How a 'Flying Jug' Symbolized US Airpower in WWII

Republic P-47D at the National Museum of the United States Air Force. Credit: U.S. Air Force Toward the end of the 1998 film "Saving Private Ryan," American soldiers played by actors Matt Damon and Tom Hanks witness U.S. fighter aircraft swooping to their rescue. "They're P-51s, sir, tank busters!" Damon exclaims. In reality, the fighter aircraft swooping to the rescue of embattled U.S. infantrymen would more likely have been the P-47 Thunderbolt, a stocky aircraft with the unflattering nickname of the "flying jug." During the aircraft's 75th anniversary, it's worth remembering how the P-47 came to symbolize U.S. airpower's contribution to victory in World War II. The U.S. Army Air Force introduced the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt to protect U.S. bombers flying deep into enemy territory over occupied Europe. By the end of World War II, the P-47 had helped the Allies win air superiority over Europe by driving German fighters from the skies and carrying out crucial attack missions on ground targets such as supply trains, troop concentrations and German airfields. The P-47 also become the most produced U.S. fighter aircraft of the war. A strong belief in airpower meant the U.S. military devoted huge amounts of resources to making the P-47 and other aircraft. The U.S. Army spent $36 billion on aircraft as opposed to $6 billion on tanks during the main period of U.S. wartime involvement stretching from 1941 to 1945. That meant the U.S. Army spent almost six times as much on warplanes as opposed to producing tanks. The P-47 in particular represented one of the most expensive single-engine fighter aircraft with an average price tag of $85,578 per aircraft in 1944 dollars. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlUrAxY-i3w But the U.S. investment in the P-47 as a cornerstone of its airpower paid off, according to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. Based on a series of fighter aircraft designed by Russian émigrés Alexander de Seversky and Alexander Kartveli, the P-47 became known as a rugged fighter aircraft capable of taking extreme punishment due to its armor and design. Its heavy frame earned it the nickname of the "Juggernaut," which was eventually shortened to the "Jug." On June 26, 1943, a U.S. pilot named Robert Johnson flying a P-47 took a savage mauling from several German fighter aircraft. As Johnson nursed his damaged aircraft back toward the safety of England, a German Fw-190 fighter came in behind the battered P-47 and raked it with machine gun bullets during three firing passes. When the German pilot had used up all his ammunition, he waggled his wings in salute to Johnson and took off. Somehow Johnson managed to fly his P-47 all the way back to England and land it at an airfield. An article by the Cradle of Aviation Museum describes how much damage Johnson's P-47 withstood: