P-51b

World War II American Military
#1

The North American P-51 Mustang was designed for the RAF early in WW2. It entered combat service in 1942.

Fitting Mustangs with the Rolls Royce Merlin engine made a good fighter into a great one, and with the addition of drop-tanks the allies had the long-range escort fighter they needed so badly.

The Mustang ‘B’ was armed with 4 x 12.7mm machine guns, and could also carry drop-tanks or bombs.

P-51B the Dominican Republic Air Force 1948.

P-51B (Mustang III) of 19 Squadron RAF 1944.

P-51B (Mustang III) of 112 Squadron RAF 1945.

P-51B (Mustang III) of 129 Squadron RAF 1944.

P-51B of the 2nd Fighter Squadron USAAF 1944.

#2

Nice work. What’s with the red dot behind the cockpit?

#3

Thanks :slight_smile:

That is the fuel filler cap - always painted red on P-51s as far as I have been able to tell…

#4

Beautiful images Clave. Your work is superb, my friend. :slight_smile:

Not all P51’s had a red gascap, though the vast majority did.
It is perhaps a curiosity, but those marked as prototypes and used by RAE and RAEE did not always have the gascaps delineated in red.

Nor, from memory, did the Twin Mustang - P82/F82.

Kind and Respectful regards Clave, Uyraell.

#5

Thanks guys.

#6

More:

P-51B of the 5th Fighter Squadron USAAF 1944.

P-51B of the 84th Fighter Squadron USAAF 1944.

P-51B of the 309th Fighter Squadron USAAF 1944.

P-51B of the 328th Fighter Squadron USAAF 1944.

#7

:slight_smile: and more…

P-51B of the 334th Fighter Squadron USAAF 1944.

P-51B of the 335th Fighter Squadron USAAF 1944.

P-51B of the 336th Fighter Squadron USAAF 1944.

P-51B of the 362nd Fighter Squadron USAAF 1944.

P-51B of the 363rd Fighter Squadron USAAF 1944.

#8

Delightful, beautiful images as ever, Clave my friend. :slight_smile:
You’ve a fine eye. :slight_smile:
It isn’t often one sees images of the first of the "Old Crow"s as you show here.
The current one is of course painted as a representation of either the second or third “Old Crow”, and I have that on video.

Warm, Kind, and Respectful Regards Clave my friend, Uyraell.

#9

Brilliant as always Clave…Thank You…one of my favourite fighters of all time.

#10

There’s a twin-fuselage Mustang parked on the apron here at Lackland AFB in San Antonio. Not sure who made this but I had heard it existed before I saw it.

#11

The Twin Mustang is a rare aircraft these days.
I think no more than 10 exist, and the bulk of those are in the continental USA, mainly museum pieces or scheduled to be.
I know of no current airworthy F82.

Oddly, the F82 is Allison-powered, the US finally having copied the RR Merlin (as the Packard Merlin) and modified the Allison V 1710 series accordingly, hence the F16 and F16 R series, via the F 9 family.

IF that F82 is still intact, then whoever owns it owns a truely rare bird, and one that merits full restoration to airworthy status.

For what it is worth: my view is that the F82 and Me.109 Zwilling (designed with much the same long-distance reasons in mind) represent truely innovative solutions to (at the time) unusual operational requirements, and each ended up as an example of that rare beauty-as-part-of-function that denotes a genuinely classic airframe.

Gladly would I own and fly an example of either the F82 or the Me.109Z.

Respectful Regards, Uyraell.

#12

We’ve all read about how the P-51 Mustang allowed the US Bombers to be escorted all the way to Berlin.
Edward Jablonski in his book AIRWAR states the first large scale US Bombing of Berlin took place on 6 Mar 1944, he goes on to say that in addition to Mustangs escorting the B-17s and B-24s also present were Thunderbolts (P-47’s) and Lightings (P-38’s), doesn’t this mean that US Fighter aircraft could escort bombers “all the way” prior to the P-51.
This was months before the allies had bases on the continent so the fighters had to come from the British Islands.

#13

Lieutenant Colonel Jack Jenkins of the 55th FG flew the first Berlin raid on March 3ed, 1944. Everyone else was called back but his P-38s flew over Berlin.

Next day they repeated that along with a few B-17s.

Only on the third try did P-51s make it along with most of the 8th.

So yes they could, and did. But by the time of the Berlin raid there were ALOT of P-51s! P-38s though were always in short supply as only one source made them, Lockheed.

Deaf

#14

I’m sure it belongs to the US Air Force museum at Lackland. Don’t know if it runs or not. Near it is a fabulous-looking SR71 Blackbird that was flown on its own power to San Antonio.

#15

The P-51B Mustang was the first Mustang to match North American’s sleek airframe with the awesome power of a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine. It was this Mustang that gave the Allies their first truly capable bomber escort.

#16

There is a Wings of Freedom Tour that travels across the US every summer. It consists of a P 51, a B-17, and a B-24. You can book a half hour ride in these, the Mustang costs $2,000. The B-17 & B-24 go for $450. I took the ground tour of the bombers which set me back 12 bucks. Those bombers look huge on the outside, but inside they are kind of cramped.

#17

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A picture of me in front of the P-51 Mustang this past August. I wish I could’ve gone for a ride, LOL. :wink:

#18

A beauty…the plane that is.:wink:

#19

LOL, nothing pretty about that old buzzard standing in front of the plane.:rolleyes: