Short Stuff – Size doesn’t matter to a fighter pilot

Capt. Robert “Shorty” Rankin climbs from the cockpit of P-47D s/n 42-26044 HV+Z “Silver Lady” on May 12, 1944 after downing five Me 109s near Coblenz, Germany.

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I was only 5 feet 4 inches tall when I graduated from flight training in 1943, but my instructors saw something gigantic inside of me. I was one of 60 Second Lieutenants selected out of 400 to go into fighters—P-47 Thunderbolts to be exact. When I first saw the airplane I would fly in combat, my only thought was, “Why in the heck did I ever ask for this behemoth!” But after I flew the...

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