Arrogant U.S. Generals Made the P-51 Mustang a Necessity: With better leadership, [tr]

War is Boring ^ | December 1, 2016 | James Perry Stevenson and Pierre Sprey

[C19fan]

The benefits the P-51 Mustang brought to aerial battles in World War II, particularly over Germany, are reasonably well known. The iconic fighter plane could fly higher, faster, farther and generate more kills per sortie than the U.S. Army Air Force’s aviation bureaucracy’s preferred P-47s or P-38s. However, the real P-51 Mustang story is just as much about the difficult gestation of a great new fighter as it is about the quashing of the drop tanks urgently needed to extend the range of existing fighters. Then there’s the guerilla tactics some officials unleashed in the corridors of power to overcome the Army’s “not invented here” hostility to the plane, as well as the mendacious post-war rewriting of history by the newly minted U.S. Air Force.

[C19fan]

Revisionist article claiming that the higher ups in the Army Air Corps especially the apostles of Giulio Douhet, strategic bombing is a war winner, stopped the development of air drop tanks that could of extended the escort ranges of already existing Thunderbolts and Lightings. Also, the development of Merlin powered Mustang for the escort role was a fortunate accident that required going over the heads of the let us say bomber leadership to get done.

[WayneS]

Thunderbolts and Lightning very very frightening...

Sorry, couldn’t resist.

[RayChuang88]

From what I've read about the Mustang's development, everyone knew the P-51 was a great fighter, but the early P-51A was hobbled by the Allison V-1170 engine, which was not useful at higher altitudes. It was when the Mustang switched to the Packard Merlin engine--which was already being built in the USA for certain later-production P-40 models--that the Mustang became the best fighter of World War II.

[C19fan]

The article claims it was a Brit pilot who noticed the Merlin and Allison both were the same sized and he came up with the idea of swapping engines.

[WayneS]

I don't care how it came to be, the P51 Mustang is one of the best single-engine propeller driven aircraft in history.

And the only prop-driven fighter I can think of that looks better is the Supermarine Spitfire.

(In my opinion)

[miliantnutcase]

Leave it to the Brits to tinker with American military equipment... Example; Sherman firefly.

[pingman]

Mama Mia, lookit dem go!

[PLMerite]

"Leave it to the Brits to tinker with American military equipment... Example; Sherman firefly."

Yeah, ask Michael Wittmann about Fireflies:

[damper99]

Arnold probably would have given more consideration to fighter protection and gaining air superiority if he had ever been in combat.

[agere_contra]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherman_Firefly

Fascinating wiki article: and lots of parallels with the Mustang example.

Good things happen when Americans and British build on each other’s stuff.

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

The F4U Corsair was also quite a handsome plane.

In many ways, I think we who are fans of these planes take what we know about their performance and find a way to call the hotter planes more good looking. If we can like an A-10 Warthog....!

Of course the Spitfire was a cool looking plane by any measure.

Looks aren’t everything of course. The P39 Airacobra was a decent looking plane but fairly doggy.

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

WIB has some questionable editorial articles. I rarely go there anymore after all the TRUMPBASHING they did during the election.

[agere_contra]

On ths subject of fruitful collaboration in wartime I’d just like to give a shout out to the Tizard mission https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tizard_Mission

This led to the sharing of the cavity magnetron (among many other treasures). The historian James Baxter would call this “the most valuable cargo ever brought to our shores”. I don’t know how true that is, but it’s a beautiful sentiment.

[wally_bert]

I’m more partial to the Chance Vought F4U Corsair.

[WayneS]

A very nice aircraft.

And the Marines used it, so it has that going for it as well.

[AppyPappy]

When the Korean War started, we were forced to use P-51’s as ground attack aircraft. It wasn’t well-suited to the role because of the vulnerability to ground fire. The P-47 was a much better choice but we had eliminated that idea.

[GreenLanternCorps]

This thread is worthless without pictures...

[GreenLanternCorps]

[GreenLanternCorps]

When the Korean War started, we were forced to use P-51’s as ground attack aircraft. It wasn’t well-suited to the role because of the vulnerability to ground fire. The P-47 was a much better choice but we had eliminated that idea.

In the interest of equal time:

[colorado tanker]

Most of the Air Force top brass had tunnel vision about daylight bombing with unescorted bombers. The Brits basically said if you're crazy enough to want to do it, we won't stop you, but we'll keep bombing at night, thank you very much. It wasn't until the devastating Schweinfurt raids and the big losses of Big Week that reality finally slapped them in the face.

The P-51 was one hell of an airplane - and it could fly to Berlin and back to England.