The P-51 Mustang is, without any doubt, my favorite fighter aircraft of all time. It is a sleek aircraft, and powerful. One of the major roles it played in WW2 was as an escort for bombers on long range missions into Germany, ensuring Allied air superiority over the enemy.
The P-51A and B models were armed with four .50 machine guns in the wings, while later models were armed with six .50 machine guns in the wings. With a speed of 390 mph for early models and 437 for the P-51d model, it was a formidable aircraft, and capable of knocking down the Me-262 jet fighters that Germany put into action late in the war.
Its internal fuel capacity, combined with external fuel tanks, gave the P-51 the range needed to escort bombers all the way to Germany and back.
The P-51 also became the signature aircraft of the Tuskegee Airmen, the all-black fighter squadron that earned the reputation of never having lost a bomber that they escorted. They were commonly known as “Redtails” due to the red paint on the vertical stabilizers on their aircraft.
P-51 “Miss Pea Ridge” in the air.
P-51 in flight with invasion stripes.
P-51 in flight with invasion stripes on fuselage belly.
P-51 in th air, from directly above.
P-51 “Peg O’ My Heart.”
Some of the Tusgekee Airmen with P-51.
Chuck Yeager’s P-51, “Glamorous Glen III” with external fuel tanks mounted and sporting 12 kill flags.
Photo sources: Warbirds Resource Group and Air Force Histoical Research Agency
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