On my bucket list: The P-51 Mustang

[PALADIN85020]

It was arguably the best fighter aircraft of World War II. It was fast, maneuverable, powerful, and had plenty of armament. I took the picture above of a P-51D Mustang not long ago. It's on my bucket list to take a flight in one at some point. I remember these babies flying overhead of my home in Phoenix during WWII when I was kid, along with P-38s. Luke and Williams fields were in the Phoenix area as training venues for pilots who would fly these planes in combat. Both later became Air Force bases in the postwar years. Luke is still operational, but Williams became a civilian air field after closing a number of years ago.

Here's another pic I took of this aircraft.

These planes are lot larger than you imagine when you get up close to them. Mike Dillon owns one, and when I looked it over in the hangar, it was super imposing. Every line of it exudes power, too. You will never forget the sound of that V12 Merlin engine when it coughs into life.

Someday.

John

 

[zzzippper]

Definately a great airplane and beautiful. Though we will never know, the German TA-152 might have been a tough fight for the '51. Kurt Tank was ferrying a 152 when he was jumped by P-51s. They were left behind sucking on his exhaust fumes.

 

[badge]

For what it's worth, I once knew a man who made his livelihood rebuilding them. He had a hanger in S. Fl. If you desire I can get you the info sir.

 

[BigBill]

The p51 escorted our bombers using external wing tanks kind of ended the war for Germany it turned the tide on who owned the air space. With Patton and his troops on the ground closing in fast and the Russians moving in quickly from the other side thank God it ended. For us the Sherman tank, the p51, the m1 garand and Patton we won the war and it was over.
If Germany would of waited two years to start the war to further develope his new super weapons of war We'd be eaten German pot roast with brauts. If everyone of them had a STG 44? His new vonder weapons? Ufo's? Our bombers took out there manufacturing might.

 

[Bkreutz]

I always said that I was born a generation too late. My Dad had a job ferrying P51's to Mexico after the war. He was a Marine fighter pilot during the war. I'm sure I couldn't squeeze into one of them now even if I could afford it. But you're right, nothing sounds like a Merlin at full song.

 

[PALADIN85020]

Definately a great airplane and beautiful. Though we will never know, the German TA-152 might have been a tough fight for the '51. Kurt Tank was ferrying a 152 when he was jumped by P-51s. They were left behind sucking on his exhaust fumes.

I looked that up! Here's a quote from an anonymous contributor on a blog about it:

Again, my point stands that the Ta was simply unproven in battle. It's performance against a late model 190A is pretty meaningless, as that plane was not a dogfighter to start with.

As for Tank's famous story... kind of self serving don't you think? Declaring his creation successful w/o even firing a shot or being shot at. I'll point out the fact that no one witnessed this incident, either German or American. There is no USAAF report on it, and such an incident would surely have warrented such a report. I personally think Tank was flat out lying about the encounter. Either that, or the P-51's simply broke off fearing he was trying to draw them into an AA trap (a common ploy).

The fact is that P-51's were faster on the deck than the Ta152. This combine with them having "bounced" him, meaning they'd have had dive speed built up, allong with the complete lack of witnesses or P-51 pilot reports, makes this account totally unbelievable.

The only combat account I know of for this plane was vs. a Tempest at low altituded, and the according to the Ta pilot the Tempest pilot made several mistakes (relative to the Ta) which he was able to capitalize on and shoot him down. Again, I have to point to the fact that the Ta pilot knew exactly what to expect from the Tempest, where the Ta was an unknown quantity to the Tempest pilot. Besides, the fight broke down into a turn-fight, and the Tempest was not that great a turner.

Until the enemy pilots had some reasonable knowlege about the strengths and weaknesses of the Ta, combat reports of its "superiority" are questionable. Often, a plane appears much better when first introduced than it acutally really is, the Zero being a prime example.

John

 

[zzzippper]

I looked that up! Here's a quote from an anonymous contributor on a blog about it:

Again, my point stands that the Ta was simply unproven in battle. It's performance against a late model 190A is pretty meaningless, as that plane was not a dogfighter to start with.

As for Tank's famous story... kind of self serving don't you think? Declaring his creation successful w/o even firing a shot or being shot at. I'll point out the fact that no one witnessed this incident, either German or American. There is no USAAF report on it, and such an incident would surely have warrented such a report. I personally think Tank was flat out lying about the encounter. Either that, or the P-51's simply broke off fearing he was trying to draw them into an AA trap (a common ploy).

The fact is that P-51's were faster on the deck than the Ta152. This combine with them having "bounced" him, meaning they'd have had dive speed built up, allong with the complete lack of witnesses or P-51 pilot reports, makes this account totally unbelievable.

The only combat account I know of for this plane was vs. a Tempest at low altituded, and the according to the Ta pilot the Tempest pilot made several mistakes (relative to the Ta) which he was able to capitalize on and shoot him down. Again, I have to point to the fact that the Ta pilot knew exactly what to expect from the Tempest, where the Ta was an unknown quantity to the Tempest pilot. Besides, the fight broke down into a turn-fight, and the Tempest was not that great a turner.

Until the enemy pilots had some reasonable knowlege about the strengths and weaknesses of the Ta, combat reports of its "superiority" are questionable. Often, a plane appears much better when first introduced than it acutally really is, the Zero being a prime example.

John

I don't put much creedence in anonymous bloggers. But you can find very objective evidence by readind the books of RAF Capt. Eric Brown, who flew all of the captured planes and could compare them to allied planes.

I will also add that the 152 was a high altitude interceptor, meant for fighting the bombers and P-51s at height. Though the Fw-190D was used as airfield defense to protect the Me-262s during take off and landing. Airplanes are often called upon to do things that they were not meant to do. The F-4 Phantom II was originally a Navy fleet defense interceptor.

 

[SC_Mike]

Excellent photographs.

I guess we'll never know what impact, the Ta 152, Me 262 or the Me 163 would have had on the war.

 

[Kinman]

We had a local guy named Henley that kept a nice fleet of planes, one of them was a very correct P-51. I got to know one of his most trusted pilots that was checked out in the P-51 but had never really flown any long distance mileage. He told me one time he was asked if he'd mind flying the P-51 over to Seattle for some exhibition or something, he jumped at the chance. He went on to explain about what he called "P-Factor" which had something to do with the huge tail rudder and limited hydraulic power resulting in the pilot constantly fighting the prop wash over the tail surface. He said that he had barely gotten past Moses Lake before his leg started shaking from the stress, that was only about 100 miles. By the time he got to the field in Seattle he nearly needed help getting out of the cockpit. He said those guys must have been tough as nails to beat those big birds through dogfights and cover the amount of mileage they did.

 

[Rick_A]

One of my favorite photos involves a P51.

The Corsair is none too shabby. ..

As much as I like them, small planes are a bit too excitable to enjoy as a passenger. I'd love to get a flight aboard a a big radial engined bomber or transport myself.

 

[brucev]

Re: OP. From what I've read, the 51 was a fine plane for the purpose to which it was put. The 47... now there was a plane! Seven tons of raw Republic muscle that would punch the lights out of anything up high or down on the deck... and it'd take hits that would turn other planes into scrap and still get it's pilot home alive. One of my church members got jumped when he was in a 47. They shot him to pieces. He said he lived because of the armor and because it had a big motor that never stopped. He landed on the belly because the wheels would not go down. He was real proud that the plane kept flying and that it didn't burn when he got it on the ground.

 

[Straightshooter2]

When I first hired with Delta in 1967, our Atlanta Air Cargo facility, where I worked, was off Virginia Avenue. On the other side of the road leading to our parking lot was a business run by some Delta aircraft mechanics called Mustangs Unlimited. Their business was maintenance and rebuilding of P-51s and they usually had five or six sitting there at any one time. Sometimes we would be lucky enough to be sitting on a bag tug at the end of the ramp when one would taxi by heading to the runway. Beautiful aircraft they are.

CW

 

[snowman]

John,

Why are there swastikas on the rear of the canopy? Did that particular plane have the same number of kills against the Germans?

Andy

 

[jeffsmith]

i volunteered during an Airshow at Grenier Field in NH about 30 years ago
there were several B-17s and well over half a dozen P-51s
when they fired up for their morning flight it was like England 1944

 

[alde]

I love air shows and the P-51 is my all time favorite. I have always been impressed at how fast they really are. I remember I think a P-51B (before the bubble canopy) doing a high speed fly by from a dive. You could feel the engine in the pit of your stomach. The modern jets are cool but the WWII fighters are just something special.

 

[Cpo1944]

This one belongs to a young man, who used to be my neighbor. You absolutely must google the original pilot , Col. Bruce Carr. The only man to take off on a mission in a P-51 and come home in a FW-190. I took these photos a couple of years ago @ the Winston Salem air show.

 

[rwsmith]

Gabby Gabreski

Re: OP. From what I've read, the 51 was a fine plane for the purpose to which it was put. The 47... now there was a plane! Seven tons of raw Republic muscle that would punch the lights out of anything up high or down on the deck... and it'd take hits that would turn other planes into scrap and still get it's pilot home alive. One of my church members got jumped when he was in a 47. They shot him to pieces. He said he lived because of the armor and because it had a big motor that never stopped. He landed on the belly because the wheels would not go down. He was real proud that the plane kept flying and that it didn't burn when he got it on the ground.

Gabby Grabeski wrote the book 'Thunderbolt' and for his purposes, air fighting and ground attack, he had no qualms at all about its performance, especially when they added the 'paddle' bladed propeller. The Thunderbolt was a hellation ground attack plane. I saw a documentary one time that was almost comical they way they'd say, "That farmhouse looks suspicious." and blast away. But it was no joke because nearly everything they hit was hiding something that exploded big time. Another feature that Gabby liked was the typical American ability to perform a zoom climb and the Thunderbolt could dive like a rock and pull up into a climb so nobody could catch them from behind.

The P-51 was about the apex of single engine planes, though, and it's not coincidental that they were so sought after to convert into air racers. Anyway, like Chuck Y. said, "It's not the plane, it's the man behind the controls.'

 

[steamloco76]

I grew up attending airshows in the 1970's and 80's and the P-51 quickly became my favorite airplane. Man that Rolls Merlin engine makes beautiful noise. Of all the dozen or so P-51's I've seen fly in person, only one pilot ever put his plane through its full throttle to the firewall performance, Bob Hoover, flying Old Yellow. Old Yellow was owned by North American Aviation successor Rockwell Industries and was painted solid yellow with Rockwell on the sides. Bob Hoover, a great test pilot, would scream that P-51 less than 100 ft. off the deck. You could hear the supercharger screaming. He would then go into maximum performance climbs, rolls and and aerobatics that were just spectacular. A P-51 owner we met after one of Hoover's performances said he never, ever saw anyone except an air racer run a '51 like that.

 

[Stephanie B]

If Germany would of waited two years to start the war to further develope his new super weapons of war We'd be eaten German pot roast with brauts. If everyone of them had a STG 44? His new vonder weapons? Ufo's? Our bombers took out there manufacturing might.

If I remember correctly, the German Navy was planning on a war beginning in 1944.

By 1944, they'd pretty much lost it.

 

[Stephanie B]

Well, I'd rather have a chance at a F6F. If I have to endure a Merlin, gimme a Spitfire, please.

Minor lottery winning plans: Get a Mk26B...