Republic P-47D Thunderbolt 'Dottie Mae' May 8th 1945 1:72

When Republic P-47D Thunderbolt 42-29150 'Dottie Mae' took to the air after the completion of a lengthy restoration project in June 2017, she was not only a fine example of this wartime fighter brute, but could also lay claim to being arguably the most historic former airworthy warplane found anywhere in the world. Recovered from Lake Traun in Austria a dozen years earlier, this aircraft had the distinction of being the last Allied fighter to be lost before the end of the war in Europe, one that was lost not to enemy action, but to the exuberance of a pilot who simply flew too low in a morale-boosting display of air power.