[myknowledge]

What do you think?

[Doogle]

I have a few P-51 vids as my favorites saved on YT.....

this one is way to short, but I view it several times at each visit...(like now)..enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku2IxdkoXSw

[tina07]

My father was an airplane mechanic, CBI

In loving memory of my father,Joseph J. Magaraci, Sgt., Airplane Mechanic 747, 10/16/42 - 12/17/45 10th AF, 311thFG, 528th FS China-Burma-India, Asiatic-Pacific Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal and WWII Victory Medal. b. 2/20/23,Corona, Queens; d. 11/01/85, West Milford, NJ

[HospiceNurse]

I think the less attractive p-47 had more kills.

[Doogle]

...the role the 51 played escorting the bombing runs was the end for the Luftwaffe

[RVN Airplane Driver]

I have a few hours in the P-51....what a magnificent airplane in the air, but a real challenge until airborne.

[BERRYKAT]

By 44-45 the Thunderbolt was refined (p47G-10 +15) to increase speed, range and maneuverability to near the extent of the Mustang. Furthermore the Mustang was an easy kill when it took fire as opposed to the Thunderbolt which was more inclined to take damage and return in kind and bring the pilot and plane back alive. Aerial tactics were also advanced by Gabreski and Yeager that were very effective in dispatching the Luftwaffe.

[Quiller]

Interesting question. On one hand, Western (esp. U.S.) war technology and industry would likely have come up with something like the P-51 at some point -- that is how the Allies won the war. Not (sadly) through superior war fighting skills but through simply overwhelming the Axis by producing more,fielding more, supplying more, and repairing more. (IIRC, the casualty ratio in the European theater during late '44/early '45 was something like 2.27:2 -- in the Germans' favor. As much as I hate to admit it, that superiority was also present in the air, where German pilots were generally more highly skilled than their allied counterparts.

Had the Germans had air superiority in June 1944, the Allied landing might never have been attempted. A key reason for the Allies' domination in the air was the Luftwaffe had been decimated. During the preceding year, Allied bombing strikes had forced the Germans to react with air intercepts. This drew the German fighters into direct battle with the P-51, and generally attrited nearly irreplaceable pilots and machines. Results of the Strategic Bombing Survey generally reveal that the Germans were effective at continuing production in bombed-out factories, albeit at a lower level. In some cases, industrial areas were left in partial rubble so that aerial observation would overlook the factory as a bombing target. In his book, Adolf Galland talked about sections of the Me 262 being manufactured in mines and tunnels, for assembly elsewhere.

Which comes to another point -- had the Germans had more time, and more producton opportunity, their technological achievements might have held sway as well; considerable evidence points to German innovation outstripping that of the Allies in many areas (for all the "yeah, but . . ." proponents who point to nuclear options, I concede, except that the Germans were developing nuclear weapons as well, with the hindrance of being bombed a whole bunch thrown into the mix.)

So yes, the P-51 was an important link in the Allies' winning the European war in that it opened the door for U.S. and British soldiers to pour into mainland Europe from the west, for Allied bombers to interrupt German production, for Allied soldiers to move against German forces which were pinned in place by roving ground attack aircraft looking for movement.

Besides, I think the P-51 is one of the coolest planes ever.

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

The P-47 Thunderbolt (the Jug) was right behind the p-51. The P-47 could out dive, out climb and out shoot even the P-51. After they introduced 2800 Hp and an extremely aggressive 4 bladed prop forward of the firewall, (The P-47M) the Jug could have even beat a P-51 in a dogfight because if it's dive and climbing characteristics that it's pilots tactically used against an opponent.

THE biggest mistake most German pilots did was try to follow one down in a dive for a deflection shot, only to discover that the Jug could easily roll around into a vertical climb with all that massive horsepower, hammerhead, and roll out point blank behind the enemy that could not escape those 8 deadly high capacity 50 Cal. guns.

The P-47 also had 8 50 cal. and could carry 2400 rounds. This massive and extremely durable fighter is legendary for it's ability to defeat German fighters and our pilots dearly loved it. It could take incredible punishment, even have several cylinders shot out of the engine and the Jug still made it home across the English Channel to save it's pilots. One came home with over 2000 bullet and cannon holes. 3 German pilots emptied their guns into it point blank and the armor saved it's pilot. (Gabby Gabreski)

If we would not have had the P-51, I firmly believe that the P-38 and the P-47 would have still ended the war in due fashion.

[SAMWolf]

As Field Marshal Herman Goering said “When I saw the Mustang over Berlin I knew the war was lost”.

[Thermalseeker]

What do you think?

I'd love to get a ride in one. There's a place in Florida where you can get a ride in a P-51, though.

[aruanan]

The Dominican Air Force had a squadron of them back in the late 1970s. I heard this loud droning one afternoon after school and went out to look and saw them coming from the northwest down the Cibao Valley. It was a beautiful sight.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Honorable mention needs to go to the much maligned P-39 Airacobra. A strange, stubby little aircraft, with a mid-engine placement, just *behind* the cockpit, designed around its main weapon, a 37 mm (1.46 in, 1.3lb projectile) Oldsmobile T9 cannon, which, when it worked, was devastating.

US and RAF pilots hated it, from the ground up, and considered it a death trap.

It had automobile type side doors, a liquid cooled engine, a cramped cockpit, and a propensity for spinning very flat and tumbling.

Don’t give me a P-39,
With an engine that’s mounted behind,
It will tumble and roll,
And dig a big hole,
Don’t give me a P-39.
— an AAF ballad

The US made some 9,600 of them, of which over half were given to the Soviet Union. The Soviets, however, fell in love with it.

In the close air support, anti-tank role, they thought it was the very best “can opener” ever invented. Soviet pilots started racking up some serious Panzer kills and scored the highest number of individual kills attributed to any U.S. fighter type. And for this reason, many of their subsequent aircraft designs, for a decade or more, featured mid-engine placement.

[Non-Sequitur]

The P-51D, the definitive Mustang with the bubble canopy and the Merlin engine, didn’t reach Europe until mid-1944 - about the time of the D-Day landings. So obviously Mustangs were not a factor in that planning, it would have gone off as scheduled. Given that, then there is no reason to believe that the ground campaign would have taken much longer than it did so the lack of the Mustang would not, in my opinion, have changed the results of the war or lengthened, to any great extent, the timeline. The strategic bombardment campaign would have been more costly but it would have continued. Germany still surrenders around April or May of 1945.

[No Truce With Kings]

The real secret to the P-51 was the 100-octane fuel it burned. The Mustang was optimized for an engine using 100-octane. The fuel gave it both its large cruising range and speed and acceleration in battle.

And the guy that got the USA (and UK) using 100-octane? Jimmy Doolittle.

For a look at the impact of 100-octane fuel on WWII read “Jimmy Doolittle and the Hundred Octane War” an article in “World at War Magazine” in 2009.

[Little Ray]

The P-47 was no slouch. However, if the Mustang were not available, I think the F4U Corsair had the range, speed and maneuverability to do its job. And, with a radial engine, it would be much tougher.