NORMANDY THUNDER

Dawn breaks to reveal the Allied invasion fleet approaching Juno Beach as the little town of St-Aubin-sur-Mer reverberates to the thunder of P-47 Thunderbolts from the 404th Fighter Group. Having set out in the dark with the aim of keeping the Luftwaffe away, by sunrise they head back to base at Winkton to re-fuel.

Commemorating D-Day 6 June 1944

The pilots of the 404th Fighter Group had been up for hours, woken by the heavy drone of aircraft rumbling over their makeshift airfield bordering the New Forest. Unlike most Allied fighter units, the 404th FG had only been operational for a few weeks but in that short time had observed the hundreds of ships gathering along the south coast and the countless numbers of troops, armoured vehicles and stores being assembled. Led by the inspirational former Eagle Squadron Ace Colonel Carroll ‘Red’ McColpin the 404th, like everyone else, knew the invasion of France was about to happen but weren’t entirely sure when. As they mustered in the early hours of 6 June 1944, they not only discovered that today was D-Day, but that the huge invasion fleet they’d recently seen mustering in the nearby waters of the Solent had sailed and was now approaching the beaches of Normandy.

To commemorate the events of D-Day, Anthony Saunders has completed ‘Normandy Thunder’, a striking painting that depicts P-47 Thunderbolts of the 506th Fighter Squadron, 404th Fighter Group over the seawall of St-Aubin-sur-Mer, the small town that would witness some of the fiercest fighting along Juno Beach stormed by the Canadian Third Division. By nightfall, however, as the P-47s returned home after their fourth and final mission of the day, the Canadians on Juno beach would have penetrated deeper inland than any other Allied unit on D-Day.