Price: £85.00

North American P51D

Designed and built to a British specification in just 122 days the NA-73 was first flown on 26th October 1940. The NA-73 incorporated many innovative features such as a laminar flow wing and soon began to demonstrate it's superiority over contemporary US fighters. The RAF placed an initial order for 620 Mustang I's which entered service in 1941. The RAF found that although the Mustang was potentially a very fine fighter, it's altitude performance was extremely limited by it's un-supercharged Allison engine and was relegated to the low level tactical reconnaissance role. US interest in the Mustang was slow in developing, and it was not until after America's entry into the war that Mustangs began to be diverted from British production. The first version ordered for the USAF was the A36 strike aircraft. The final Allison engined variant was the P51A, which served with the RAF as the Mustang II and with the USAF, mostly in Burma and China.

British dissatisfaction with the poor altitude performance of the Mustang led to the suggestion that performance would be improved by replacing the Allison engine with the superb Rolls Royce Merlin 61 with two-stage supercharger. The conversion was carried out at Rolls Royce's test facility at Hucknall with the first flight taking place in October 1943. It was immediately apparent that the Merlin Mustang was a formidable fighter and the definitive re-design was carried out by North American to produce the P51B and P51C. With an additional fuselage fuel tank, drop tanks, and it's low drag laminar flow wings the P51B had a prodigious range for a single engined fighter.

The North American P51B/C served mainly with the US Eighth Air Force as a long range escort fighter, with the first operation taking place in December 1943, and in March 1943 the first mission to Berlin was undertaken. The P51B/C also served in the mediterranian and Burma. The P51B also served with the RAF as the Mustang III. The Mustang was to become the premier US fighter and by 1945 equipped all but one of the Eighth Air Force fighter groups.

Performance

Maximum level speed: 440 mph at 30,000 ft
Weight: 11,200 lb fully loaded
Powerplant: One 1720 HP, Packard V-1650, (Rolls Royce Merlin, built under license)
Armament: Four 0.50" machine guns, and up to 2000 lb's in bombs.