Great Book on the 348th Fighter Group!, March 15, 2006

Noted author John Stanaway does a marvelous job of relating the combat history of the 348th Fighter Group, the most successful P-47 Thunderbolt group in the 5th Air Force.The 348th FG had to prove itself and its mount - Republic's awesome Thunderbolt - from the day it was assigned to General George Kenney's 5th Air Force. Kenney had needed aircraft, preferably more of Lockheed's P-38 Lightning, to defeat the Japanese. What he got was the P-47 Thunderbolt, an aircraft most 5th Air Force vets were openly contemptuous of. Fortunately, the P-47 had an ardent champion in 348th CO Colonel Neel Kearby.That the 348th did so well in the Southwest Pacific is a direct reflection on Kearby who had organized, trained and led the group through its first year of combat. Leading by example, Kearby ran up 20 kills including a 6 kills-in-1-mission that netted him a Medal of Honor. When Kearby was kicked upstairs to 5th AF HQ, his successors - Bob Rowland and Bill Banks -...