And the only prop-driven fighter I can think of that looks better is the Supermarine Spitfire.
(In my opinion)
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.
I’m more partial to the Chance Vought F4U Corsair.
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)
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Glad you said “in my opinion.”
In MY Opinion it is the other way around. The P51 has always been my absolute favorite of all planes that ever flew. Used to build models of them when I was a kid. I still go to airshows just to see them perform and to talk to their pilots. It is the sexiest plane ever designed. The Spitfire is second.
As someone said earlier, a British engineer noted the Rolls-Royce Merlin 61 was almost identical in size to the V-1710. As such, the British decided to put the Merlin 61 into a slightly modified P-51A airframe (the Mustang X) and the British test pilots were shocked it gained 10,000 feet in maximum altitude and the top speed went from 387 to 432 mph! The results were so impressive that North American decided to build a P-51 version designed around the Packard-built version of the Merlin 61, and the resulting plane had a top speed of 441 mph when tested in late 1942! (In late 1942, the P-51B prototype at 441 mph was easily the fastest fighter in the world, no contest.)