Specifications

[P-51D Mustang]
DCS
EAGLE DYNAMICS
13
INTRODUCTION
Like the Indian braves of the old southwest whose favorite in battle was the small speedy
Mustang, young fighter pilots of World War II, with their newly won wings, almost without exception
wanted to fly the famous namesake of that sleek and powerful war horse, the P-51.
And no wonder, for the P-51 is truly a pilot’s aircraft. In mission after mission it had proved that
it could more than hold its own against any opposition. Its speed and range were at the tops. It
operated effectively on the deck and all the way up to 40,000 feet. In maneuverability and load-
carrying capacity, it ranked with any other fighter in the world.
The P-51 was the first aircraft of the war to be built entirely on the basis of combat experience.
Its design was started by North American Aviation (NAA) after the Luftwaffe had begun to overwhelm
Europe – and many lessons had already been learned about modern aerial warfare from actual
experience.
The P-51 was initially conceived when NAA was approached by the British in 1940 to license
produce their P-40's on order from Curtiss-Wright Corporation. NAA's president responded that the
company could instead produce its own, better fighter aircraft in the same time it would take to
prepare for the production of the P-40. The first prototype, designated NA-73X, made its maiden
flight on 26 October, 1940 - after an unusually swift design and production schedule.
The first operational Mustangs were delivered to the Royal Air Force (RAF) in October of 1941 as
Mustang Mark-I's. These aircraft saw their initial action in the summer of 1942. Armed with two .50
caliber and four .30 caliber machine guns and limited in high altitude performance, they were used
primarily for reconnaissance and 'rhubarb' missions – for zooming in at low altitudes and strafing
trains, troops, and enemy installations.
The P-51’s were the first American-built fighters to carry the war back across the English channel
after the battle of Dunkirk. A short time later they would set another record by being the first single-
engine planes of any country to penetrate Germany proper from bases in England. So successful
were the powerful little Mustangs that the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) decided to adopt
the aircraft for its own use.
Two improved models were created – a P-51A fighter (designated Mustang Mark-II in the RAF)
and an attack version known as the A-36 "Apache". This attack model was equipped with bomb racks
and diving brakes and armed with six .50 caliber machine guns. Thus, as the A-36, the Mustang
became a triple-threat performer – fighter, strafer, and dive bomber. In these roles, it helped write
aerial history in the momentous days when the Allies took Sicily and Italy.