Mustang; a great fighting aircraft View attachment 32 The P-51 served in many different air forces around the world. It served during peace and during hostilities - to stop the Nazis during WWII and in the famed "Soccer Wars" in 1969. The Mustang flew and fought in Korea during the early 50's and in many other smaller conflicts. In all, at least 25 different countries operated the P-51 Mustang for more than 35 years! The P-51 was designed and built in the USA but not because of any US contract or requirement. The British were responsible for hiring NAA to produce a new fighter, and NAA then designed the Mustang to RAF requirements. The RAF received early shipments and flew various models of the Mustang throughout the war. During WWII the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) operated RAF Mustangs and in 1945 received their first shipment of 215 D model and 84 K model RAAF P-51s. Commonwealth Aircraft of Australia also built 200 P-51s under license from NAA. The Mustang was used by RAAF pilots in Korea until April 1951. (more?.....click the link above)
MMMMMMMMMustangs The Cadillac of the Skies. Once re-engined with the Merlin, this transformed the Mustang into a world beater. Sleak, deadly and with the range and punch to make a difference.
Hi All, I've posted a story, "Mustangs and Memories" under the "War in th Air" forum if you're interested. View attachment 1241 Cheers Owen
Thought you might like to read this short clip... The Gathering of P-51 Mustangs and Legends, Sept 27-30, 2007, Columbus, Ohio, Rickenbacker Field ... Makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up when I re-read this....beautiful description of the take off run !.
Aaaand here's Frankie coming back the other way ....!!!! Errrrrrr....OK, I own up, its not a real 'Stang....mg: This is my Parkzone Frankie and it flies bladdy well....just a shame the pilot has no experience of R/C hence the large bits of gaffer tape holding the nose together. Had three flights so far.....lets just say I would have made a cracking Kamikazi jockey as the fuselage is now essentially a write off :frusty: It still looks the biz when I manage to keep it out of the grass tho' and like its orginal, its a very fast bit of kit. And I was sweating buckets trying to figure out how to 'reverse' the control inputs so I didnt cream into the side of my truck ! Some of the scenery in the background is in fact Upavon, an original field right from the early days of military aviation in the UK.
P51 Mustang Info Empty Weight: 7000 lbs (3175 kg) Gross Weight: 9200 lbs (4173 kg) Max Weight: 12100 lbs (5487 kg)
I imagine so, Spidgeman, Jugs were heavy...heaviest single engined fighter in the USAAF. From the same site in the interests of consistency. P-61 and P-70 would have been heavier of course but they had an extra engine! Empty Weight: 11,000 lbs (4990 kg) Max Weight: 20,700 lbs (9389 kg)
So how do you rank that against the Corsair? For years I thought Papa Boyington's boys flew P51 Mustangs.
For a bloody big aircraft, the Corsair is quite the lightweight. Same website used again: Empty Weight: 9205 lbs (4174 kg) Gross Weight: 14669 lbs (6653 kg) The Typhoon was probably up there for being the heaviest British designed single-engined fighter type aircraft used by the RAF but is still, if we can use these figures as a rough guide since they're not all from the same source, lighter than the Mustang if flown without underwing ordnance! Hawker Typhoon - fighter Take-off weight 5170 kg 11398 lb Empty weight 3992 kg 8801 lb The Hawker Typhoon and Tempest - Great Britain Without its underwing load the Typhoon IB weighed 11,300 lbs., and with two 500-lb. bombs and the necessary racks, 12,400 lbs. The Hawker Tempest Page The Mk I Tempest was, of course, lighter, but the Mk V appears to have been the same weight as a Tiffy despite its much thinner wing: Weight (empty): 9,000lb Weight (loaded):11,400lb
Not mentioned in a lot of the blurb on the "Cadillac of the skies" was the fact that a number of them fell apart in the air pulling out of dives and in very tight turns when a wheel door crept open and the landing gear (sorry, "undercarriage" - this is the UK) came out, resulting in the machine disintegrating in the air. On some of the F.14s (Accident Reports) for P-51 crashes in this region in 1944-45, one of the first things the investigating officers did if there was any suggestion of a mid-air break-up was to check the area of the wheel doors. BC
Interesting that they would do this, BC1. I've seen many pics of Mustangs on the ground with the doors bleeding down due to lack of hydraulic pressure with the engine stopped. Sounds like the mechanism itself could only withstand so much based on the F.14s you've analysed. Learn something new every day. Thanks BC1.
