Directed by William Wyler and John Sturges in 1944, “Thunderbolt” shows the air battles that raged over Italy during World War II. It focuses on the life and death struggle of a P-47 Thunderbolt fighter-bomber squadron in the 12th Air Force. In addition to showing how the pilots’ activities seriously crippled the German military’s fighting ability, hastening the sweep of Allied forces into Rome, the film also shows the suffering of non-combatants on the ground. The narrators are Lloyd Bridges and Eugene Kern, music by Gail Kubik, script by Lester Koenig. Note: this version of the film was released in 1961 and features a special introduction by Jimmy Stewart, which was shot in 1947. Stewart was a licensed amateur pilot prior to WWII and who enlisted in the Army Air Forces shortly after Pearl Harbor was bombed.
The specific aerial operations shown are part of Operation Strangle, when flyers of the Twelfth Air Force (based in the island of Corsica) made a series of attacks on Axis supply lines. The attacks were made against the Gustav Line and forces arrayed against the Anzio beachhead; the specific attack shown in the film is said to resemble a mission flown on May 1, 1944, against a railroad tunnel at Rignano sull’Arno. Pilot Lt. Col. Gilbert O. Wymond Jr., who appears in the film, was awarded the Silver Star for his gallant work during that mission. His plane the “Hun Hunter XIV” is prominently featured.
Much of the footage shown was shot by the 12th Combat Camera Unit, with automatic 16mm gun cameras installed aboard P-47s. Although completed in 1945, the film was not released until 1947 and then re-released during the Korean War as a war relief fundraiser.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k.
