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The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in 1940 by a team headed by James H. Kindelberger of North American Aviation (NAA) in response to a requirement of the British Purchasing Commission .
A North American Mustang Mk IA on a test flight from NAA's Inglewood facility in October 1942. The painted-over serial number appears to be 41-37416. North American XP-51. The first American order for 150 P-51s, designated NA-91 by North American, was placed by the US Army on 7 July 1940. [5] This was on behalf of the RAF in a Lend-Lease deal. [6]
The all African American 332d Fighter Group originally flew 15,550 sorties as bomber escorts in the Mustang; eventually the Airmen, who were originally shunned in the white military, acquired the right to fly combat missions. In 1970, the Commemorative Air Force acquired an original P-51 to include in their educational program.
He became the first pilot to shoot down an enemy plane in the P-51 Mustang and was the first flying ace of the 354th Fighter Group. Mike Rogers was a pilot with the 353rd Fighter Squadron, with claims of 12 enemy aircraft destroyed. He remained in the Air Force and retired in 1978 in the grade of general and commander of Air Force Logistics ...
NA-73X NX19998, the first Mustang, as well as the first to crash on 20 November 1940. 20 November 1940 The North American NA-73X (Mustang prototype), NX19998, [1] crashed on its fifth flight after test pilot Paul Balfour neglected to go through the takeoff and flight test procedure with designer Edgar Schmued prior to a high-speed test run, claiming "one airplane was like another."
North American P-51D-20-NA Mustangs from the 45th Fighter Squadron, 15th Fighter Group flying an escort mission from Central Field, Iwo Jima, June 1945. AAF Serial Numbers 44-63325, 44-63314, 44-63474, 44-63428. The 45th Fighter Squadron is a United States Air Force Reserve unit.
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47th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron Republic F-47D-40-RA Thunderbolt, AF Ser. No. 45-49431, Niagara Falls, NY, 1952. On 1 December 1952, the 47th was redesignated the 47th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron and was activated at Niagara Falls Municipal Airport, New York, [4] where it assumed the mission, personnel and equipment of the 136th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, a federalized New York Air ...