Thunderbolt , first published in 1958, is the memoir of Robert S. Johnson, one of the leading fighter pilot aces of the U.S. Army Air Force in World War II. Flying the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, Johnson is credited with 28 enemy kills, and was the first pilot in the European theater to surpass Eddie Rickenbacker's World War I tally of 26 enemy planes destroyed. The book puts the reader squarely in the cockpit of the Thunderbolt as Johnson describes his many missions, encounters with German pilots, and close-calls, and remains a classic account of wartime aviation.