half-mile run just to get 50 feet off the ground. It accelerated poorly and climbed not much better from a slow airspeed. Overall, the P-47 was a big disappointment."

Among the56th Fighter group pilots were Captain Francis S. "Gabby" Gabreski (who later became a Colonel and a long-time resident of Long Island), and Robert "Bob" Johnson, both of whom became Ace’s during World War II and eventually, years later, members of the LIEFC. The battles they participated in, along with the entire 56th Fighter Group, were impressive.

By August 1943, the 56th’s top pilots had began to distinguish themselves. Gabreski had scored his first kill, Bob Johnson his second, and Zemke his fourth. In September, Zemke led the group on its longest mission to date, 250-miles to Emden, Germany. (The P-47’s had received new 75-gallon under-wing tanks made of metal and pressurized to feed at all altitudes.) During that run, Zemke became the 56th’s first ace. Shilling also was credited with two that day and three more by October 10th, when Bob Johnson and Jerry Johnson (not related), each downed their fifth enemy aircraft. That gave the 56th four of the five American aces in the European Theater of Operations (ETO), for the 56th had scored its 100th kill.

On November 26th, during a run to Bremen, "Zemke’s Wolfpack" scored an ETO recod: 23 confirmed, three probable and nine damaged, including two for Gabreski.

A second-generation Pole who had flown a Curiss P-40 Tomahawk during the Pearl Harbor attack and a Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IX with the Free Poles in RAF service, Gabreski "barreled down on a pair of Me-110’s that dove away" – always a mistake against the fast-diving Jug. He closed in rapidly behind them and opened fire on one at 700 yards range and suddenly he was right on top of a 110. Gabby said, "This time I slowed my approach slightly, though we were still traveling about 420 mph when I opened fire from 600 yards. The 110 took solid hits in its wing root and rolled over into a death fall at 14,000 feet."

Kills four and five were racked up by Gabreski; Shilling and Capt. Walter Cook, who also scored doubles (giving him ace status). Capt. Bud Mahurin got three more ME-110’s to become the ETO’s first double ace. By March 1944, with 20 kills, he ranked as its highest scorer, with the two Johnson’s (Bob and Jerry) right behind him. The 61st Squadron became the first in the ETO with 100 victories to its credit; the Group’s tally stood at 300. That month, the Luftwafe lost 22 percent of its pilots, a blow from which it never really recovered. The 56th flew a "ramrod" all the way to Berlin and back without meeting a single enemy fighter.

On March 27th, while shooting down a Dornier Do-217 bomber south of Chartres, Mahurin was hit by its rear gunner. He bailed out and was last seen running for a tree line. Jerry Johnson, with 18 kills to his credit, was hit by groundfire while strafing a truck convoy and taken prisoner after bellying in. Mahurin made it back to England via the French underground and RAF rescue plane, but he was not permitted to risk capture, which might mean having to reve both of whom became Ace’s during World War II al the secrets of his escape route. He was transferred to the Pacific theater, where he scored another kill before the war’s end, as well as 3-1/2 Mi-G’s in the Korean War, before being shot down again and captured by the North Koreans.

The title of high scorer passed to Bob Johnson. By early May 1944, near the end of his combat tour, Johnson led the ETO with 25 victories, just one less than World War I ace Edie Rickenbacker. Returning from his last mission, and uneventful run to Berlin on May 8, he rolled onto the tail of a passing Me-109. It banked left, but Johnson rolled inside his turn and stayed close enough that I could see the pilot look back over his shoulder as I opened fire. He went into a dive but I kept right on his tail pouring fire into him. Suddenly his wing came off and the fighter spun in. That made 26! As his number here and four chased a flight of Focke Wulfs into a cloud, only to re-emerge with the Germans on their tails, Johnson scared off the lead Fw-190 with a few burst. "I swung my nose to bear on the second plane, and hits! All over the wings and wing roots, there it was – Number 27. My last mission couldn’t have been more perect."

On June 27, Gabreski downed an Me-109 to match Bob Johnson’s score, and on July 5 he shot down another Messerschmitt near Evreux. So Gabreski had 28 aerial kills(29 and 2-1/2 on the ground) and the ETO had another high scorer. Like Johnson, "Gabby" was nearing the end of his tour. On his last day, July 20, he took time off from a ramrod to Frankfurt to strafe Bassinheim Airfield and set a parked Heinkel bomber afire. "At that time, our policy was to make one pass on an airdrome and get out because the flank gunners were always ready and waiting if you tried to come back for more. I figured the flak had been so light I could get away with another pass."

Coming back in right down the deck, Gabreski saw his tracers pass over another He-111. Without thinking, he dropped the nose – and the P-27’s prop clipped the ground. With no hope of returning to England, Gabreski bellied into a wheat field and was captured. (He went on to fly North American F-86 Sabre jets over Korea – as Mahurin’s commanding officer – downing 6-1/2 MiGs.)

Of the 56th original aces, only Zemke and Schilling remained. Offered command of the 479th Fighter Group – Lockheed P-38 Lightnings – Schilling refused, and was stunned when Zemke took it instead. Zemke said there was only one group Schilling wanted and deserved to command, while I need a new challenge, a new purpose. Behind me was the greatest command of my service life. (By giving up his P-47, Zemke shortened his war. He scored two kills with the 479th, bringing his final aerial tally to 17-3/4, but on October 30, on escort duty over Germany, the North American P-51 Mustang he was flying came apart in a thunderstorm. Zemke got out safely, only to be captured.

Zemke’s departure marked the Wolfpack’s darkest chapter. On September 17 the group was handed the dirtiest ground attack work of all – anti-aircraft suppression in support of the ill-fated Allied airborne invasion of (Holland Market Garden). In two days of dueling with flak sites, Schilling’s men took out 34 emplacements, but 17 P-47’s were destroyed and a dozen damaged. Two pilots became prisoners of war and four were killed. The group’s old nemesis, JG 26, got through the dazed P-47 pilots that next day to knock down 17 helpless troop transports.

Fortunately, October 1944 was a quiet time for the Eighth Air Force. The Luftwaffe was saving its precious planes and fuel reserves for the grosse Schlag – the "Great Blow" in which the Germans hoped to prevent the invasion of their fatherland. Foul weather initially curtained Allied fighter cover. Not until December 23 could Schilling lead his men over the battleground, where he lost track of two consecutive enemy formations in the clouds. His ground controllers told him not to worry about it – "There’s bigger game ahead!"

There was. A large enemy formation was located below and 40-plus more were flying ahead, including new Focke Wulf Fw-190D high-altitude fighters. Sending the 61st and 63rd down to attack the Germans below, Schilling brought the 62nd around behind the group ahead. He hit the right rear Me-109 with a shot at about 700 yards. As the Messerschmitt dropped off, Schilling moved up on the next in line, setting it a fire. Now separated from his flight, Schilling spotted 35 to 40 Focke Wulfs circling 1,000 feet below him a used the same tactics on that group. He scored another hit, and the pilot bailed out.

Joining up with a stray 63rd Squadron pilot, he tried for a sixth kill, but instead assisted his wingman who was being attacked. Both escaped. When all the gun-camera film was sorted out later, the Wolfpack had chalked up its best day ever – 34 enemy aircraft destroyed. Their tally now stood at more than 800 – 25 percent of the Eighth Air Force total. (Schilling, who was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, soon joined the 65th Wing Headquarters, finishing the war as a full colonel with 22-1/2 aerial and 11-1/2 ground kills.)

After that, the 56th only real challengers in the air were the new Messerschmitt Me-262 jet fighters. The Wolfpack had downed jets before with lucky passing shots or by catching them over their runways. They had stuck with the Jug when all other groups went to P-51’s and were the sole recipients of the P-47M that had an engine which could produce 465 mph (more speed than Mustang) with which they could handle combat on the jet’s terms. On April 5, 1945, a Wolfpack pilot actually ran down a 262 in a shallow dive. Attempting to out-turn the P-47, the German pilot was cut off and shot down.

On April 13, 1945 – the second anniversary of its first combat mission, Zemke’s "Wolfpack" celebrated by savaging Eggebeck Airdrome. Coming across the field at 400 to 450 mph, they fired more than 78,000 rounds of .50 caliber ammunition, destroying 91 enemy aircraft where they sat and becoming the first Eighth Air Force group to surpass the magic number – 1,000 enemy aircraft destroyed. Later that score was reduced, but the 56th Fighter Group finished the war with 992-1/2 confirmed kills, including 664-1/2 in the air, more than any other Eighth Air Force fighter group. Furthermore, the 56th scored 58 probables and 543 damaged in the air and on the ground. At war’s end, a P-47M was exhibited under the Eiffel Tower, its nose emblazoned with the legend: Zemke’s Wolfpack, 56th Fighter Group, 1,000 Enemy Aircraft Destroyed!

Long Islanders can be extremely proud of the part its men and women had in producing and flying this famous aircraft and others that made such immense contributions to the winning of World War II. It sometimes seems hard to believe that almost 60 years have gone by since the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.

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