North American P-51 Mustang

The P-51 and it,s subsequent legend transcends all ages in
it,s popularity.I have a Loehle P5151D look alike,and when
I pull it out of the hangar.traffic stops on the airport
perimeter road to watch.This is only matched by one other
a /c thst being Air Force one

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TNI-AU once AURI (Indonesian Air Force) had so many famous pilots during 1950 - 1960, among them were Leo Watimena, Rusmin Nurjadin, Nayarana Susila, Ignatius Dewanto, Gunadi, and many others. Except The Late Nayarana Susila, the others were acting as the first Indonesians Jet Pilot on DH-110 Vampire and Mig's fighters such as MIG 15, 17 and 21, but they prefered to handle P-51s during the rebellion of PRRI and Permesta which occurred on 1958. Its were manuverable, easy handdled and powerful with its 0.50 inch calibre of 6 machine guns and also rockets.

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I subscribed to several WWII aircraft magazines back in the 70's-80's. They eventually started repeating stories and dropped my subscriptions. One magazine had a great detailed story on the P-51. one of the details I remember, the Brits needed planes drastically and our government asked "Dutch" Kindleberger at North American to build P-40's. Dutch considered that an insult and promised something better and in 9 months he delivered.
However, the P-51 had some horsepower limitations. Kindleberger went to GM to ask for a more powerful Allison and the mass production master basically said, this is the engine we offer, buy it.
The next step has several stories. Story #1. There was a shortage of Allison engines in England, and sharing an airfield with Spitfires, some crew chiefs got together and installed a Merlin in the P-51B. I don't know if there was coordination with N.A. engineers or not, but the results were fantastic and the plane was sent to N.A. for proper engineering. Story #2. Kindleberger was ticked off at GM's attitude and went looking for another engine. Rolls Royce Merlin was the most promising, but they could not produce the number of Merlins required. Rolls Royce went looking for a quality manufacture and eventually negotiated a deal with Packard. Don't know the time frame between story one and two. Who brokered the Packard deal, Kindleberger?
When the Spitfire and the P-51 were powered by the same engines, the P-51 was always 20 to 40 mph faster.
When God said man shall fly, he definitely had the P-51 in mind. We have one at our local WWII Air Museum and the Merlin sounds so beautiful. I recognized the sound the first time it flew in and rushed to the airport a mile away and sure enough there sat the beautiful P-51.

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The D is what everybody relates to, I think it was faster then the early versions.

I rode in the back of one once with a guy who owned a ranch and knew all the neighbor ranchers in Colorado. 50 feet at Red line for miles and anything else he wanted to do.

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Greatest fighter ever built.

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Shaun,
The title of this page says P-51. The picture is of two p-51As. The profile is a P-51B-10-NA. The specifications are for the P-51D. The three view drawing is of an A-36 and you are correct, there is no Malcolm hood displayed.

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The pictures and 3 view show a P51B but the title says it is a P51D. Something else to not is there are 2 styles of the P51B's canopy.

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In 1946 /47 I was attached to the 475 F.G. 5th AF,at Kimpo A.B. Korea. I did radio maintainence on 51's. They were a real pain, the vibration de-tuned the 4 channel VHF SCR521 vacuum tube radio. We constantly had to pull the radios for service. They worked fine ar run-up, and by the time they got to the end of the runway, they did not work.

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In the black and white photograph above, note the carb. intake, thus being a P-51A. If the US Army would have turbosupercharged the Allison V1710 in the P-39, P-40 and P-51A 's , as it did in the P-38' s, the Allison engine would not have the often negative reputation as it does today. A turbosupercharged Allison V1710 could have been used in all P-51 variants with great success.

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In my "serious' flying days a friend - Jim Bohlander, Flight Officer for United - had a P51D with the best N I have ever seen - N4V. His wife was getting spacey about the money Jim's 'hobby' was costing and Jim was getting looking for someone to give his bird a nice home... I flew it a few time out of O'Hare late at night and it was the greatest fun you can have with your pants on. Jim wanted $15,000 for the ship INCLUDING a brand new Rolls engine in cosmo.
Naturally, I was more than tempted.... but I had a wife too...

In retrospect I should have bought it... wives are a dime a dozen and she left me anyway. But I still dream of that lovely N4V....

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As a BRIT aircraft engineer raised on Hurricanes and Spitfires I am also a great fan of the P51 Mustang, There is something about the sound of a Merlin on full chat. To see and hear this wonderfull beast perform it does not get much better than The Reno Air Races in September in Nevada. I have been to this event many times and to see a P51 lap at around 500 MPH is awsome. Long may these beautifull old birds survive so the youth of today can appreciate the legacy left to them by us old farts.

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Wm. Green, in his book "Famous Fighters of the Second World War" (Hanover House 1960) gives us some interesting factors in the design of this great fighter. The original design specification was written by the British Air Purchasing Commission as a replacement aircraft for the P-40 which they claimed was unsuitable for European combat. They required a prototype in 120 days. North American's president, "Dutch" Kindleberger, was well informed on the air war in Europe and had some ideas of his own. The design team for North American was headed by Raymond Rice and Edgar Schmued, the latter having previously worked for both Fokker and Messerschmitt. By a superhuman effort the prototype was ready (minus engine) in 117 days. First flight was in October 1940 designated as the model NA-73 with very few snags in the flight test program. Greatly reduced drag was obtained by using a laminar flow wing, positioning the intake for the radiator beneath the rear fuselage, and keeping the fuselage cross-section to the least depth possible. The first production airplane was produced within a year and the second production unit arrived in the U.K. in November of 1941. American interest in the aircraft was little, the U.S. being committed to going with the P-38 and P-47. As soon as the Mustang arrived in the U.K. the 1,200 hp Allison engine was seen to be unsuitable for normal fighter duties but acceptable in the ground attack or reconaissance roles. In RAF service the Mustang was the first single-engine fighter to penetrate beyond the German border when based in England, having a range at the time of 1,000 miles. Major Thomas Hitchcock, U.S. military attache in London, reported to Washington that the aircraft was one of the best, if not the best, fighter airframes yet developed and advised cross-breeding it with the 1,520 hp Merlin 61 engine. No less a personage as Eddie Rickenbacker as well as Air Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory endorsed Hitchcock's opinion. With a few modifications including a new 4-blade propeller, strengthened fuselage, increasing the radiator intake area and relocating the carburetor intake etc. which enabled an increase in airspeed to 441 mph, the rest is history.

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le plus bel avion de chasse de la seconde guerre modial

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If you would like to see the Fastest and Highest flying Mustang. Look up the XP-51G. It would of made production except the Air Force wanted too many design changes. So NAA decided to start over with the P-51H.

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A P51 Mustang fitted with a tail hook maade several landings and deck launches, aboard the USS Shangri-La
CV38. Did the same with a PBJ (B25). The PBJ was also
catapulted.

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I have personally seen Jim Parks P-51H, and yes, it is an H model. Jim is still restoring it and doing a marvelous job.

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Grady,
555 P-51H-1-NAs and P-51H-5-NAs were built at the Inglewood prodution lines by V-J Day. By late summer of 1945 some P-51Hs had been issued to a few operational units. These units were in the process of gearing up to operational status when Japan surrendered.
IF the USA had been in the same position as Germany in 1942, being called to protect the homeland against swarms of bombers, we would have seen a whole different breed of aircraft by 1944. It is quite likely the following aircraft would have been fully operational and defending our shores by early 1944: P-51F /G /H, F8F-1, F4U-4, F7F-1 /3, P-38L(K)and P-80A. There probably would have been other high performance interceptors also. We would have concentrated more on canon armament also. In a totally defensive position the CW-21 and aircraft the like would have been looked into more carefully. The figures normally published for the P-51H are from a North American Aviation graph. I have not found any evidence that proves the graph is not a calculated performance.
In a RESTRICTED document titled STANDARD AIRCRAFT CHARACTERISTICS issued by the authority of the Commanding General Air Materiel Command, U.S.A.F., dated March 22, 1949 the following performance figures are listed:
Engine: Packard V-1650-9: 2220hp /9,000ft /3,000rpm. Combat weight: 8,740lbs. Max. Speed: 473mph /22,700ft. 468mph /25,000ft. Climb: 5480fpm /S.L. 3200fpm /25,000ft. Combat Ceiling (500fpm): 40,700ft.
The document also lists the performance at a combat weight of 8283lbs: Speed: 474 /22,700ft and 469 /25,000ft. Climb: 5850fpm /S.L. and 3450fpm /25,000ft. Combat Ceiling:41,900ft. and Max.Range: 1,915mls. Interceptor: 437mls radius.
I believe these figure more accurately describe what the P-51H could do in the field of combat.

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GARY, i am almost sure that a p-51h variant was not made

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Aaron both you and Manuel are very factually correct in your statements about the P-51. I have some photos of captured P-51 Mustangs flown by KG-200, SOME of the MUSTANGS are in NAZI markings, but some are still in American insignia!
In one picture Hannah Reich is smiling while she is pointing at an altimeter! Sitting in the cockpit seat is ANNA KREISLING, THE WHITE WOLF OF THE LUFTWAFFE!! In the Los Angeles times last Saturday they reported that Hugh Hefner came over to ANNA at an Octoberfest and offered her a million dollars to do the cover of PLAYBOY. Bill Clinton had to escort him back to his table so that she wouldn't kick him in the groin! However she said she would do the cover of PLAYBOY for ten million, and the money would go to Breast Cancer Research!! Hugh Hefner said he is going to think about it!!

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airboss,
According to the Chanute Air Museum there are six P-51Hs still in existance. According to mustangsmustangs there are four. Their list follows:
44-64265: Octoave Chanute Museum, Rantoul IL. (On Display).
44-64314: Mike Coutches, Hayward CA. (Flying).
44-64375: James Parks, Bend OR. (Restoration).
44-64376: Lackland AFB, TX. (On Display).

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