You neglected to mention that the Jima Islands were used by the Japanese as an early warning station for mainland Japan of incoming bombing strikes. They also launched fighters to attack B-29 bases from there. But most importantly, taking the island helped save hundreds of lives of bomber crews, whose B-29s were too shot up or too low on fuel to make it back to base.
There was over 10,000 crewmen that survived the war from the marines taking that stinking island. That was crippled bombers, and doesn’t include bombers that could of been shot down by Japanese fighters from Iwo Jima.
Iwo was necessary and critical for the reasons cited throughout the comments here but mostly for saving B-29 crewmen. The Pacific battle considered the most complete waste of life was Peleliu. MacArthur wanted it it taken out to prevent an aerial threat to his Philippines campaign. Nimitz opposed it as not necessary. It turned out to be almost totally irrelevant to Mac Arthur's needs. The 1st Marine Division suffered over 6,500 casualties during its month on Peleliu, over one third of the entire division. The 81st Infantry Division also suffered heavy losses with 3,300 casualties during its tenure on the island.
P-51 Mustangs & Iwo Jima: Firstly there were continued daylight raids that happened at irregular intervals, Secondly They also took off from Iwo Jima to do strafing missions on various areas. Including going after ocean going fishing boats after it was discovered that they were being used to ferry cargo, since the US Navy's Submarines wouldn't waste a torpedo on one. Thirdly B-29s regularly did forced landings at Iwo Jima due to damage from flack and fighters (yes, the Japanese did have both day and night fighters...and although the night fighters had limited effectiveness at first, they realized that the low flying (due to their increased bomb load of incendiaries) B-29s would be silhouetted by the burning city/cities below the bombers. And Finally: Iwo Jima was being used by the Japanese for: Radar spotting of the B-29s flying up toward the big islands of Japan, launching fighters against the B-29s as they flew pass, and for the occasional Kamikaze Attacks on anything that was within range!!!
What you did not comment on was the fact the 7th AAF 47th FS SQ was based on Iwo and flew daylight missions daily to the empire a 8 hour trip over open water until the end of the war. There are 2 books that detail this one is the Pineapple Airforce by John Lambert this book was written by interviews of the fighter pilots who did these missions
Perfectly Stated Tim! I agree the taking of Iwo helped the US war effort greatly. Iwo Jima being in the hands of the United States saved a lot of B-29 and other air crewmen's lives. We also denied the Japanese access to a great early warning station. The Japanese in WW2 did not give up real-estate cheaply. The US Marines, US Navy, US Coast Guard members that fought there paid dearly for the rock.
Well said to all of you, we are living in the age of lies and opinion. There is no real news or journalism anymore! Peace and Grace and trust in the Lord, the Truth, the Life and the only way to the Father!
Thanks for watching! Now I know there are tons of P-51 experts who love to criticize every detail of my videos, (lol). But I really just did my best to try and present 5 interesting stories or facts from the Mustang that you might not have heard before. Hope you all enjoyed!
It was a really good video. ;) I'm not an expert on P-51s and surely not a fan of the type - myself is a P-38 and P-40 fan rather - but all together the P-51 was an overhyped aircraft. It was realtively cheap and had decent performance and range that's why it was important type (better having 2 P-51s rather a single P-38 same time same place, but if I have to sit and fight in one of them, I would be glad having two engines especially over the Pacific Ocean). But all in all it was nothing special. And not even the Merlin engine, it was simply good.
@@Cuccos19 Just my two cents, having flown, and still fly the 38 and 51; I will politely disagree with you, except for the two engine safety over water. IMO in air to air, the Mustang is excellent, while the P-38 below average. The P-51 does everything better air to air than a 38, and 47. It’s far more maneuverable, far harder to see and identify at great range, climbs just as well as a 38, and out dives it significantly. You can check out Robin Olds video, he’s the only ace in the 38 and 51. He prefers the Mustang, and notes it’s higher maneuverability especially at altitude. Hub Zemke notes in his book “Zemke’s Wolfpack” that other than firepower, the P-51 “superior on every other count” than the 38 or 47. And in my experience that’s true. Respectfully, I think (noting the admission about some lack of knowledge about the P-51) you are actually under rating it.
Gramps helped mfg P51s during the war for NAA. He had told of early production models that had tail rivet problems causing failures and assemblies coming apart in flight. A rework and larger rivets in tail solved this early problem. Heat & stress was the issue.
The REASON that "details" get criticized, is when they are incorrect. The taking of Iwo Jima was neither useless, nor to no strategic purpose, since P-51 D's & K's, P-47N's, with their new, widened wings' affording them wing fuel tankage, and even the hulking P-61 Black Widow Night Fighters were ALL staging out of captured Iwo Jima strips, and NOT just on bomber escort duties, all through the spring of 1945, and into the summer, so one has to roll their eyes, and there was at least one mission comprising over 100 Mustangs. Additionally, since any returning B-29 which was having mechanical trouble, severe combat damage, or which had badly wounded aircrew aboard could now vastly-simplify navigation because Iwo was just about due-south of Tokyo, and a pilot could much more easily opt for a landing on Iwo, than chancing an attempt to limp all the way down to Saipan, Tinian, or Guam, meaning that the horrendous losses among the Marines and Naval personnel in taking Iwo Jima were not meaningless, nor lacking in being of real and materially-important help. A substantial PART of Strategic Bombing is being able to recover banged-up bombers, and valuable, highly-trained aircrew, not to MENTION being able to buoy crew morale. You have to bear in mind that the new B-29's were extremely complex, requiring MUCH MORE technical expertise and intensive training that went far-beyond that required for the B-17 or even the B-24, which was a "handful," to fly well. The 1969 conflict between El Salvador and Honduras was NOT over some soccer game. Well over 100,000 Salvadoran illegal Yaliens had been simply seizing Honduran land, and this was what was creating hard feelings, which erupted, face-to-face at more than one soccer match between the two countries. Then El Salvador tried to "Pearl Harbor" the Honduran base at Tegucigalpa, but didn't do a very good job of it, and the Hondurans's Korean-era Corsairs, former Night-fighters with their radar pods removed, absolutely MAULED the Salvadoran Mustangs, then strafed an invading Salvadoran Army convoy rolling along a narrow jungle road on which they could neither veer-off, nor turn around, creating a 20mm hell within the trucks and buses being used to transport the Salvadoran invasion force. THEN the Corsairs paid a noisy visit to the only oil refinery in El Salvador, by which time the Salvadorans were needing to rethink their policies. Years later, you could still see gobs of Salvadoran .50 Caliber brass casings and little black disintegrating belt links carpeting the ground at the base in Tegucigalpa. The ACTUAL last time that a P-51 was used, in anger, was many years later, when a Dominican P-51 executed a strafing run upon a nosy Cuban Spy Trawler, since the Dominicans were still using Mustangs painted in the American Vietnam-style camouflage, into the 1980's. So much for "every detail," when you think you're learning "history" from UA-cam.
The airfield at Iwo Jima (actually Iwo To) was also used for B-29s that needed to abort enroute or were too heavily damaged to fly all the way back to their home bases. I wouldn't say that the effort to capture it was a waste or "least valuable". The Japanese presence on that island was significant and probably could not be bypassed.
From a former USAF F-16 pilot who still flys the P-51 and P-38. This is a pretty good overview. The P-51 is the fighter people seen to dislike, perhaps because so much was written about it? But it is a EXCELLENT air to air fighter. It’s maneuverable, fast, and has the range and endurance to get to and fight most of its opponents over their own bases. Most who flew several types air to air, Zemke, Mahurin, Olds, Ilfrey, all noted the P-51 was probably better in air to air than their previous types. Hub Zemke said in his book “Zemke’s Wolfpack” though lacking the firepower of the 38 and 47, in air to air against the Luftwaffe the P-51 was “superior on every other count.” Was it as good air to ground? No, not in my opinion. But the P-51 was the best, by far, air to air superiority fighter the US ARMY fielded during the war.
The best air-to-ground was probably the P-47. I would imagine(haven't flown so this is just pure speculation) that it's a very stable gun platform due to it's size and weight...and the amount of firepower on the damn thing. The P-51 is, also speculation, much more nimble and 'twitchy' which would presumably be part of why it is so good in the dogfighting role. Out of interest, what's the P-38 like to fly? I am more than jealous that you got to fly an F-16 and now the P-51 and P-38 :D My main goal for profession as a kid was fighter pilot(RAF) until someone told me my poor eyesight would mean I can't. I just figured that I wouldn't be able to wear contacts or glasses and became so discouraged that I just dropped the idea completely by the time I finished school and went another route of interest.
I am a Canadian private pilot who received aerobatics instruction in a TF-51D as well as a SNJ Harvard both from operators at the Kissimmee airport in Florida. The Mustang was with Stallion 51, which now has a second Mustang as well as a T-33 and L-39 all available to the public for as little as an hour of dual aerobatics instruction right up to type certification, and the Harvard was with Warbird Adventures. Can I please ask you were you fly the Mustang and especially the P-38 Lightning? I take it the P-38 is likely solo only. Thanks very much.
As an army airforce (armchair ie YT) general I think you have hit your head with a nail, or hit that nail with your head. No wait, you have hit the nail on the head. If I had to be a pilot of choice: The P47 for me - going for ground targets would be my safest ticket back to my babe.
@@zogzog1063 Read the book 'The Big Show' by WW2 fighter pilot Pierre Clostermann. Even in the final days of the war he set a fine on any pilot in his squadron who mentioned the word 'flak' around his airfield because it was so deadly and since there was no German airforce left to fight his squadron was ordered to strafe ground targets instead. It was a death sentence. Finally they were ordered to stop attacking ground targets because in his words the senior command had finally figured out that "the game wasn't worth the candle". Gen. Chuck Yeager told his ground attack pilots in Viet Nam who had been missing targets by a large margin that since they had flown the hottest planes, had the best looking women and drunk the finest booze it was time for them to pay up for these privileges and press home the attack on ground targets even though he knew the ground fire was "murderous".
@@jsmith3772 - The assumption is that every B-29 that made an emergency landing on Iwo would otherwise have not made it back to the Marianas and that none of the aircrew that ditched would not have been rescued by prepositioned "lifeguard" submarines. I believe that assumption is incorrect.
The P-51 Mustang was built in response to a requirement from the British Purchasing Commission. The initial model was fitted with Allison engines and the aircraft had lacklustre performance at high altitude. The later model was replaced with RR Merlin engine and with it, the Mustang performed to the full potential. This aircraft was a showcase of the great cooperation and sharing of knowledge between US and UK in the fight against the common enemy.
The Allison engine plane was actually faster than the spitfire it just didn't have the high altitude but it did have the legs just not the high altitude it was a real badass search UA-cam for it mustang one
@@bradcampbell7253 there was not just one Merlin Engine. the Merlin variants just got better and better and obvs faster over the course of the war, Till the RR Griffon the more powerful engine was built
The drawings for the Merlin given to the Americans were so awful, that they had to take an engine apart to make new and more precise ones to enable a large scale production!
The best value of IWO JIMA is was that over. 2000 B29 crew were saved by being able to land there when they were too damaged to fly back to the Mariana’s!
I always wanted to fly a P-51. Closest I came was the T -28 Trojan in the Navy. It had the same squared off wings and tail like the the P-51 but had an R-1820 that still put out a respectable 1425 hp. It was great fun doing aerobatics and climbing out after takeoff .
Pretty good stuff! There's a P-51D at the airport nearest my house and I'll go look at it, touch it, climb on and sit inside it because it's just too cool. Someday maybe I'll get to fly it (luckily it's modded just enough to have 2 seats, otherwise it's almost all original). It's always been one of my favorite planes so it's never a bad thing to get to see one in person!
My dad flew the Mustang at the end of WW2 in the Swedish air force. The Swedish and German air forces were basically at war. My dad shoot down three BF 109s who refused to return to international airspace due to the Mustangs who waited for the Messerschmidt just outside the border.
@@MothaLuva Umm, neutral does not always mean conflict free, they still have a right to defend their borders from foreign nations encroachments, look at Switzerland's active service in WWII against both the Allies and the Axis powers!
Red Leader was the callsign used by any pilot leading a flight section (made up of 4 aircraft) assigned the colour red. It was not a personal callsign for just one pilot. You would then have Red 2, Red 3 and then Red 4. Other sections would be Blue, Green and Yellow. More sections would then use Black and White if assigned to work with the squadron. More colours would be used for more additional assigned sections if/as required.
The airbase at Iwo Jima wasn't just for P-51s. It was a landing field for crippled B-29s. In fact the first one landed there before the battle was actually over. Also, I wonder if the destabilization may have been due to the central fuel tank? There was a tendency for the plane to "try to swap ends" if there was too much fuel still in the tank as it changed the center of gravity for the plane. I remember that most pilots learned to use that tank to reach altitude, then switch to the other tanks.
A gentleman I knew flew P-51 and F-86 in the U.S. Army Air Corps / U.S. Air Force and owned an example of each aircraft until his passing at age 94. He told me of a little know maneuver whereby certain P-51s could briefly achieve supersonic speed, a move forbidden by regulation to attempt but taught in theory in case of combat emergency. Against regulations he tried it and survived. Once. Only.
The supersonic speed or mach 1 can't be achieved by prop aircraft the propeller gets in the way. What could have happened is the plane brakes up and the engine falls from high altitude without the prop and goes through the sound barrier. It has been reported that the sonic boom took place several times and it was deadly
The biggest WWII influence on Star Wars was the movie about Mosquitoes attacking a heavy water plant protected by a fjord, with guns along both sides. That's inspiration for the scene at the end where they attack the death star, flying down a groove. The stategic need for Iwo as a bomber refuge has been abundantly covered for many years. The fighters' importance would have increased greatly had the final invasions begun. Enola Gay flew in daytime. Perhaps, escorted by Iwo Jima aircraft.
@@johncataloni8552 nice, Love me some yellow tailed Mustangs tbh, I'm assuming he served in the MTO? Maybe even ETO considering he worked with mustangs
WW2 planes are my favorites. The P-51 Mustang is a powerful aircraft, especially in the hands of a skilled pilot. I didn't know these facts. Great video TJ. You help me a lot to increase my knowledge. Thank you so much.
People use the word "decimate" when they mean "obliterate." Decimate means to take a tenth. The origin is from Roman times. If a village gave refuge to highway robbers or other fugitives and would not give them up, then the Roman soldiers would line up all the villagers and have them count off, one to ten. Then the Romans would have a child draw a number from a pot. Everybody with that number was executed. That is decimation. A tenth of the village was executed!
I notice this too. It's taken on a new meaning but it always means way more than a tenth. I've also heard that soldiers themselves could be punished in a similar way.
Iwo Jima translates into Sulfur Island. It was Japan's main source of sulfer and you can't make gunpowder without it. IT was so important they used boats made of concrete to transport the sulfur.
You failed to mention that it was designed for the RAF at the request of the British Air Ministry and that it had serious issues when being used at anything other than low level until it was fitted with the Roll Royce Merlin engine.
That's bs, the brits wanted North American to build p40's, not wanting to build another company's plane they said that they could build a much better aircraft and they did
Iwo Jima was a haven for damaged B29s. The island was still being fought for when it received it's first damaged Superfort. You didn't mention that the F4U Corsair made most of the air to air kills during the 'Soccer War.'
Also the P-51H variant basically handled all the issues. It was stable in a dive, it had a bubble canopy, better wings, better prop, lighter and more aerodynamic airframe, and it was even faster that the D variants. About 500mph thanks to the airframe upgrades, the prop, and it's new V-1650-9 engine producing over 2,000 horsepower at WEP. My all-time favorite plane
i always thought the P-51H was really just a P-51D built in Dallas and with a different propeller. *_"About 500mph thanks to the airframe upgrades, the prop, and its new V-1650-9 engine producing over 2,000 horsepower at WEP."_* No way. The different prop made the P-51H better in acceleration but slower in top speed.
Here I was, in my arrogance thinking, "I know the facts others don't know. But I'm glad to see the stories recreated by @TJ3 History." I was wrong. I knew one, just one of the 5 things (No. 1). I love learning and the insights presented, even on things I'm very familiar with, are engaging as well as informational.
I was in the República Dominicana (Santo Domingo) during the 1965 revolution and watched the P-51D in action against the rebels trying to overthought the government. The planes would fly over our house line-up and dive over the city... I could see the flash of the guns follow an instant later by the ripping noise of the machine-guns....
The initial purchase by Britain of the P51 was called the Apache,a private venture by the North American Aviation co and unwanted by the USA.This was found lacking at high altitude and was used in the ground attack role until a Rolls Royce Merlin engine was fitted as an experiment and the rest as is said is history.🙃
One, interesting detail from the Soccer War is that Guatemala used another, American WWII aircraft: the F4U Corsair. It was the only time two iconic American WWII fighters fought each other!
The 51 actually built to US speciation. It even had US armament. It was all ready in very early conceptual phase when the RAF came to North American and asked they build P-40s under license. NAA said they could deliver a better airplane in 120 days, and they did. The American name for the first P-51, a year before the A-36, was “Apache.” The Army decided to go with the British “Mustang” to avoid confusion.
@@cfzippo I think the Apache name was actually an A-36 thing. The Americans started calling it the Mustang simply because they liked the name. Otherwise, spot-on on the reply.
@@LuisSoto-ho5fw No, it was really a P-51 thing. That first USAAF airplane in 1942. The one with cannons. The Army and NAA originally called the P-51 “Apache,” but in late 42 a memo went out to name them all “Mustang” to avoid confusion. And that confusion still exists. Now the 86th Fighter Bomber Group circulated a petition in 44 to have it called “Invader,” as their nick was the “Invaders.” That name was earmarked for the Douglass bomber of course. In 45 years around the air museum game, and been involved with Mustangs, I’ve never found a WII document referring to the A-36 as “Mustang” outside of one 3rd party aircraft identification manual. We have original handbooks, and over on FB in our Mustang page, is a photo of a North American Aviation original A-36 “Mustang” Parts manual. That is also in Bob Gruenhagen’s excellent Mustang book, 1st published in 1969, and on the signage at the Air Force Museum. :).
@@markgranger9150 Nope. It was not. The airplane originally called “Apache” was the P-51, no letter designation, the first USAAF P-51, that preceded the A-36. This is the airplane with cannons.
Great game depiction of a P-51 spinning in, but without knowing the specific details of Hitchcocks death I would say he got into difficulties with 'Compressibility' in a dive. The shock wave formations on all wings both pitching the nose down and reversing the effect of the elevator control leaving prairs and atmospheric density to save your ass, his plane either broke up collides with terrain.
Never underestimate this great old Bird. Still would be capable as a ground engagement aircraft. 50 calibers plus modern missiles are still a deadly combination plus decent time on site.
True. :) When I was a kid I thought that P-51B had the "birdcage" canopy and P-51C had the Malcolm hood "buble" canopy, but later I learnd about the Inglewood and Dallas factories. These pre-D models had the bad MG installment as well, prone to jamming. On the D it was solved very well.
@@Cuccos19 At first I thought the difference between the "B's" and the "C's" was that the C's had the fuselage tanks. Turns out that due to having the Inglewood (California) plants need to keep producing planes as fast as possible, and the Dallas (Texas) plant was being set up, the first few C's didn't have the fuselage tanks, but once the people had been trained to build the fighter, almost all of the Dallas C's did have the fuselage tank which increased the range. This relieved the pressure on North American's Inglewood plant and they were able to change the assembly line so that they could be able to install the fuselage tank. As for the Malcolm Hood, that seems to be either pilot and/or squadron leaders request to have it replaced the standard US canopy (remember the RAF had been flying the Mustangs from the P-51A (with an Allison engine) through the P-51D, so they already had designed a Malcolm canopy to fit the "stang! The reason why the Allison engine had such a bad high altitude performance wasn't the engine's fault, it was due to some "Desk Jockey" in the USAAF (US Army Air Force) who ignored what both the British and Germans were doing with their engines and basically wrote a regulation that USAAF aircraft would only be allowed a Single Stage Supercharger. If higher performance was needed, they could add a Turbocharger (like the P-38 had). Somehow, they allowed the P-51s with a Packard built Merlin engine have a Two Stage Supercharger. But after WW2 was over and the P-82 Twin Mustang got into service as an ultra long range escort, they had to play word games to disguise the fact that it had a two stage supercharger!!!
Good video another interesting fact that few know is that as ironic as it may be the American P-51 was actually designed by a German named Edgar Schmued!
At high speeds (e.g., a drive) the planes out flew their control surfaces -- the air streams were simply pushed away from the reach of the control surfaces. Note how wide the control surfaces are on our modern jets!
No one on the Allies side had really researched transonic or supersonic flight...it was later discovered after the war that the swept wing on the Me-262 was a fortuitous accident 😂 The original purpose was to help alleviate center of gravity issues that popped up due to design changes, but Nazi aircraft engineers discovered that it increased the aircraft's top speed and helped it to handle better at speeds that were proving problematic for other aircraft. They probably put the name on compressibility...
You probably never heard: A f4 Corsair under command of Capt Fernando Zoto shot down a p51 , and the same day he shot down 2 more , all in the same day July -17 - 1969
The “specifications” agreed to by NAA and the British Purchasing Commission appear to be that it have the Allison engine, a mix of 8 machine guns- the original request for a pair of 20mm cannons in each wing fell thru due to supply issues. The aircraft had to be delivered along a set timeline- basically all 320 orders to be delivered within a year. And since Lend - Lease hadn’t been enacted the cost had to be less than $40,000.00 per unit. Additionally, during the preliminary design proposals in 1940, Dutch Kindelberger had also asked Edgar Schmued, Chief of Design to make sure the aircraft meet all the design requirements of the “US Air Force”
You omitted the fact that Iwo Jima was also a landing field for B-29's en route to and returning from bombing raids over Japan. In all 2,251 B-29 landings were recorded on Iwo Jima. Additionally 1,191 fighter escorts and 3,081 strike sorties were flown from Iwo Jima. There is controversy as to how many B-29 landings were actual emergencies, which depends on how one defines an emergency landing. B-29's low on fuel landing on Iwo Jima were not considered emergency landings on one hand, but on the other a B-29 low on fuel who could not make it back to base is considered an emergency by the crew. Other reasons for so many B-29 landings was combat damage, mechanical problems (which the B-29 was known for), wounded crews needing medical treatment, and some of the B-29s made landings there for training; presumably in case they had a real emergency. Since there are no accurate records for the reason for each landing, one has to assume B-29 crews were not landing there for fun. Except for a small number of training landings, the rest must be assumed to have had a reason that they could either not reach the target for some reason or they needed to land on Iwo because they couldn't reach their bases. It's impossible to determine how many B-29 crews were actually saved using Iwo Jima to land, but a fair estimate would be over 10,000 because each B-29 had a 10 man crew. It has also been suggested that Iwo Jima hadn't been secured that the B-29's had other possible landing sites and air-sea rescue estimated that they could have saved about 50% of the crews that would have been forced to ditch at sea. Personally with 21 years in the Marine Corps with 3 years in combat, I seriously doubt they could rescue that many crews given the vast stretches of ocean the bombers had to cover. The battle for Iwo Jima will remain controversial, but so will most other island battles in the Pacific. Peleliu, Tarawa, and others were considered to be non-strategic and a waste of resources and men because they were rarely used for anything after the battles.
I knew 4 out of 5 things. As a ww2 airplane nutter its not difficult to find these things about the P51. My personal favorite version is the p51B with its bubled razorback canopy. But i love axis planes more, keep the vids up. You can make a series with this :)
I'm guessing that Hitchcock found the poorly understood (at the time) compressibility issues that cropped up in transonic flight...later jet aircraft designers learned about compressibility and designed around it.
The Mustang was involved the Legend of Y29 story in which Mustangs of 487th FS of the 352nd FG where involved in Operation Bodenplatte where the infamous event where JC Meyer shot down a FW-190 while retracting his landing gear of his Mustang.
I think one of the great legacies the P-51D left aviation was the remarkable laminar flow wing, which moved its greatest cross-section thickness well aft toward the middle of the wing cord, reducing drag. 💛🙏🏼
This guys is full of it starting at 6:57 he states that the P-51 were able to take out the ME 109s and the FW 190 fighters with relative ease - BS. Take them out? Maybe most of the time but with relative ease? Um,no Typical keyboard Kommando
@@mercedescherokee6853 Nevertheless the P-51 Mustang was the first to intentionally incorporate a laminar flow wing. It is keenly visible at the wing root-that beautiful curve! Laminar flow tech was actually pioneered by the B-24, but the P-51 and Edgar Schmued were more intentional in its use, and tested it in their wind tunnel using 1/4 scale modeling. It may be true that the wing surface quality of the P-51 and P-63 was such that benefit may have been limited, but engineers also admit that the gains in drag reduction contributed to the Mustang’s remarkable range-crucial to its mission. But brother, to be dismissive, saying that the development was ‘propaganda’ is, I think, thin spin. Maybe Greg does better with automobiles. Cheers to you 💛🙏🏽
@@mercedescherokee6853 for what ever reason the wing designs of both the Spitfire/Mustang both had pros and cons.The Spit could cut and maneuver in tight better than the Mustang.But the Stang though larger and heavier could go farther on the same tank of gas(better fuel consumption) because of the wing design. Read/watched that on a YT Aviation channel
I see you keep using red tail mustangs when not commenting on the Best record of the Red Tail Tuskegee Squadron of not losing one bomber on any of their escort missions, and who made the red tail mustangs famous. I realize that other squadrons did paint their rudder red but it was the Tuskegee airmen who made the enemy sometimes not engage when they saw the red tail mustangs. I do enjoy your channel and look forward to more.
My thoughts too. Thanks for mentioning. Also these Tuskegee pilots were also responsible for shooting down a couple of Me-262. Seems that would have been an important accomplishment of the P-51.
P-38 was one of the first than so called modern designs. It was very much of experimenting era of high speed flight (for propeller aircrafts certainly). They made the P-38 possible in the smallest "bulk" with two engines, and had a good armament and landing gear arrangement.
The D Model with the bubble canopy and drop tanks became the premier fighter/escort of WWII for a number of reasons. 1. By the middle of '43 the Merlin V1650 was being manufactured by the Packard Motor Corporation to much tighter tolerances required by high performance piston driven aircraft than the original RR Merlins. As such, the 2 stage RR supercharger became a single stage supercharger that retained similar high altitude power output with less maintenance and longer service intervals. 2. Outfitted with long range drop tanks, the P51D was able to escort the bombers to Berlin, engage in A2A combat when required, and then return to England. 3. In early '44 the D model was outfitted with 6 (3 on each wing) Browning .50 caliber machine guns giving it a significant air-to-air combat advantage. It previously had only 1 on each wing. 4. At that stage of the war American and British pilots were much more well trained and seasoned than those of the Luftwaffe. My father flew B's, C's, and D's with 2 confirmed in the D. P51D #4413849 "Little Buster". Stationed at Bodney - "The Blue Nosed Bastards of Bodney" as the Luftwaffe called them. He once had to bail out of a B model over the North Sea after fuel starvation (no drop tanks) but a Brit minesweeper saw him and was able to pick him out of the drink Thanks Limeys!! As the story goes... when Goering saw the B17's over Berlin being escorted by P51's he commented "The was is lost..." He was correct.
Actually the B's had 2 50's inch wing and were flying to Berlin in early march of 44. They had 3 basic mission profiles. Escort to the target and turn over to another group for target protection and the third was pick the Bombers up to escort home. What unit was your father with? Thanks for his service! Dangerous work!!!
The P51D had a laminar flow wing and was thus placarded against spins. I accidentally entered a spin by stupidly feeding in bottom rudder during a slow flight stall maneuver just as the nose paid off, and was momentarily scared to death. But she recovered pretty quickly with opposite rudder and forward stick. It was no sweat. Since the plane was placarded against spinning because of the design of the wing to help make it the gun platform it was it is beyond imagination how a pilot would deliberately spin the aircraft to test the recovery characteristics or lack thereof. It would be like walking into the middle of a fire to test a fire retardant suit. Suicidal especially from moderate to low altitudes.
@@markgranger9150 Yes, the Mustang is unforgiving with built-in instability since this reduces the amount of time for the pilot to overcome inertial resistance before executing combat maneuvers. Low level airshow aerobatics are the purview of only the most skilled pilots since there is no room for even small errors. There is also an optical illusion created by the design of the cockpit that has inexperienced pilots porpoising while trying to fly straight-and-level until they become acclimatized to it. I performed lots of aerobatics in a Cavalier converted Mustang from WW2 but my starting altitude was 10,000 feet. I also avoided really high terminal airspeeds. I was only this low to avoid having to use oxygen.
@@markgranger9150 I remember reading that pilots basically used that tank to take them from England to just about the spot where they entered Europe (Holland?). Then they switched to the drop tanks. This left the fuselage tank with about half its fuel capacity, and the plane was fine with that. You didn't have to empty it.
I’m surprised that you didn’t point out that the Mustang wouldn’t have existed without the British. In 1940, the British wanted to buy more P40s, but Curtis was already at capacity. The British asked if North American would make P40s for them. NorthAmerican said they didn’t want to make P40s, but they would develop their own design, and the P51 was the result. The first Mustangs were used by the RAF, and used Allison engines. They didn’t have a good performance at the high altitudes where much of the European air war took place, so they were used for low level missions like ground attack. A British test pilot thought they would be better if a Merlin engine was installed, and a test bed was put together using a Merlin engine from a Spitfire Mk IX and a Mustang airframe. The Merlin-powered variants of the P51 resulted from this. So without the British commissioning North American to develop the plane, and without the British having the idea of installing the Merlin engine, the iconic P51D wouldn’t have existed.
Not in the for! Of or with the name mustang. It was an excellent dive bomber we called it the invader. The Brita called it the Apache.The test pilot when asked how it flew he said you have to give it ful rudder on take off its like you jumped on to a wild mustang and mustang stuck.
You failed to mention that during La guerra del fútbol, one of the Salvadoran P-51s was shot down by Honduran pilot Fernando Soto, who was flying an F4U Corsair, another WWII-era fighter plane.
For the first time I knew about one of your generally unknown facts… the football war, and that in the very last engagement a Mustang lost to a Corsair. Your videos are excellent by the way, I hope that you will excuse the snark.
Not sure about that one. My understanding is that the Mustang was always meant to use a Merlin, but it took a while before Packard was building the engines in enough numbers. The Alison-engined Mustangs were a stopgap.
Americans wouldn't have had the P51 if the English hadn't asked for it, then made it better by adding the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine to it. D and later variants used the Packard V-1650-7 engine, that's the Merlin built in the US under license.
Wow you really blew the Iwo Jima story. Yes, Iwo Jima's role of daytime P51 bomber escort base proved not to be a success Due to Lemay's switch in tactics (going from "precision daylight bombing" to a B29s nighttime firebombing campaign of Japan). Iwo Jima STILL proved to be an effective halfway ditching/rescue emergency strips for B29 bombers going to and returning from bombing missions to Japan. The B29 was on the bleeding edge of aviation technology during its first combat use from mid 1944 -to VJ day in 1945. The B29 had serious teething issues with its Wright R3350 TurboSupercharged engines which had nasty tendencies to have multiple engines overheat, have melting engine valves /head assemblies, or just plain catch fire for a variety of reasons. On top of the engine issues, early B29s also had problems with the crew compartment pressurization systems and structural failures due to battle damage were all issues the first generation B29s suffered. It is estimated that over 2600 B29s successfully either land on Iwo Jima airfields or aircrews ditch/bail out of their damaged B29s around or nearby Iwo Jima. Where the Navy ships, seaplanes, or submarines could go pick up the downed B29 crewman with top cover with USAF P51's flying combat air patrols. And the P51s also engaged in pre-Operation Downfall fighter sweeps of attacking any surface targets of Japanese shipping, coastal towns in range of Iwo Jima or on a rare occasion Japanese aircraft left to fight. Iwo Jima, based on 2600 B29s that landed on the island's airfields or bailed or ditched nearby, 2600 B29s rescued by Iwo Jima x 10 B29 aircrew per plane that is a potential 26000 USAF aircrew who would live to fight another day. As strange as it sounds for the US military there was no storage of aircraft to fly (in Europe or the Pacific ) there still was a shortage of qualified aircrews to fly the ever-increasing complex aircraft being produced the B29 being one of the most complex. So the experienced B29 crews could be quickly cycled back into combat squadrons or transferred to training commands so their knowledge and know-how spread to new aircrews. So NO I do not consider the Invasion of Iwo Jima to be a waste.
It's ironic that the P-51 was built for the RAF when NAA said they could do better than a P-40 and after giving some basic requirements and specifications went for what I call their 120 day challenge. They got an amazing result and the USAAF apart from testing a few took little interest at first. NAA did buy data from the P-40 and P-46 from Curtis though. But in many ways, it was despite being 100% American, was in design philosophy quite British, with its inline engine and emphasis on streamlining. The NAA built it for them on their needs. And while the term "Red Leader" may have come from the source you mentioned, in the RAF squadron flights were often colored named and "Red Flight" wasn't unusual, and it'll have a "Leader". And the Death Star attack was more based on The Dambusters, a 1943 raid and an amazing 1954 movie that is totally worth watching! About 10 years ago I met Les Munro, the last pilot of the raid, died 6 months later at 96. But trust me, watch that film!!!
Although the taking of Iwo Jima was useless it did have a great purpose but not a real strategic purpose, that purpose was as a emergency air strip to land badly damage B29 and P51. It save quite a lot of airmen.
Iwo Jima was invaded to save bomber crews, and to take away the Japanese having a five hour warning of approaching American bombers. Japanese fighters were picking off wounded B-29’s from Iwo Jima. Taking the island created an emergency landing field for the bombers, removed the Japanese early warning of an attack on the mainland, Japanese fighters destroying the crippled bombers, and made fighter escort possible for the B29’s on the way to Japan.
For the sake of historical accuracy: The air wing of the US Army during WW2 was the Army Air Corps. It became a separate service, the US Air Force, in 1947.
Biggest thing especially Americans don't know is that it was a British ordered plane, the British set out the design requirements for the Mustang and then improved it but using the Merlin engine in it. Sherman tanks are also British the US tank is an M4, all US designed British tanks have civil war General names.
The British did not "set out the design requirements." They wanted North American Aviation (NAA) to build more (already designed and produced) P-40s for them, but they (NAA) told the British they could design and build a brand new (and better) aircraft faster. This is a well-known story for most American aircraft enthusiasts. The "improve" part, however, is spot-on ;)
The 109 G-s was slower(30-40km/h after the MW-50 upgrade for G-14 an 20-25 km/h for G-10) than the p51, but could climb better and turn as tight as the mustang. The K-4 could catch the 51, and even climbed better and still could turn with it.
The P51 was also upgraded after the B, C, and D modals including F, G and J modals. They were light weight versions but few if any of them saw action. I read somewhere that one or more of them were capable of exceeding the 440 mph of the B and C modals. By the time these up graded 109 and 190s came into action it was too late anyway.
@@nolanbowen8800 Ahm, nope, nope and nope. P-51B was faster than the D because it had no bubble canopy. Bubble canopy make more drag. With 150 oct what was RARE in 1944 late aswell ON WEP On 7000 meter the B mustang could achieve 443 mph. The D: 446 mph. On sea level: B:385 mp/h D:377 mp/h Without 150 oct ON WEP: B 443 mph. On 8000 meter: D: 435 mph. On sea level: B:373 mp/h D:377 mp/h Do not forget, the WarEmergencyPower for P-51s was only for 5 min limit. P-51 B was showed on the front in August and October 1943. Against G-6s it was faster, but climbed worse, turning was equal. 109s got the MW-50 upgrade in 1944 early. When the G-6s could achieve 356 mp/h on sea level. From 1944 april D mustangs arrived and G-6/AS awsell. But more aerodynamic engine cowling and with high alt engine, the G-6/AS could achieve 369 mp/h on sea level and 428 mp/h on high alt. Still climbed better than a P-51. The G-14 was a standardized G-6 without AS engine and smooth cowling. Arrived in 1944 july it was fast as the G-6 with MW-50. The G-10 and K-4 arrived in 1944 sept-oct. G-10, K-4 had smooth cowling, but the K-4 had retractable tail wheel and wheel coverage on the wings. G-10 fast a little bit faster thana G-6/AS, but the K-4: On sea level: 372 mp/h or 381 mp/h depending on engine DB605 DB or DC. On 7000-8000: 436 mp/h or 443 mp/h. So with better climbing and with almost the same speed as the P-51 it was a dangerous opponent. P-51 maximum climb rate was 18-19 m/s G-6:20-21 m/s G-6 with MW-50:22-24 m/s G-6/AS-G-10: 24-26 m/s K-4: 26-30 m/s Do not forget, the 109s had stablizators not trims, the 109s could change the whole horizontal stab degree, not only little trim tabs like the allied planes. All modern planes are using stabilizators for trimming, it cause less drag, so can climb better. Even without that the 109 could climb better than the P-51.
PS: I forgot the mention, the 109s without MW-50 had 1-3 min WEP, but it was only 1450 HP, with MW-50 they could use the WEP for 3x10 min (but the 109 fuel capacity was not enought for 3x10, only for 2,5x10) on 1850 HP and for K-4 DC engine 2000 HP.
If I'm correct I remember reading a book written and signed by mustang ace Bud Anderson and said that in the book he was the one who actually innovated the mustang gun sight because the one before that was either insufficient or nonexistent. The mustang had so much power that pilots had to be careful while taxiing as the engines power plus massive prop blades would drive the planes nose into the ground before getting airborne.
also read a book about guys in the CBI and when the 51's were introduced in that area an old P-40 jockey took one for an orientation flight and as he was mock dog fighting, a mate hollered 'break right' and he went hard right an it broke into a roll spin and when he recovered, on the ground they all called it the Tootsie Roll, because he didn't realize the torque-roll characteristics and that guy ended up being the Director of the Air & Space Museum
I have to give you credit for focusing on heroic actions of people who are generally forgotten. You shouldn't be defensive about "experts" correcting you. If you have facts wrong take responsibility. Saying that the Invasion of Iwo Jima was all about providing a base for P-51s is a huge oversimplification. There were several factors that were considered. I think that Red Erwin was very thankful for the invasion. Remember, you made a vid about him? I thought you going to tell us about how the British approached North American Aviation to build P-40s but NAA instead designed and built their prototype in an amazingly short time. Or that the Allison engine was not a bad engine as variants were used in several successful US aircraft, and that the USAAF used an Allison engine variant as the A-36 Apache. Or I thought you would mention that the drag of that big radiator was offset by thrust from hot air exiting the outlet. I was aware of the "Soccer War" more because of the Honduran Corsairs. BTW the aircraft crashes in the sim lack realism to put it tactfully.
The Luftwaffe did not rotate fighter pilots out after so many missions, but kept them in action until death, disablement, or the end of the war, thus the high mission and victory counts.
@@gregb6469 Also a lot of the kills came during the Spanish Civil War and also in the Eastern Front - both were situations in which the Germans tended to enjoy great technological superiority.
B-17 and P-51 Mustang is awesome story. P-51 is most beautiful and awesome combat plain. I love every thing in ww2-Grat war. I am veteran of Croatianwar for independent volunteer of course. I ill for PTSP and i read every fight ww2 book(documentary o.c) and video and illnes is gone to the amazement of the psychiatrist. When I said what I was cured with, they didn't believe me. Many comrades and colleagues killed themselves after the war due to mental illness.👍💯🤔
I guess this is probably right. The Mustang being the GOAT. Still, I think I would have preferred to being a thunderbolt pilot. And even a shoutout to a Hellcat.
Iwo Jima was not exactly useless. It saved over 20,000 American airmen from going into the Pacific Ocean and probably not being recovered. It might not have worked as a mustang runway as they were hoping, but it damn sure gave b-29 crews some confidence that if they were shot up they might not be able to get all the way to tinian but damn they couldn't get it to iw0
My dad was at Iwo, he flew a spotter plane, he took a bullet in his backside while flying low near Suribachi..met Chuck Yeager climbing out of a P-51 at EAA, the Oshkosh air show..lots of WWII aircraft there 🤓
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Could you do one about Gregory boyington and the f4u Corsair
Could you facts we never knew about the F-14 tomcat?
3:24 Yes but Iwo Jima did serve a very useful purpose as an emergency landing strip for B-29's and as such saved many airmen lives.
You neglected to mention that the Jima Islands were used by the Japanese as an early warning station for mainland Japan of incoming bombing strikes. They also launched fighters to attack B-29 bases from there. But most importantly, taking the island helped save hundreds of lives of bomber crews, whose B-29s were too shot up or too low on fuel to make it back to base.
Yup, Iwo was important as an emergency landing strip for shot up B-29s.
Correct IMHO. While a few more islands could have been 'hopped' surely Iwo was not among them.
There was over 10,000 crewmen that survived the war from the marines taking that stinking island. That was crippled bombers, and doesn’t include bombers that could of been shot down by Japanese fighters from Iwo Jima.
if only the Yanks had used their atomic bombs on Iwojima, instead of using them on the elderly, women and children
Iwo was necessary and critical for the reasons cited throughout the comments here but mostly for saving B-29 crewmen.
The Pacific battle considered the most complete waste of life was Peleliu. MacArthur wanted it it taken out to prevent an aerial threat to his Philippines campaign. Nimitz opposed it as not necessary. It turned out to be almost totally irrelevant to Mac Arthur's needs.
The 1st Marine Division suffered over 6,500 casualties during its month on Peleliu, over one third of the entire division. The 81st Infantry Division also suffered heavy losses with 3,300 casualties during its tenure on the island.
P-51 Mustangs & Iwo Jima: Firstly there were continued daylight raids that happened at irregular intervals, Secondly They also took off from Iwo Jima to do strafing missions on various areas. Including going after ocean going fishing boats after it was discovered that they were being used to ferry cargo, since the US Navy's Submarines wouldn't waste a torpedo on one. Thirdly B-29s regularly did forced landings at Iwo Jima due to damage from flack and fighters (yes, the Japanese did have both day and night fighters...and although the night fighters had limited effectiveness at first, they realized that the low flying (due to their increased bomb load of incendiaries) B-29s would be silhouetted by the burning city/cities below the bombers.
And Finally: Iwo Jima was being used by the Japanese for: Radar spotting of the B-29s flying up toward the big islands of Japan, launching fighters against the B-29s as they flew pass, and for the occasional Kamikaze Attacks on anything that was within range!!!
What you did not comment on was the fact the 7th AAF 47th FS SQ was based on Iwo and flew daylight missions daily to the empire a 8 hour trip over open water until the end of the war. There are 2 books that detail this one is the Pineapple Airforce by John Lambert this book was written by interviews of the fighter pilots who did these missions
Perfectly Stated Tim! I agree the taking of Iwo helped the US war effort greatly. Iwo Jima being in the hands of the United States saved a lot of B-29 and other air crewmen's lives. We also denied the Japanese access to a great early warning station. The Japanese in WW2 did not give up real-estate cheaply. The US Marines, US Navy, US Coast Guard members that fought there paid dearly for the rock.
Well said to all of you, we are living in the age of lies and opinion. There is no real news or journalism anymore! Peace and Grace and trust in the Lord, the Truth, the Life and the only way to the Father!
Thanks for watching! Now I know there are tons of P-51 experts who love to criticize every detail of my videos, (lol). But I really just did my best to try and present 5 interesting stories or facts from the Mustang that you might not have heard before. Hope you all enjoyed!
It was a really good video. ;) I'm not an expert on P-51s and surely not a fan of the type - myself is a P-38 and P-40 fan rather - but all together the P-51 was an overhyped aircraft. It was realtively cheap and had decent performance and range that's why it was important type (better having 2 P-51s rather a single P-38 same time same place, but if I have to sit and fight in one of them, I would be glad having two engines especially over the Pacific Ocean). But all in all it was nothing special. And not even the Merlin engine, it was simply good.
@@Cuccos19 Just my two cents, having flown, and still fly the 38 and 51; I will politely disagree with you, except for the two engine safety over water. IMO in air to air, the Mustang is excellent, while the P-38 below average. The P-51 does everything better air to air than a 38, and 47. It’s far more maneuverable, far harder to see and identify at great range, climbs just as well as a 38, and out dives it significantly. You can check out Robin Olds video, he’s the only ace in the 38 and 51. He prefers the Mustang, and notes it’s higher maneuverability especially at altitude. Hub Zemke notes in his book “Zemke’s Wolfpack” that other than firepower, the P-51 “superior on every other count” than the 38 or 47. And in my experience that’s true. Respectfully, I think (noting the admission about some lack of knowledge about the P-51) you are actually under rating it.
Gramps helped mfg P51s during the war for NAA. He had told of early production models that had tail rivet problems causing failures and assemblies coming apart in flight.
A rework and larger rivets in tail solved this early problem. Heat & stress was the issue.
being a Boomer I can say....ok Boomer my generation is well versed on that war bird. to younger generations a good introduction.
The REASON that "details" get criticized, is when they are incorrect. The taking of Iwo Jima was neither useless, nor to no strategic purpose, since P-51 D's & K's, P-47N's, with their new, widened wings' affording them wing fuel tankage, and even the hulking P-61 Black Widow Night Fighters were ALL staging out of captured Iwo Jima strips, and NOT just on bomber escort duties, all through the spring of 1945, and into the summer, so one has to roll their eyes, and there was at least one mission comprising over 100 Mustangs. Additionally, since any returning B-29 which was having mechanical trouble, severe combat damage, or which had badly wounded aircrew aboard could now vastly-simplify navigation because Iwo was just about due-south of Tokyo, and a pilot could much more easily opt for a landing on Iwo, than chancing an attempt to limp all the way down to Saipan, Tinian, or Guam, meaning that the horrendous losses among the Marines and Naval personnel in taking Iwo Jima were not meaningless, nor lacking in being of real and materially-important help. A substantial PART of Strategic Bombing is being able to recover banged-up bombers, and valuable, highly-trained aircrew, not to MENTION being able to buoy crew morale. You have to bear in mind that the new B-29's were extremely complex, requiring MUCH MORE technical expertise and intensive training that went far-beyond that required for the B-17 or even the B-24, which was a "handful," to fly well.
The 1969 conflict between El Salvador and Honduras was NOT over some soccer game. Well over 100,000 Salvadoran illegal Yaliens had been simply seizing Honduran land, and this was what was creating hard feelings, which erupted, face-to-face at more than one soccer match between the two countries. Then El Salvador tried to "Pearl Harbor" the Honduran base at Tegucigalpa, but didn't do a very good job of it, and the Hondurans's Korean-era Corsairs, former Night-fighters with their radar pods removed, absolutely MAULED the Salvadoran Mustangs, then strafed an invading Salvadoran Army convoy rolling along a narrow jungle road on which they could neither veer-off, nor turn around, creating a 20mm hell within the trucks and buses being used to transport the Salvadoran invasion force. THEN the Corsairs paid a noisy visit to the only oil refinery in El Salvador, by which time the Salvadorans were needing to rethink their policies. Years later, you could still see gobs of Salvadoran .50 Caliber brass casings and little black disintegrating belt links carpeting the ground at the base in Tegucigalpa.
The ACTUAL last time that a P-51 was used, in anger, was many years later, when a Dominican P-51 executed a strafing run upon a nosy Cuban Spy Trawler, since the Dominicans were still using Mustangs painted in the American Vietnam-style camouflage, into the 1980's. So much for "every detail," when you think you're learning "history" from UA-cam.
The airfield at Iwo Jima (actually Iwo To) was also used for B-29s that needed to abort enroute or were too heavily damaged to fly all the way back to their home bases. I wouldn't say that the effort to capture it was a waste or "least valuable". The Japanese presence on that island was significant and probably could not be bypassed.
There were more than 2,200 B29s that made landings on Iwo. 22 hundred airmen were glad it was American held.
硫黄島 sulfer island
@@jkillgrove that would be of only one crewman were aboard. Perhaps you're missing a zero. 2,200 x 10 > twenty two hundred
From a former USAF F-16 pilot who still flys the P-51 and P-38. This is a pretty good overview. The P-51 is the fighter people seen to dislike, perhaps because so much was written about it? But it is a EXCELLENT air to air fighter. It’s maneuverable, fast, and has the range and endurance to get to and fight most of its opponents over their own bases. Most who flew several types air to air, Zemke, Mahurin, Olds, Ilfrey, all noted the P-51 was probably better in air to air than their previous types. Hub Zemke said in his book “Zemke’s Wolfpack” though lacking the firepower of the 38 and 47, in air to air against the Luftwaffe the P-51 was “superior on every other count.” Was it as good air to ground? No, not in my opinion. But the P-51 was the best, by far, air to air superiority fighter the US ARMY fielded during the war.
The best air-to-ground was probably the P-47. I would imagine(haven't flown so this is just pure speculation) that it's a very stable gun platform due to it's size and weight...and the amount of firepower on the damn thing. The P-51 is, also speculation, much more nimble and 'twitchy' which would presumably be part of why it is so good in the dogfighting role.
Out of interest, what's the P-38 like to fly? I am more than jealous that you got to fly an F-16 and now the P-51 and P-38 :D
My main goal for profession as a kid was fighter pilot(RAF) until someone told me my poor eyesight would mean I can't. I just figured that I wouldn't be able to wear contacts or glasses and became so discouraged that I just dropped the idea completely by the time I finished school and went another route of interest.
@@nicwilson89 p 51 was fulnerable to ground to air fire (especially coolingintake). P 47 much more durable. Greetings.
I am a Canadian private pilot who received aerobatics instruction in a TF-51D as well as a SNJ Harvard both from operators at the Kissimmee airport in Florida. The Mustang was with Stallion 51, which now has a second Mustang as well as a T-33 and L-39 all available to the public for as little as an hour of dual aerobatics instruction right up to type certification, and the Harvard was with Warbird Adventures. Can I please ask you were you fly the Mustang and especially the P-38 Lightning? I take it the P-38 is likely solo only. Thanks very much.
As an army airforce (armchair ie YT) general I think you have hit your head with a nail, or hit that nail with your head. No wait, you have hit the nail on the head. If I had to be a pilot of choice: The P47 for me - going for ground targets would be my safest ticket back to my babe.
@@zogzog1063 Read the book 'The Big Show' by WW2 fighter pilot Pierre Clostermann. Even in the final days of the war he set a fine on any pilot in his squadron who mentioned the word 'flak' around his airfield because it was so deadly and since there was no German airforce left to fight his squadron was ordered to strafe ground targets instead. It was a death sentence. Finally they were ordered to stop attacking ground targets because in his words the senior command had finally figured out that "the game wasn't worth the candle". Gen. Chuck Yeager told his ground attack pilots in Viet Nam who had been missing targets by a large margin that since they had flown the hottest planes, had the best looking women and drunk the finest booze it was time for them to pay up for these privileges and press home the attack on ground targets even though he knew the ground fire was "murderous".
Iwo Jima was also “needed” as a airfield to receive damaged B-29s that could not make it home. This saving bomber crews.
Crippled B-29s we’re landing/crashing there even before the island was completely secured.
That is correct.
I believe many more Marines were lost taking Iwo Jima than aircrew was saved.
@@scootergeorge7089 incorrect roughly 24,000 airmen were saved by making emergency landings on Iwo Jima vs roughly 7000 killed in the battle
@@jsmith3772 - The assumption is that every B-29 that made an emergency landing on Iwo would otherwise have not made it back to the Marianas and that none of the aircrew that ditched would not have been rescued by prepositioned "lifeguard" submarines. I believe that assumption is incorrect.
The P-51 Mustang was built in response to a requirement from the British Purchasing Commission.
The initial model was fitted with Allison engines and the aircraft had lacklustre performance at high altitude. The later model was replaced with RR Merlin engine and with it, the Mustang performed to the full potential.
This aircraft was a showcase of the great cooperation and sharing of knowledge between US and UK in the fight against the common enemy.
The Allison engine plane was actually faster than the spitfire it just didn't have the high altitude but it did have the legs just not the high altitude it was a real badass search UA-cam for it mustang one
@@bradcampbell7253 there was not just one Merlin Engine. the Merlin variants just got better and better and obvs faster over the course of the war, Till the RR Griffon the more powerful engine was built
Yes I love telling Americans it was a British plane same with Sherman tank its British M4 was American
@@pweter351 don't forget the bpc original goal was for North American Aviation to build p40s under license from Curtiss-Wright.
The drawings for the Merlin given to the Americans were so awful, that they had to take an engine apart to make new and more precise ones to enable a large scale production!
The best value of IWO JIMA is was that over. 2000 B29 crew were saved by being able to land there when they were too damaged to fly back to the Mariana’s!
I always wanted to fly a P-51. Closest I came was the T -28 Trojan in the Navy. It had the same squared off wings and tail like the the P-51 but had an R-1820 that still put out a respectable 1425 hp. It was great fun doing aerobatics and climbing out after takeoff .
You still can. It's expensive , but you can. There are several dual pilot versions operational P 51s out there.
Sounded great too!
Pretty good stuff! There's a P-51D at the airport nearest my house and I'll go look at it, touch it, climb on and sit inside it because it's just too cool. Someday maybe I'll get to fly it (luckily it's modded just enough to have 2 seats, otherwise it's almost all original). It's always been one of my favorite planes so it's never a bad thing to get to see one in person!
My dad flew the Mustang at the end of WW2 in the Swedish air force. The Swedish and German air forces were basically at war. My dad shoot down three BF 109s who refused to return to international airspace due to the Mustangs who waited for the Messerschmidt just outside the border.
So much to “neutral”.
@@MothaLuva The Swedish bankers and politicians were pro-Nazi, but not the Military.
that says a lot
@@MothaLuva
Umm, neutral does not always mean conflict free, they still have a right to defend their borders from foreign nations encroachments, look at Switzerland's active service in WWII against both the Allies and the Axis powers!
@@redlioness6627 Where do they have this “right” from..?
Red Leader was the callsign used by any pilot leading a flight section (made up of 4 aircraft) assigned the colour red. It was not a personal callsign for just one pilot. You would then have Red 2, Red 3 and then Red 4. Other sections would be Blue, Green and Yellow. More sections would then use Black and White if assigned to work with the squadron. More colours would be used for more additional assigned sections if/as required.
The vast advantage the allies had in fuel octane also made a big difference.
Thanks to Billy Mitchell.
@@jamesferguson8217 nope, that was Jimmy Doolittle's doing
@@kenneth9874 hmm, I thought Mitchell worked as a petrol engineer after he separated from the service?
@@jamesferguson8217 Doolittle worked for Shell oil and was instrumental in getting high octane fuel research started
@@jamesferguson8217 I'm going to try to see if I'm remembering correctly, I believe I am but no one is infallible! Lol
The airbase at Iwo Jima wasn't just for P-51s. It was a landing field for crippled B-29s. In fact the first one landed there before the battle was actually over.
Also, I wonder if the destabilization may have been due to the central fuel tank? There was a tendency for the plane to "try to swap ends" if there was too much fuel still in the tank as it changed the center of gravity for the plane. I remember that most pilots learned to use that tank to reach altitude, then switch to the other tanks.
A gentleman I knew flew P-51 and F-86 in the U.S. Army Air Corps / U.S. Air Force and owned an example of each aircraft until his passing at age 94. He told me of a little know maneuver whereby certain P-51s could briefly achieve supersonic speed, a move forbidden by regulation to attempt but taught in theory in case of combat emergency. Against regulations he tried it and survived. Once. Only.
The supersonic speed or mach 1 can't be achieved by prop aircraft the propeller gets in the way. What could have happened is the plane brakes up and the engine falls from high altitude without the prop and goes through the sound barrier. It has been reported that the sonic boom took place several times and it was deadly
The biggest WWII influence on Star Wars was the movie about Mosquitoes attacking a heavy water plant protected by a fjord, with guns along both sides. That's inspiration for the scene at the end where they attack the death star, flying down a groove.
The stategic need for Iwo as a bomber refuge has been abundantly covered for many years. The fighters' importance would have increased greatly had the final invasions begun. Enola Gay flew in daytime. Perhaps, escorted by Iwo Jima aircraft.
Dambusters was also an inspiration.
My grandfather worked on these during the war in Italy, he was with the 4th Fighter Squadron 52nd Fighter Group
mechanic or?
Yes, he was a mechanic. His MOS was 747 Airplane & Engine Mech
@@johncataloni8552 nice, Love me some yellow tailed Mustangs tbh, I'm assuming he served in the MTO? Maybe even ETO considering he worked with mustangs
@@u.nforcesalx9892 No he was only in Italy, he was stationed at Madna Airbase from June 1944-May 1945
That is cool. I read their book " death squadron " good book.
WW2 planes are my favorites. The P-51 Mustang is a powerful aircraft, especially in the hands of a skilled pilot. I didn't know these facts. Great video TJ. You help me a lot to increase my knowledge. Thank you so much.
“Red Leader” was used by more pilots than Gen Loving. It was common, in fact.
People use the word "decimate" when they mean "obliterate." Decimate means to take a tenth. The origin is from Roman times. If a village gave refuge to highway robbers or other fugitives and would not give them up, then the Roman soldiers would line up all the villagers and have them count off, one to ten. Then the Romans would have a child draw a number from a pot. Everybody with that number was executed. That is decimation. A tenth of the village was executed!
I notice this too. It's taken on a new meaning but it always means way more than a tenth. I've also heard that soldiers themselves could be punished in a similar way.
Yes, the frequent misuse of this world spreads and perpetuates misunderstanding of its literal meaning.
@@jeffthompson9622 It's common usage now.
Deca in Latin is ten every 10 th person was killed.
@@markgranger9150 Thank you!
Iwo Jima translates into Sulfur Island. It was Japan's main source of sulfer and you can't make gunpowder without it. IT was so important they used boats made of concrete to transport the sulfur.
also true
The U S made concrete boats too. Not because they were unsinkable but material shortages.
@@markgranger9150 The US once tried to make a boat out of ice.
You failed to mention that it was designed for the RAF at the request of the British Air Ministry and that it had serious issues when being used at anything other than low level until it was fitted with the Roll Royce Merlin engine.
That's bs, the brits wanted North American to build p40's, not wanting to build another company's plane they said that they could build a much better aircraft and they did
The p51 outran anything that the british had at the time but was not set up for high altitude performance
Iwo Jima was a haven for damaged B29s. The island was still being fought for when it received it's first damaged Superfort. You didn't mention that the F4U Corsair made most of the air to air kills during the 'Soccer War.'
The video is niether about the soccer war or the F4U
@@mynameiskian He could have mentioned that the soccer war was the only time the P51 went up against an F4U. Pretty significant.
Also the P-51H variant basically handled all the issues. It was stable in a dive, it had a bubble canopy, better wings, better prop, lighter and more aerodynamic airframe, and it was even faster that the D variants. About 500mph thanks to the airframe upgrades, the prop, and it's new V-1650-9 engine producing over 2,000 horsepower at WEP. My all-time favorite plane
i always thought the P-51H was really just a P-51D built in Dallas and with a different propeller.
*_"About 500mph thanks to the airframe upgrades, the prop, and its new V-1650-9 engine producing over 2,000 horsepower at WEP."_*
No way. The different prop made the P-51H better in acceleration but slower in top speed.
Here I was, in my arrogance thinking, "I know the facts others don't know. But I'm glad to see the stories recreated by @TJ3 History." I was wrong. I knew one, just one of the 5 things (No. 1). I love learning and the insights presented, even on things I'm very familiar with, are engaging as well as informational.
Thanks Kyle! Haha it was tough to find facts people may not have heard of but I'm glad you enjoyed it!
I was in the República Dominicana (Santo Domingo) during the 1965 revolution and watched the P-51D in action against the rebels trying to overthought the government. The planes would fly over our house line-up and dive over the city... I could see the flash of the guns follow an instant later by the ripping noise of the machine-guns....
The initial purchase by Britain of the P51 was called the Apache,a private venture by the North American Aviation co and unwanted by the USA.This was found lacking at high altitude and was used in the ground attack role until a Rolls Royce Merlin engine was fitted as an experiment and the rest as is said is history.🙃
Yes, correct! The Apache was designated A-36 as it was an attack plane w/dive brakes.
One, interesting detail from the Soccer War is that Guatemala used another, American WWII aircraft: the F4U Corsair. It was the only time two iconic American WWII fighters fought each other!
I love the p51, plus it’s 1/3rd the price of the thunderbolt. But thanks to Greg’s p47 videos I just can’t help but love the p47 more
the Jug was one rugged war bird
“3 times cheaper”? Try “1/3 the price,” maybe?
@@Frankie5Angels150 that sounds a lot better. Sorry about that, just didn’t cross my mind
@@Frankie5Angels150 half a dozen one way and 6 the other
very few could out dive it and if they did they got tail-gated
Just a point, but the Mustang was originally built for the RAF to an RAF specification. The American name is the P-51. Mustang is the RAF name.
The 51 actually built to US speciation. It even had US armament. It was all ready in very early conceptual phase when the RAF came to North American and asked they build P-40s under license. NAA said they could deliver a better airplane in 120 days, and they did. The American name for the first P-51, a year before the A-36, was “Apache.” The Army decided to go with the British “Mustang” to avoid confusion.
No the plane originally was called the Apache
@@cfzippo I think the Apache name was actually an A-36 thing. The Americans started calling it the Mustang simply because they liked the name. Otherwise, spot-on on the reply.
@@LuisSoto-ho5fw No, it was really a P-51 thing. That first USAAF airplane in 1942. The one with cannons. The Army and NAA originally called the P-51 “Apache,” but in late 42 a memo went out to name them all “Mustang” to avoid confusion. And that confusion still exists. Now the 86th Fighter Bomber Group circulated a petition in 44 to have it called “Invader,” as their nick was the “Invaders.” That name was earmarked for the Douglass bomber of course. In 45 years around the air museum game, and been involved with Mustangs, I’ve never found a WII document referring to the A-36 as “Mustang” outside of one 3rd party aircraft identification manual. We have original handbooks, and over on FB in our Mustang page, is a photo of a North American Aviation original A-36 “Mustang” Parts manual. That is also in Bob Gruenhagen’s excellent Mustang book, 1st published in 1969, and on the signage at the Air Force Museum. :).
@@markgranger9150 Nope. It was not. The airplane originally called “Apache” was the P-51, no letter designation, the first USAAF P-51, that preceded the A-36. This is the airplane with cannons.
Great game depiction of a P-51 spinning in, but without knowing the specific details of Hitchcocks death I would say he got into difficulties with 'Compressibility' in a dive. The shock wave formations on all wings both pitching the nose down and reversing the effect of the elevator control leaving prairs and atmospheric density to save your ass, his plane either broke up collides with terrain.
Never underestimate this great old Bird. Still would be capable as a ground engagement aircraft. 50 calibers plus modern missiles are still a deadly combination plus decent time on site.
A P-51 video like this needs to talk about Col. Don Blakeslee. He was arguably the greatest allied fighter leader of the war.
The Bubble canopy actually created more drag but it's offered visual enhancements (for the pilot) "tactically" outweighed the slight speed loss.
And the tail was modified with a dorsal fin up to the back of the canopy no improve directional stability.
True. :) When I was a kid I thought that P-51B had the "birdcage" canopy and P-51C had the Malcolm hood "buble" canopy, but later I learnd about the Inglewood and Dallas factories. These pre-D models had the bad MG installment as well, prone to jamming. On the D it was solved very well.
@@Cuccos19 At first I thought the difference between the "B's" and the "C's" was that the C's had the fuselage tanks. Turns out that due to having the Inglewood (California) plants need to keep producing planes as fast as possible, and the Dallas (Texas) plant was being set up, the first few C's didn't have the fuselage tanks, but once the people had been trained to build the fighter, almost all of the Dallas C's did have the fuselage tank which increased the range. This relieved the pressure on North American's Inglewood plant and they were able to change the assembly line so that they could be able to install the fuselage tank.
As for the Malcolm Hood, that seems to be either pilot and/or squadron leaders request to have it replaced the standard US canopy (remember the RAF had been flying the Mustangs from the P-51A (with an Allison engine) through the P-51D, so they already had designed a Malcolm canopy to fit the "stang!
The reason why the Allison engine had such a bad high altitude performance wasn't the engine's fault, it was due to some "Desk Jockey" in the USAAF (US Army Air Force) who ignored what both the British and Germans were doing with their engines and basically wrote a regulation that USAAF aircraft would only be allowed a Single Stage Supercharger. If higher performance was needed, they could add a Turbocharger (like the P-38 had). Somehow, they allowed the P-51s with a Packard built Merlin engine have a Two Stage Supercharger. But after WW2 was over and the P-82 Twin Mustang got into service as an ultra long range escort, they had to play word games to disguise the fact that it had a two stage supercharger!!!
@@timengineman2nd714 Thanks man, this fuselage tank info was new to me. :)
@@Cuccos19 Your welcome!
Good video another interesting fact that few know is that as ironic as it may be the American P-51 was actually designed by a German named Edgar Schmued!
And Dutch Kindelberg
At high speeds (e.g., a drive) the planes out flew their control surfaces -- the air streams were simply pushed away from the reach of the control surfaces. Note how wide the control surfaces are on our modern jets!
No one on the Allies side had really researched transonic or supersonic flight...it was later discovered after the war that the swept wing on the Me-262 was a fortuitous accident 😂 The original purpose was to help alleviate center of gravity issues that popped up due to design changes, but Nazi aircraft engineers discovered that it increased the aircraft's top speed and helped it to handle better at speeds that were proving problematic for other aircraft. They probably put the name on compressibility...
You probably never heard:
A f4 Corsair under command of Capt Fernando Zoto shot down a p51 , and the same day he shot down 2 more , all in the same day July -17 - 1969
The “specifications” agreed to by NAA and the British Purchasing Commission appear to be that it have the Allison engine, a mix of 8 machine guns- the original request for a pair of 20mm cannons in each wing fell thru due to supply issues. The aircraft had to be delivered along a set timeline- basically all 320 orders to be delivered within a year. And since Lend - Lease hadn’t been enacted the cost had to be less than $40,000.00 per unit.
Additionally, during the preliminary design proposals in 1940, Dutch Kindelberger had also asked Edgar Schmued, Chief of Design to make sure the aircraft meet all the design requirements of the “US Air Force”
You omitted the fact that Iwo Jima was also a landing field for B-29's en route to and returning from bombing raids over Japan. In all 2,251 B-29 landings were recorded on Iwo Jima. Additionally 1,191 fighter escorts and 3,081 strike sorties were flown from Iwo Jima.
There is controversy as to how many B-29 landings were actual emergencies, which depends on how one defines an emergency landing. B-29's low on fuel landing on Iwo Jima were not considered emergency landings on one hand, but on the other a B-29 low on fuel who could not make it back to base is considered an emergency by the crew. Other reasons for so many B-29 landings was combat damage, mechanical problems (which the B-29 was known for), wounded crews needing medical treatment, and some of the B-29s made landings there for training; presumably in case they had a real emergency.
Since there are no accurate records for the reason for each landing, one has to assume B-29 crews were not landing there for fun. Except for a small number of training landings, the rest must be assumed to have had a reason that they could either not reach the target for some reason or they needed to land on Iwo because they couldn't reach their bases.
It's impossible to determine how many B-29 crews were actually saved using Iwo Jima to land, but a fair estimate would be over 10,000 because each B-29 had a 10 man crew.
It has also been suggested that Iwo Jima hadn't been secured that the B-29's had other possible landing sites and air-sea rescue estimated that they could have saved about 50% of the crews that would have been forced to ditch at sea. Personally with 21 years in the Marine Corps with 3 years in combat, I seriously doubt they could rescue that many crews given the vast stretches of ocean the bombers had to cover.
The battle for Iwo Jima will remain controversial, but so will most other island battles in the Pacific. Peleliu, Tarawa, and others were considered to be non-strategic and a waste of resources and men because they were rarely used for anything after the battles.
I knew 4 out of 5 things. As a ww2 airplane nutter its not difficult to find these things about the P51. My personal favorite version is the p51B with its bubled razorback canopy. But i love axis planes more, keep the vids up. You can make a series with this :)
The canopy was on the spitfire first it was named after the designer, called the Malcolm hood.
FW190 is cool., in also a Hawker Hurricane fan.
I'm guessing that Hitchcock found the poorly understood (at the time) compressibility issues that cropped up in transonic flight...later jet aircraft designers learned about compressibility and designed around it.
The Mustang was involved the Legend of Y29 story in which Mustangs of 487th FS of the 352nd FG where involved in Operation Bodenplatte where the infamous event where JC Meyer shot down a FW-190 while retracting his landing gear of his Mustang.
I think one of the great legacies the P-51D left aviation was the remarkable laminar flow wing, which moved its greatest cross-section thickness well aft toward the middle of the wing cord, reducing drag. 💛🙏🏼
This guys is full of it starting at 6:57 he states that the P-51 were able to take out the ME 109s and the FW 190 fighters with relative ease - BS. Take them out? Maybe most of the time but with relative ease? Um,no Typical keyboard Kommando
Please see gregs aviation and automobiles on the p51, laminar flow was barely 25% in testing and not realized in production, typical war propaganda
@@mercedescherokee6853 Nevertheless the P-51 Mustang was the first to intentionally incorporate a laminar flow wing. It is keenly visible at the wing root-that beautiful curve! Laminar flow tech was actually pioneered by the B-24, but the P-51 and Edgar Schmued were more intentional in its use, and tested it in their wind tunnel using 1/4 scale modeling. It may be true that the wing surface quality of the P-51 and P-63 was such that benefit may have been limited, but engineers also admit that the gains in drag reduction contributed to the Mustang’s remarkable range-crucial to its mission. But brother, to be dismissive, saying that the development was ‘propaganda’ is, I think, thin spin. Maybe Greg does better with automobiles. Cheers to you 💛🙏🏽
@@mercedescherokee6853 for what ever reason the wing designs of both the Spitfire/Mustang both had pros and cons.The Spit could cut and maneuver in tight better than the Mustang.But the Stang though larger and heavier could go farther on the same tank of gas(better fuel consumption) because of the wing design. Read/watched that on a YT Aviation channel
During the 1956 Sinai/Suez War low flying Israeli P-51 Mustangs cut Egyptian telephone lines with their spinning propellers.
I would have put that amazing fact as number 6, because of the unusual use of the P 51
Love this war bird. Built many model kits of this one back in the day.
I see you keep using red tail mustangs when not commenting on the Best record of the Red Tail Tuskegee Squadron of not losing one bomber on any of their escort missions, and who made the red tail mustangs famous. I realize that other squadrons did paint their rudder red but it was the Tuskegee airmen who made the enemy sometimes not engage when they saw the red tail mustangs.
I do enjoy your channel and look forward to more.
My thoughts too. Thanks for mentioning. Also these Tuskegee pilots were also responsible for shooting down a couple of Me-262. Seems that would have been an important accomplishment of the P-51.
The last true prop plane dog fight was in 1969. El Salvador was using P-51 and Honduras was using Corsairs. The Corsairs won.
The P-47 will be perfect for a video like this!
Agreed!
Please do this for more planes! I'm especially curious about why the P-38 has a twin-fuselage design.
Yes.
Check out Sideprojects- Fork-tailed devil. All the technical details handled there.
@@rolandoscar1696 Will do!
Can do!
P-38 was one of the first than so called modern designs. It was very much of experimenting era of high speed flight (for propeller aircrafts certainly). They made the P-38 possible in the smallest "bulk" with two engines, and had a good armament and landing gear arrangement.
3:24 Yes but Iwo Jima did serve a very useful purpose as an emergency landing strip for B-29's and as such saved many airmen lives.
The D Model with the bubble canopy and drop tanks became the premier fighter/escort of WWII for a number of reasons. 1. By the middle of '43 the Merlin V1650 was being manufactured by the Packard Motor Corporation to much tighter tolerances required by high performance piston driven aircraft than the original RR Merlins. As such, the 2 stage RR supercharger became a single stage supercharger that retained similar high altitude power output with less maintenance and longer service intervals. 2. Outfitted with long range drop tanks, the P51D was able to escort the bombers to Berlin, engage in A2A combat when required, and then return to England. 3. In early '44 the D model was outfitted with 6 (3 on each wing) Browning .50 caliber machine guns giving it a significant air-to-air combat advantage. It previously had only 1 on each wing. 4. At that stage of the war American and British pilots were much more well trained and seasoned than those of the Luftwaffe. My father flew B's, C's, and D's with 2 confirmed in the D. P51D #4413849 "Little Buster". Stationed at Bodney - "The Blue Nosed Bastards of Bodney" as the Luftwaffe called them. He once had to bail out of a B model over the North Sea after fuel starvation (no drop tanks) but a Brit minesweeper saw him and was able to pick him out of the drink Thanks Limeys!! As the story goes... when Goering saw the B17's over Berlin being escorted by P51's he commented "The was is lost..." He was correct.
Actually the B's had 2 50's inch wing and were flying to Berlin in early march of 44. They had 3 basic mission profiles. Escort to the target and turn over to another group for target protection and the third was pick the Bombers up to escort home. What unit was your father with? Thanks for his service! Dangerous work!!!
Amazing!
Tj never Dissapoints!
The P51D had a laminar flow wing and was thus placarded against spins. I accidentally entered a spin by stupidly feeding in bottom rudder during a slow flight stall maneuver just as the nose paid off, and was momentarily scared to death. But she recovered pretty quickly with opposite rudder and forward stick. It was no sweat. Since the plane was placarded against spinning because of the design of the wing to help make it the gun platform it was it is beyond imagination how a pilot would deliberately spin the aircraft to test the recovery characteristics or lack thereof. It would be like walking into the middle of a fire to test a fire retardant suit. Suicidal especially from moderate to low altitudes.
The 90 gallon tank behind the pilot had to be emptied before hard banking or the plane would spin and at low altitude it was fatal.
@@markgranger9150 Yes, the Mustang is unforgiving with built-in instability since this reduces the amount of time for the pilot to overcome inertial resistance before executing combat maneuvers. Low level airshow aerobatics are the purview of only the most skilled pilots since there is no room for even small errors. There is also an optical illusion created by the design of the cockpit that has inexperienced pilots porpoising while trying to fly straight-and-level until they become acclimatized to it. I performed lots of aerobatics in a Cavalier converted Mustang from WW2 but my starting altitude was 10,000 feet. I also avoided really high terminal airspeeds. I was only this low to avoid having to use oxygen.
@@markgranger9150 I remember reading that pilots basically used that tank to take them from England to just about the spot where they entered Europe (Holland?). Then they switched to the drop tanks. This left the fuselage tank with about half its fuel capacity, and the plane was fine with that. You didn't have to empty it.
Evan aftar all these year, the P51 seems to me to be one of the most beautiful warbirds.
Great video! There’s Short Fuse Sallee again! You rock. Thanks!
I’m surprised that you didn’t point out that the Mustang wouldn’t have existed without the British.
In 1940, the British wanted to buy more P40s, but Curtis was already at capacity. The British asked if North American would make P40s for them. NorthAmerican said they didn’t want to make P40s, but they would develop their own design, and the P51 was the result.
The first Mustangs were used by the RAF, and used Allison engines. They didn’t have a good performance at the high altitudes where much of the European air war took place, so they were used for low level missions like ground attack. A British test pilot thought they would be better if a Merlin engine was installed, and a test bed was put together using a Merlin engine from a Spitfire Mk IX and a Mustang airframe. The Merlin-powered variants of the P51 resulted from this.
So without the British commissioning North American to develop the plane, and without the British having the idea of installing the Merlin engine, the iconic P51D wouldn’t have existed.
How true and they coined the name too.
Because this is something we already knew...
Not in the for! Of or with the name mustang. It was an excellent dive bomber we called it the invader. The Brita called it the Apache.The test pilot when asked how it flew he said you have to give it ful rudder on take off its like you jumped on to a wild mustang and mustang stuck.
You failed to mention that during La guerra del fútbol, one of the Salvadoran P-51s was shot down by Honduran pilot Fernando Soto, who was flying an F4U Corsair, another WWII-era fighter plane.
The last dog fight between two prop planes.
I would like to mention that the old vaqueros (Mexican cowboys) in the early days of the old west used to call wild horses, mestengos.
For the first time I knew about one of your generally unknown facts… the football war, and that in the very last engagement a Mustang lost to a Corsair.
Your videos are excellent by the way, I hope that you will excuse the snark.
Ronald W. Harker, a test pilot with Rolls-Royce, who said "What would happen if we stick a Merlin in this thing?"
Not sure about that one. My understanding is that the Mustang was always meant to use a Merlin, but it took a while before Packard was building the engines in enough numbers. The Alison-engined Mustangs were a stopgap.
Outstanding video and presetnation.
The Mustang, a great British aeroplane. And it belongs to me.
Of course! Who can ever forget the “plane that saved Britain?” It’s right up there with the Liberator!
Americans wouldn't have had the P51 if the English hadn't asked for it, then made it better by adding the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine to it. D and later variants used the Packard V-1650-7 engine, that's the Merlin built in the US under license.
I think the lead designer for the mustang Edgar Schmued believe went on to use it as a design platform for the F-86
Wow you really blew the Iwo Jima story. Yes, Iwo Jima's role of daytime P51 bomber escort base proved not to be a success Due to Lemay's switch in tactics (going from "precision daylight bombing" to a B29s nighttime firebombing campaign of Japan). Iwo Jima STILL proved to be an effective halfway ditching/rescue emergency strips for B29 bombers going to and returning from bombing missions to Japan. The B29 was on the bleeding edge of aviation technology during its first combat use from mid 1944 -to VJ day in 1945. The B29 had serious teething issues with its Wright R3350 TurboSupercharged engines which had nasty tendencies to have multiple engines overheat, have melting engine valves /head assemblies, or just plain catch fire for a variety of reasons. On top of the engine issues, early B29s also had problems with the crew compartment pressurization systems and structural failures due to battle damage were all issues the first generation B29s suffered. It is estimated that over 2600 B29s successfully either land on Iwo Jima airfields or aircrews ditch/bail out of their damaged B29s around or nearby Iwo Jima. Where the Navy ships, seaplanes, or submarines could go pick up the downed B29 crewman with top cover with USAF P51's flying combat air patrols. And the P51s also engaged in pre-Operation Downfall fighter sweeps of attacking any surface targets of Japanese shipping, coastal towns in range of Iwo Jima or on a rare occasion Japanese aircraft left to fight. Iwo Jima, based on 2600 B29s that landed on the island's airfields or bailed or ditched nearby, 2600 B29s rescued by Iwo Jima x 10 B29 aircrew per plane that is a potential 26000 USAF aircrew who would live to fight another day. As strange as it sounds for the US military there was no storage of aircraft to fly (in Europe or the Pacific ) there still was a shortage of qualified aircrews to fly the ever-increasing complex aircraft being produced the B29 being one of the most complex. So the experienced B29 crews could be quickly cycled back into combat squadrons or transferred to training commands so their knowledge and know-how spread to new aircrews. So NO I do not consider the Invasion of Iwo Jima to be a waste.
Iwo Jima was also an emergency landing field for crippled B-29s. It wasn't useless.
It's ironic that the P-51 was built for the RAF when NAA said they could do better than a P-40 and after giving some basic requirements and specifications went for what I call their 120 day challenge.
They got an amazing result and the USAAF apart from testing a few took little interest at first.
NAA did buy data from the P-40 and P-46 from Curtis though. But in many ways, it was despite being 100% American, was in design philosophy quite British, with its inline engine and emphasis on streamlining. The NAA built it for them on their needs.
And while the term "Red Leader" may have come from the source you mentioned, in the RAF squadron flights were often colored named and "Red Flight" wasn't unusual, and it'll have a "Leader".
And the Death Star attack was more based on The Dambusters, a 1943 raid and an amazing 1954 movie that is totally worth watching! About 10 years ago I met Les Munro, the last pilot of the raid, died 6 months later at 96.
But trust me, watch that film!!!
Although the taking of Iwo Jima was useless it did have a great purpose but not a real strategic purpose, that purpose was as a emergency air strip to land badly damage B29 and P51. It save quite a lot of airmen.
The P-51H used the Packard V-1650-7, a license-built version of the two-speed, two-stage-supercharged Rolls Royce Merlin 66.
Goering also is said to have said about the Mustang, that the "Jig was up" but forgive me, I do love the sound of them"
these facts make the mustang even more cooler
Nice to see "Ina the Macon Belle", Tuskegee Airman Lee Archer's P-51C
Iwo Jima was invaded to save bomber crews, and to take away the Japanese having a five hour warning of approaching American bombers. Japanese fighters were picking off wounded B-29’s from Iwo Jima. Taking the island created an emergency landing field for the bombers, removed the Japanese early warning of an attack on the mainland, Japanese fighters destroying the crippled bombers, and made fighter escort possible for the B29’s on the way to Japan.
I very much enjoyed that. Subscribing.
Great job 👏
For the sake of historical accuracy: The air wing of the US Army during WW2 was the Army Air Corps. It became a separate service, the US Air Force, in 1947.
Biggest thing especially Americans don't know is that it was a British ordered plane, the British set out the design requirements for the Mustang and then improved it but using the Merlin engine in it.
Sherman tanks are also British the US tank is an M4, all US designed British tanks have civil war General names.
Sherman is a U S tank and Sherman was a Union general.
@@markgranger9150 the name Sherman was the British variants in the US they were M4 or Medium tank same with the Grant and Lee. Look it up.
The British did not "set out the design requirements." They wanted North American Aviation (NAA) to build more (already designed and produced) P-40s for them, but they (NAA) told the British they could design and build a brand new (and better) aircraft faster. This is a well-known story for most American aircraft enthusiasts. The "improve" part, however, is spot-on ;)
Cool video!
Interesting to note that not even the B-17's knew that the Red Tails protecting them on missions were African-American pilots.Fascinating story!
I love ❤️ the p 51 mustang and the x wing
If the enemy had the base what damage would they have done? Also good recovery for damaged bombers
The P-51 was not "invented" it was designed... airplanes were "invented" in the early 1900s depending on who you ask.
The 109 G-s was slower(30-40km/h after the MW-50 upgrade for G-14 an 20-25 km/h for G-10) than the p51, but could climb better and turn as tight as the mustang.
The K-4 could catch the 51, and even climbed better and still could turn with it.
The P51 was also upgraded after the B, C, and D modals including F, G and J modals. They were light weight versions but few if any of them saw action. I read somewhere that one or more of them were capable of exceeding the 440 mph of the B and C modals. By the time these up graded 109 and 190s came into action it was too late anyway.
@@nolanbowen8800 Ahm, nope, nope and nope.
P-51B was faster than the D because it had no bubble canopy. Bubble canopy make more drag.
With 150 oct what was RARE in 1944 late aswell ON WEP
On 7000 meter the B mustang could achieve 443 mph.
The D: 446 mph.
On sea level:
B:385 mp/h
D:377 mp/h
Without 150 oct ON WEP:
B 443 mph.
On 8000 meter:
D: 435 mph.
On sea level:
B:373 mp/h
D:377 mp/h
Do not forget, the WarEmergencyPower for P-51s was only for 5 min limit.
P-51 B was showed on the front in August and October 1943.
Against G-6s it was faster, but climbed worse, turning was equal.
109s got the MW-50 upgrade in 1944 early.
When the G-6s could achieve 356 mp/h on sea level.
From 1944 april D mustangs arrived and G-6/AS awsell.
But more aerodynamic engine cowling and with high alt engine, the G-6/AS could achieve 369 mp/h on sea level and 428 mp/h on high alt.
Still climbed better than a P-51.
The G-14 was a standardized G-6 without AS engine and smooth cowling. Arrived in 1944 july it was fast as the G-6 with MW-50.
The G-10 and K-4 arrived in 1944 sept-oct.
G-10, K-4 had smooth cowling, but the K-4 had retractable tail wheel and wheel coverage on the wings.
G-10 fast a little bit faster thana G-6/AS, but the K-4:
On sea level: 372 mp/h or 381 mp/h depending on engine DB605 DB or DC.
On 7000-8000:
436 mp/h or 443 mp/h.
So with better climbing and with almost the same speed as the P-51 it was a dangerous opponent.
P-51 maximum climb rate was 18-19 m/s
G-6:20-21 m/s
G-6 with MW-50:22-24 m/s
G-6/AS-G-10: 24-26 m/s
K-4: 26-30 m/s
Do not forget, the 109s had stablizators not trims, the 109s could change the whole horizontal stab degree, not only little trim tabs like the allied planes.
All modern planes are using stabilizators for trimming, it cause less drag, so can climb better.
Even without that the 109 could climb better than the P-51.
PS:
I forgot the mention, the 109s without MW-50 had 1-3 min WEP, but it was only 1450 HP, with MW-50 they could use the WEP for 3x10 min (but the 109 fuel capacity was not enought for 3x10, only for 2,5x10) on 1850 HP and for K-4 DC engine 2000 HP.
@@rolandhunter maybe
Yes a new video.!!! Can you make a another video abt bf 109 ? Thanks 😊
Did tj3 just like it?
On my to do list!
@@TJ3 yay
If I'm correct I remember reading a book written and signed by mustang ace Bud Anderson and said that in the book he was the one who actually innovated the mustang gun sight because the one before that was either insufficient or nonexistent. The mustang had so much power that pilots had to be careful while taxiing as the engines power plus massive prop blades would drive the planes nose into the ground before getting airborne.
also read a book about guys in the CBI and when the 51's were introduced in that area an old P-40 jockey took one for an orientation flight and as he was mock dog fighting, a mate hollered 'break right' and he went hard right an it broke into a roll spin and when he recovered, on the ground they all called it the Tootsie Roll, because he didn't realize the torque-roll characteristics and that guy ended up being the Director of the Air & Space Museum
@@moss8448 interesting
They had to trim for 10 degrees left rudder (IIRC), to counter the bite of the propeller at take off.
I have to give you credit for focusing on heroic actions of people who are generally forgotten. You shouldn't be defensive about "experts" correcting you. If you have facts wrong take responsibility.
Saying that the Invasion of Iwo Jima was all about providing a base for P-51s is a huge oversimplification. There were several factors that were considered. I think that Red Erwin was very thankful for the invasion. Remember, you made a vid about him?
I thought you going to tell us about how the British approached North American Aviation to build P-40s but NAA instead designed and built their prototype in an amazingly short time. Or that the Allison engine was not a bad engine as variants were used in several successful US aircraft, and that the USAAF used an Allison engine variant as the A-36 Apache.
Or I thought you would mention that the drag of that big radiator was offset by thrust from hot air exiting the outlet.
I was aware of the "Soccer War" more because of the Honduran Corsairs.
BTW the aircraft crashes in the sim lack realism to put it tactfully.
Fine effort. Yes, a fabulous American Fighter.
Another great vid! I know we’ve chatted before, where do you get your WWII footage? I’d like to start using some in my videos as well
Tons of different places. You can honestly grab it from wherever and as you only use short clips it's usually okay.
An ME-262 snuck up on 5 'Stangs in formation. Two survived to high tail it away.
The Hawker Tempest was also able to take on FW190 on equal terms as well as mk 9 Spitfire fitted with 2 stage supercharger which out climbed FW190.
Mark 14 spitfire with griffon engine also.
The Tempest was very underrated, it was on par with any WW2 FIGHTER and FEARED by even the German aces.
What was done to fix the dive instability?
How many combat missions did German Luftwaffe ace Eric Hartman fly? Hartman had over 350 victories, the number is unbelievable
The Luftwaffe did not rotate fighter pilots out after so many missions, but kept them in action until death, disablement, or the end of the war, thus the high mission and victory counts.
@@gregb6469 Also a lot of the kills came during the Spanish Civil War and also in the Eastern Front - both were situations in which the Germans tended to enjoy great technological superiority.
Great work
What game are u using for your videos?
B-17 and P-51 Mustang is awesome story. P-51 is most beautiful and awesome combat plain. I love every thing in ww2-Grat war.
I am veteran of Croatianwar
for independent volunteer of course. I ill for PTSP and i read every fight ww2 book(documentary o.c) and video and illnes is gone to the amazement of the psychiatrist. When I said what I was cured with, they didn't believe me. Many comrades and colleagues killed themselves after the war due to mental illness.👍💯🤔
I guess this is probably right. The Mustang being the GOAT. Still, I think I would have preferred to being a thunderbolt pilot. And even a shoutout to a Hellcat.
Beautiful
Iwo Jima was not exactly useless. It saved over 20,000 American airmen from going into the Pacific Ocean and probably not being recovered. It might not have worked as a mustang runway as they were hoping, but it damn sure gave b-29 crews some confidence that if they were shot up they might not be able to get all the way to tinian but damn they couldn't get it to iw0
My dad was at Iwo, he flew a spotter plane, he took a bullet in his backside while flying low near Suribachi..met Chuck Yeager climbing out of a P-51 at EAA, the Oshkosh air show..lots of WWII aircraft there 🤓