North American Mustang

Fighter · North American Aviation · United States

North American Mustang
ⓘ licence & creditU.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Ben Bloker / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:P-51_Mustang_edit1.jpg
Typical crew1
Engines1 × Allison or Rolls-Royce/Packard Merlin
First flight1940
Number built15,486

Photographs

P-51 Mustangs of the 486th Fighter Squadron, 352nd Fighter Group at RAF Debden to fly with the 4th fighter Group the following day (21 June 1944) on the first 8th Air Force Operation Frantic mission from England to Russia with and return via Italy.
ⓘ licence & creditUSAAF / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:352_FG_Frantic.jpegView source & full licence →
Captain George Hrico and Lieutenant Boyd O Jackson of the 339th Fighter Group with a P-51 Mustang. Written on slide casing: 'Cpt George Hrici and Lt Boyd O Jackson.'
ⓘ licence & creditJames G Robinson. / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:339th_Fighter_Group_-_Pilots_2.jpgView source & full licence →
31st Fighter Group at San Severo Airfield, Italy
ⓘ licence & creditUnited States Air Force / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:31fg-sansevero-italy.jpgView source & full licence →
Flight Line, 21st Fighter Group, Iwo Jima, Field No. 2, Spring 1945 (USAAF Photo)
ⓘ licence & creditUnited States Air Force / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:21st_Fighter_Group_P-51s_at_Iwo_Jima_2_-_1945.pngView source & full licence →
21st Fighter Group at Iwo Jima (Mount Suribachi in the background) (USAAF Photo)
ⓘ licence & creditUnited States Air Force / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:21st_Fighter_Group_P-51s_at_Iwo_Jima_-_1945.pngView source & full licence →
190th Fighter Squadron F-51 Mustangs at Gowen Field, Boise, Idaho, 1948
ⓘ licence & creditUnited States Air Force / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:190th_Fighter_Squadron_F-51_Mustangs.jpgView source & full licence →
F-51 Mustang of the 148th Fighter Squadron, Pennsylvania Air National Guard, 1957
ⓘ licence & creditUnited States Air Force / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:148th_Fighter_Squadron_F-51_Mustang_-_Spaatz_Field_Reading_Airport.jpgView source & full licence →
ⓘ licence & creditUnknown authorUnknown author or not provided / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%22Give_us_More_P-51%27s%22_-_NARA_-_514399.jpgView source & full licence →

About

The North American Mustang is often called the finest fighter of the war, and the transformation that made it so was British. Designed in 1940 to a British purchasing requirement, the early Allison-engined Mustang reached the RAF in 1942 as a fast, long-ranging low-level reconnaissance and fighter-bomber aircraft — excellent down low, but lacking performance at altitude.

The breakthrough came when Rolls-Royce engineers at Hucknall fitted the Mustang with the Merlin engine. The combination of the Merlin’s high-altitude power with the Mustang’s clean airframe and large fuel capacity produced a fighter that could escort heavy bombers all the way to Berlin and back. American-built Packard Merlins powered the production P-51B and later marks; the RAF flew around 1,500 Merlin-Mustangs (as the Mustang III and IV) on daylight operations, while the type became the USAAF’s decisive long-range escort over Germany.

Sources: This page was compiled from publicly available historical sources, including North American P-51 Mustang — Wikipedia and P-51 Mustang's switch to the Merlin engine — Defense Media Network. The text is original and has been written from factual source material; no source text has been copied unless specifically quoted and attributed.

Engines