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I remember reading some place that this is how we got the
P-51.

As I read it; The British were here trying to purchase
fighter planes. They wanted the Curtis P-40, but Curtis
did not have the production facilities to make P-40s for
them and meet its contract obligations to the Army Air
Corps. Someone came up with the plan to get North American
to build the P-40 under license. North American told the
British that they would not do this, but they would design
and build them a fighter that would be better than the P-40
and in less time than it would take for them to tool up for
P-40 production. 90 days later the new fighter rolled out
of a Hanger at North American, the British named the new
plane, The Mustang. At least, thats the way I read it.

Mike

The whole story about the P-51 is kinda confusing. North American was playing around with a dive bomber; the A-36 which was the basis of the P-51.

General Motors was a major stock holder in North American then and obviously wanted more markets for the Allison V-1710 which powered the P-39 and the P-38 plus the P-40. At some point, someone bit the bullet = did the right thing and married the P-51 to the Rolls Royce Merlin V-1650, then being produced by Packard Motors.

I've talked with retired executives with NA, and even they didn't have a clear picture.

But I KNOW on FR, someone can straighten it out for me.