P-51 Mustang

The North American P-51 Mustang was a successful long range fighter aircraft which entered service in the middle years of World War II. The definitive version of the single-seat fighter was powered by a single two-stage supercharged V-12 Merlin engine and armed with six .50 caliber (12.7 mm) M2 machine guns.

Effects of the P-51

The US effort to launch massive bombing raids into Germany took some time to build up. Based on the pre-war concept that "the bomber will always get through", their doctrine was to send in huge numbers of bombers flying in tight formation with heavy defensive gun loads.

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A number of air forces had already tried this, including both the RAF and Luftwaffe. They found, contrary to Douhet's thesis, that the single engine fighters were more than able to catch a multi-engine bomber, and outgun it easily. The RAF had worried about this before the start of the war, and had decided in the mid-1930s to produce an all night-bomber force, but when the war started they had these planes operate during the day. Both forces lost so many planes during initial operations that they quickly switched to night operations.

Related Topics:
Douhet - 1930s

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The USAAF reasoned that their bombers' higher altitudes and more powerful defensive gun load would be enough to turn the tide in favour of the bomber. The limited numbers of B-17's made large scale operations impossible until late 1943, with only small, well-escorted raids being made in the meantime over France to shake out the crews and planes.

Related Topics:
USAAF - B-17 - 1943 - France

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The numbers had improved enough by late summer of 1943 that the USAAF decided to attempt large scale operations. Picking the German ball-bearing industry as a vital choke point of aircraft production, they launched several massive raids in October that flew deep into Germany. The results were disastrous, with over 10% of the planes failing to return to England from each mission, and many more written off due to heavy damage. A few more raids and there would be no bombers left.

Related Topics:
1943 - USAAF - Bearing - Germany - England

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It was clear that the bombers required fighter escort, but no fighter had anywhere near the range of the bombers. The Lockheed P-38 Lightning came close, but this was a very expensive plane to construct and maintain. The Mustang changed all that. In general terms, the Mustang was as simple or simpler than other aircraft of its era. It used a single well-understood and reliable engine, and had internal space for a huge fuel load. With the addition of external fuel tanks it could protect the bombers all the way to Germany and back.

Related Topics:
Lockheed - P-38 Lightning

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Numbers were available when the 8th and 9th Air Forces had re-grouped over the winter of 1943/44, and when the raids recommenced in February 1944 things changed dramatically. Bomber losses prior to that point had been primarily (in percentages at least) from rocket-firing twin-engine designs, and these were chased from the skies.

Related Topics:
8th - 9th Air Forces - 1944

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However the Luftwaffe pilots learned how to avoid the US fighters by grouping in huge numbers well in front of the bombers, then attacking in a single pass and leaving. This gave the escorting fighters little time to react. But in May a new policy was instituted which allowed the fighters to roam away from the bombers and attack the German planes wherever they were found. The numerical superiority of the USAAF fighters and the flying qualities of the P-51 made this policy highly effective, and after the Luftwaffe had suffered heavy losses both in defense of the Reich and in the failed attempt to fight off the Allied invasion in France, the US, and later British, bombers had little to fear from German day fighters after the summer of 1944.

Related Topics:
Luftwaffe - USAAF - Reich - Allied invasion in France - 1944

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P-51s also distinguished themselves while fighting against advanced enemy rockets and aircraft, be it V-1s that were launched into London (a P-51B/C with high-octane fuel was fast enough to catch up with one), and even the Me 163 Komet rocket interceptors and Me 262 jet fighters, though considerably faster than the P-51, weren't invulnerable. Chuck Yeager, flying a P-51D, was the first Allied pilot to shoot down a Me 262 when he surprised it during its landing approach.

Related Topics:
V-1 - London - Me 163 Komet - Me 262 - Chuck Yeager - Allied

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The P-51s were deployed in the Far East later in 1944, and operated there both in close-support and escort missions.

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