The North American P-51 Mustang is a long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber American aircraft that was sued during both World War II and Korean War. This aircraft was developed back in 1940 by the NAA (North American Aviation).
The prototype for this aircraft’s NA-73X was designed and rolled out in a mere 102 days after the contract for this was signed. The aircraft took its first flight back on October 26th, 1940.
The Mustang was initially designed to use the Allison V-1710 engine, an engine which had limited altitude performance during that time. This fighter jet at that time was first flown by RAF as a tactical-reconnaissance aircraft and fighter-bomber. Later the Allison engine was replaced by a Rolls Royce Merlin which transformed this fighter jets altitude capabilities to 15000 feet, thus making it compete with the Luftwaffe’s fighters.
From 1943, this aircraft was used by the USAF Eighth Air Force for escorting the bombers over the German airspace. The Mustang allowed the Allied to maintain the air superiority in 1944. In addition to escorting bombers and carrying out their roles as a bomber fighter; Allied also made use of them in various other following conflicts.
- North Africa
In the World War II alone, these fighter jets nearly destroyed 4950 enemy fighter jets.
For our fans, today we have gathered a bunch of amazing facts about the North American P-51 Mustang. So without any further wait, have a look at the amazing facts of this historical World War II-era fighter jet down blow.
The prototype was rolled out in 102 days:-
The NA-73X prototype of the first North American P-51 Mustang was designed and rolled out in only 102 days. The aircraft took its first test flight back on October 26th, 1940.
P-51 Mustang still holds many world records:-
Even after the P-51 Mustang retired from military service, this aircraft was still popular as a racing aircraft. In the category of Propeller Driven Piston Aircraft,” P-51 Mustang still holds many world records.
Back on May 23rd, 2013, a pilot named Doug Matthews of Palm Beach, Florida flew a P-51 Mustang to set the record for reaching the altitude of 30,000 feet in only 18 minutes and then again reached the altitude of 40000 feet in 31 minutes. This aircraft also holds the record for a high altitude of 41000 feet in level flight and a record for maximum flight altitude of 42500 feet.
Greatest P-51 Mustang Ace of the War Died in Combat
Pilot Major George Preddy of the USAF is known as the greatest P-51 Mustang Ace of the World War II. He has to his name the record of 26.83 enemy air-to-air kills.
In one combat mission over Germany, Preddy was able to shoot down six Luftwaffe pilots in only one run. However, unfortunately for Preddy, his plane got crashed when the aircraft was wracked with a flack during his fight over Belgium. Preddy died in that incident at the age of 25 years old.
Nazi P-51 Mustangs
Many of the P-51 Mustangs fell into the hands of Germans during the World War II which were later used by Luftwaffe for testing and evaluation purposes. A special unit of the Luftwaffe by the name “Zirkus Rosarius” was tasked with evaluating these aircraft and rebuilding them. They were repainted in Nazi livery and were flown in test flights over Germany. However, it is thought that none of these German P-51 Mustangs flew in combat.
P-51 Was Ridiculously Tough
P-51 built with the slogan “Bigger Is Better” soon acquired itself the fame for being a robust and unkillable aircraft of the war. They could soak enemy fire on missions after missions. During one run on Nazi forces positioned in France, a P-51 pilot accidentally got the half of his wing clipped from a concrete telephone pole. Despite this accident, the aircraft completed its attacking run and safely flew back to the UK.
The P-51 Mustang had six .50 caliber Browning machine guns that could hold 1880 rounds of bullets; 400 rounds of bullets for each gun and 270 rounds of bullets for each board.
In addition to this, the aircraft could also carry 10 “zero rail” rockets underneath its each wing which were equipped with bomb racks. In its entirety, each aircraft could carry a total of 1000 pounds of bombs
The cost to develop one P-51 Mustang:-
Back in 1944, the cost to develop one P-51 Mustang was about 50000 US Dollars. In today’s economy, it would translate into a mere 673000 dollars.
A total of 275 P-51 Mustang pilots earned the title of Ace. These pilots shot down repeatedly 2116 enemy aircraft which calculates to an average of 7.96 aircraft shot down by one Ace.
All the pilots of P-51 Mustangs including the 275 Ace status pilots shot down a total of 4950 enemy aircraft during the entire World War II.
Retirement from service:-
The last of the P-51 Mustang retired from US Air Force’s military service back in 1978. As for the very last P-51 Mustang retired from a foreign service was back in 1984 by the Dominican Republic Air Force.
After World War II and the Korean War, the majority of these aircraft were relieved from the military service. By the end of 1984, all the P-51 Mustang aircraft were modified for civilian use and were used in either racing or were preserved as a part of the history in aviation museums across the world.