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P-51 “Mustang” Fighter
This sleek and beautiful aircraft is well-known to everyone. Many consider it to be the pinnacle of WWII piston-powered fighters, and a symbol of American air force, along with B-17. But this aircraft was born in a very curious way.
Immediately after the combat in Europe began, Britain was anxious with defending its numerous colonies, and it began placing orders in America. P-40 was sufficient for its goals, and it was decided to place the order for building P-40 at the “North American” factories. But the company’s head engineer considered P-40 to be morally outdated, and he offered to design a better aircraft in a very short time. The design started in May 1940, the official contract between the Royal Air Force and “North American” was signed on May 29, and the test example was ready on September, 2!
As a result, a revolutionary aircraft appeared – with a thoroughly thought-over aerodynamics and laminar wings, and its casing was only 1.016 mm (0.04 inch) thick to lessen its weight! The aircraft was equipped with an “Allison V-1710” engine. Its first flight occurred on October 26, 1940. On December 9, 1940 the aircraft was named “Mustang I” by the British Procurement Agency. Because the aircraft was superior over P-40, Americans also built a small number of them for themselves, calling it P-51. In early stages of the war the aircraft was used as a low-flying army support fighter. Its good diving qualities allowed Americans to abandon the development of a diving bomber, and use the diving fighter-bomber. In this role it was called A-36A “Apache”. 1581 aircraft with “Allison” engine were produced.
And then a miracle happened – the aircraft was equipped with a British “Rolls-Royce V-1650” engine, which was licensed by Packard. Its top speed rose for 132 km/h, and reached almost 700 km/h at 6700m! The plane got the qualities required for an escort fighter. And after receiving the “teardrop” cockpit and external fuel tanks “Mustang” got its now-familiar look, and was widely used as an escort fighter. American pilots achieved excellent results on this aircraft. The best “Mustang” pilot George Preddy achieved 26.83 victories. The overall number of “Mustangs” exceeded 15 thousand. The aircraft remained in service for a long time, and took part in the Korean War.
P-51 “Mustang” in the "Pacific Storm"
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