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.

Genesis

Shortly after the war began in 1939, the British government established a purchasing commission in the United States, headed by Sir Henry Self. Self had earlier sat on the (British) Air Council Sub-committe on Supply (or 'Supply Committee') along with Sir Wilfrid Freeman, who as the 'Air Member for Development and Production' was given overall responsibility for RAF production and research and development in 1938. One of Self's many tasks was to organise the manufacture of American fighter aircraft for the RAF. At the time, the choice was very limited: none of the US aircraft already flying reached European standards, only the Curtiss P-40 Tomahawk came close. With the Curtiss plant running at capacity already, even that aircraft was in short supply.

Related Topics:
1939 - RAF - Curtiss P-40 Tomahawk

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North American Aviation (NAA) President Dutch Kindleberger approached Self with the idea of selling the British a new medium bomber, the Mitchell. Instead, Self asked if NAA could manufacture the Tomahawk under licence from Curtis. (North American was already supplying their Harvard trainer but were otherwise underutilized.)

Related Topics:
Mitchell - Harvard

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Kindleberger's reply, however, was that NAA could have a better aircraft with the same engine in the air in less time. As executive head of the British Ministry of Aircraft Production, Freeman placed an order for 320 aircraft with North American in March 1940. Fortuitously, three months later on 26th June 1940 MAP also awarded a contract to Packard to build Merlin engines under licence. And in September, MAP increased the first production order by 300.

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