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The North American P-51 Mustang was one of the most successful and
effective fighter aircraft of all time. It was initially produced in
response to a 1940 RAF requirement for a fast, heavily-armed fighter
able to operate effectively at altitudes in excess of 20,000ft. North
America built the prototype in 117 days, and the aircraft, designated
NA-73X, flew on 26 October 1940. The first of 320 production Mustang Is
for the RAF flew on 1 May 1941, powered by a 1,100hp Allison V-1710-39
engine. RAF test pilots soon found that with this powerplant the
aircraft did not perform well at high altitude, but that its low-level
performance was excellent.
It was when the Mustang airframe was married to a Packard-built
Rolls-Royce Merlin engine that the aircraft's true excellence became
apparent. Possessing a greater combat radius than any other Allied
single-engine fighter, it became synonymous with the Allied victory in
the air.
During the last eighteen months of the war in Europe, escorting bomber
formations, it hounded the Luftwaffe to destruction in the very heart of
Germany. In the Pacific, operating from advance bases, it ranged over
the Japanese Home Islands, joining carrier-borne fighters such as the
Grumman Hellcat to bring the Allies massive air superiority.
Yet the Mustang came about almost by accident, a product of the Royal
Air Force's urgent need for new combat aircraft in the dark days of
1940, when Britain, fighting for survival, turned to the United States
for help in the island nation's darkest hour.
