North American P-51 Mustang

Questions? Comments? E-mail the web/model master

�2003 John Eckhardt

This fighter is the most famous American plane from World War II. Sporting six .50 caliber machine guns, this plane could easily tackle with any of the German planes it was against. It was designed in response to British specifications* in under 120 days! The Allison engine that it was originally equipped with hampered the Mustang�s performance at medium to high altitudes. The British put their famous Rolls-Royce Merlin engine into the P-51, and improved the fighter greatly. This plane was equipped with drop tanks, which increased its range to over 2200 miles. This capability enabled it to be the first Allied plane to fly over Germany. Escorting bombers was its primary mission from the time it was introduced (1943) until the Luftwaffe had been destroyed in late 1944. Then it was assigned missions to attack any target that moved on the ground.

This model �D is equipped with 2 rocket pods. (other pod not visible) These held three rockets each, and were primarily used for ground attack. Later in the war, it was a common occurrence for the P-51 to destroy a tank or two.

Note on these planes, the D-Day stripes for operation Overlord. All Allied planes were painted with white and black stripes so they would be recognized by friendly troops.

* The British had actually asked North American to produce more P-40s. That company said that they could do better than that, and they came up with the P-51. The first model could fly over 25 mph faster than the P-40, even with its Allison engine.

Crew	One Pilot
Armament	Six .50 inch Browning machine guns
Maximum Speed	437 mph
Engine	Packard-built Rolls-Royce Merlin V-1650-7 (1490 hp)
Other Weapons	1 ton of bombs or rockets
Uses	Mainly used as European bomber-escort/fighter, some ground attack Some P-51s were operated in the Pacific theater, also.