- 1 day ago
For educational purposes
The P-51 Mustang is one of the central reasons the Allies won WWII.
Its performance and firepower superiority struck fear into both German and Japanese pilots and ensured the safety of bombers over Berlin
The P-51 Mustang is one of the central reasons the Allies won WWII.
Its performance and firepower superiority struck fear into both German and Japanese pilots and ensured the safety of bombers over Berlin
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LearningTranscript
00:30The convention in World War II fighter design was a low-wing, single-seater monoplane powered
00:53by an inline engine.
00:54The Messerschmitt, the Spitfire, the P-40, the Yak.
00:58And the plane that perhaps represents the highest refinement of this layout is the P-51 Mustang.
01:24It was a plane that, far from being a radical design innovation, was very much a homogenisation
01:30of the conventional wisdom of fighter aircraft into one of the last and perhaps the greatest
01:36of mass produced piston-engined fighters.
01:38The P-52 Mustang
01:40The P-52 Mustang
02:14The P-51 came into being in a roundabout way.
02:18The plane was designed to meet a British order, as the United Kingdom scrambled almost too late to equip itself for the war that had engulfed Europe.
02:27The British wanted to buy the Curtiss P-40, but Curtiss were flat out keeping up with the demand for their plane and were unable to supply them fast enough for the UK's need.
02:38The British Purchasing Commission therefore looked about for someone else to build the Curtiss fighters for them.
02:44The British Purchasing Commission
03:14The first major sales success was a well-designed conventional plane and the British were very favourably impressed by it.
03:22What had impressed them even more was the quality of its manufacture.
03:25The company typified American drive, energy and enthusiasm, and the contracts for the AT-6 were met within deadlines with the highest standards of quality control.
03:40North Americans' approach to mass manufacture, with moving assembly lines and automation wherever possible, streamlined production and allowed for a very high standard of finish.
03:52Their planes were built with a minimum of fuss, and though North American may not have been contributing hugely to aviation design at that stage,
04:00they were certainly breaking new ground in manufacturing systems.
04:04The British Purchasing Commission
04:34The British Purchasing Commission
05:04With their high regard for North American Aviation's competence and reliability,
05:12it's not surprising that the British Purchasing Commission should have approached them to build the P-40 under licence from Curtiss.
05:20Although North American were willing to comply with the request,
05:23they did not have much enthusiasm for building a rival manufacturer's aeroplane,
05:28and the president of the company,
05:29and the president of the company, J.H. Kindleberger,
05:31an astute engineer and persuasive salesman,
05:34suggested that the company would build an entirely new and better fighter for the British.
05:39He undertook to complete the design and construction of the first plane in the 120 days it would have taken to tool up for production of the P-40.
05:49The P-40 was a development of the series of Hawks built by the Curtiss Company,
05:54based around its successful but underpowered P-36 design, which dated from 1934.
06:00The P-40, fitted with an Allison engine that was supercharged for medium altitudes,
06:06was best suited to lower-level flying.
06:09Being based on a tried airframe that was already in production,
06:13it offered low cost and early delivery,
06:15and simply because of its availability,
06:17it had been ordered in large numbers as a stopgap,
06:20while work went ahead on more advanced designs.
06:23Somehow, it was to stay in production for most of the war,
06:27even though its design was outdated when it was first produced,
06:31having been overtaken by the Messerschmitt 109,
06:33and the Hurricane and Spitfire,
06:35and other European designs.
06:37Planes with greater manoeuvrability and firepower,
06:40and with a clearer role as fighters.
06:43In November 1939,
06:45the British wanted the P-40 for the same reason that the US was buying it.
06:49It was the best available American fighter.
06:52The Lockheed P-38 was still far from ready,
06:56and the P-47 was still to take shape,
06:58even on the drawing board.
06:59So they wanted the P-40.
07:01P-40.
07:22As North American's NA-73X was developed,
07:26the British gave every sign of being delighted.
07:29Before its first flight,
07:30they had placed further orders for the plane,
07:32bringing the total to 620.
07:35On the 9th of December 1940,
07:38they advised North American that,
07:40in line with British policy,
07:41they had allocated the aircraft a name,
07:44Mustang.
07:45The prototype had been ready in 102 days,
07:55but then waited for its engine,
07:57which was 20 days late.
07:59Even so,
08:00it was completed just two days outside the set 120 days.
08:04The team,
08:06led by engineer Raymond Rice
08:07and designer Edgar Schmude,
08:09had performed a remarkable feat,
08:11and the success of the design that they had produced
08:14was, in retrospect,
08:15to make the achievement almost unbelievable.
08:17The USAAF had taken two Mustangs for evaluation,
08:30and, not overly interested,
08:32had only placed orders for the plane,
08:34given the designation P-51,
08:36as part of a lend-lease package.
08:39These carried four 20mm cannon,
08:41in place of the earlier versions' eight machine guns.
08:45After Pearl Harbor,
08:4657 of these were retained by the Air Force.
08:50Though the plane had been evaluated
08:52as an excellent airframe,
08:54fast, manoeuvrable, and long-ranged,
08:56the limitations placed upon it by its engine
08:58had seen it classed as unsuited to escort work,
09:01but suited to tactical support and reconnaissance missions.
09:05A part of its secret
09:06was its use of the then-new laminar flow wing,
09:09which shifted the thickest part of the wing
09:11as far back as was practical,
09:13to limit drag.
09:16The Air Force had no funding for additional fighters,
09:24and with the assessment that the impressive new Mustangs
09:40were suited to low-level activities,
09:42they placed an order for 500 of the planes
09:44as dive bombers,
09:46given the designation A-36 Apache.
09:50The A-36 stuck to the variant,
09:52but they were universally known as Mustangs.
09:55With the low-level restriction of the Allison engine,
09:58these were to be the epitome of the mark,
10:01purposely equipped as tactical support planes,
10:04aerial artillery.
10:06Seen here in desert-conditioned training in the U.S.,
10:09the A-36s were to see considerable service.
10:12They ended the war with the record
10:14of delivering more bombs per sortie
10:16than any other USAAF fighter-bomber.
10:31On the right of this picture,
10:33you can see the dive brakes,
10:35one of the modifications made to the A-36 specification.
10:38The armament had reverted to six wing-mounted machine guns,
10:42and the plane had wing-hard points for two 500-pound bombs.
10:59Though events were to remould the future of the design,
11:03at this stage of its development,
11:05it was hampered by its engine.
11:06The Allison's power died as the plane climbed,
11:10leaving it sluggish and unresponsive.
11:13Pilots enthused about its performance at low-level,
11:16where it was speedy and agile.
11:19In fly-offs with captured German planes,
11:21it had held its own very competently,
11:23until the altitude soared.
11:26Therefore, it was logical to utilise it in low-level missions,
11:29which, in the main, were tactical missions,
11:32support of ground troops, photographic reconnaissance,
11:34or flying cover on a battlefield.
11:37It was a simple step to recast them as dive bombers,
11:41and they were effective tactical support aircraft.
11:45It was evident that the airframe had many virtues,
11:48but the actual plane was a limited thing,
11:51and it was given tasks that seemed to fit its limitation.
11:54In combat, though effective, the Mustangs were to prove vulnerable.
12:22They could be brought down by a very minor hit from any weapon,
12:27because of their water-cooling, radiators, and other ducting.
12:30The radial-engined fighters, like the P-47,
12:33were better suited to low-level work,
12:35in that they were very hard to bring down with light ground fire.
12:38As dive bombers, the Mustangs were not a success.
12:42The moment when the plane broke its dive left it very vulnerable,
12:47as a prime target that had advertised its arrival during the dive,
12:51and was now presenting its most tender aspect.
12:53If the Mustang avoided the set piece of the diving attack,
12:58and simply roared along at low level,
13:00its speed protected it from all but the most proficient marksmen.
13:05In active service, most of the A-36 dive brakes were wired shut,
13:10and the planes were used in other ways.
13:13Here in this early training stage,
13:15before the planes were deployed in significant numbers,
13:18we can appreciate both the accuracy of the dive bomber,
13:21and its dangerous exposure.
13:46In active service,
13:47the A-36s and other Allison Mustangs used in low-level missions
13:51were powerful weapons.
13:54A squadron of Mustangs made a very effective punch as airborne artillery.
13:58In addition to the 500 dive bombers,
14:011,083 of the Allison-powered Mustangs were made,
14:05all being best used in low-level roles.
14:17The machine guns delivered an accurate focused firepower in strafing,
14:40and the A-36 groups were also credited with the perfection of skip-bombing,
14:44using delayed fuses and dropping the bomb short of the target
14:48so that it bounces into position to explode.
14:50In some ways, the early Allison-engined Mustangs,
15:01including the A-36,
15:03have been overlooked because of their shortcomings,
15:05and because of what the design went on to achieve
15:08once their vices had been eliminated.
15:09However, the worth of the work of the photographic planes should not be belittled,
15:15and, as here in India,
15:16in several important campaigns of the war,
15:19the A-36s were critical factors in the successful pursuit of Allied victory.
15:23As the Allies fought their bloody way across Burma
15:34to open land links with the beleaguered forces in China,
15:37the nature of the terrain and the lack of any roads or railways
15:41saw the troops on the ground become almost totally reliant on the air,
15:45for supplies and for artillery.
15:48There was no way to carry anything bigger than a mortar with them,
15:52and certainly not a howitzer.
15:53But the Mustangs were there.
15:57With forward air control direction,
15:59the A-36 pilots were able to deliver accurate tactical support
16:03and clear obstacles ahead of the troops.
16:05Their constant harassment kept the enemy unbalanced
16:08and undermined the worth of the continuing establishment of strong points
16:12along their lines of retreat.
16:23The few airfields became the sites of critical battles in the campaign,
16:47and as soon as the troops had established control,
16:50engineers were sent in to reopen the field.
16:53To fly in tractors and other vehicles,
16:56the dangerous and wasteful gliders were used
16:58and runways were hurriedly repaired
17:00so that the transport planes could be landed safely.
17:03While this footage was being filmed,
17:19Japanese troops were still dug in and fighting a fierce rearguard action
17:23less than two miles away,
17:24and a stream of wounded was constantly arriving at the base
17:28for airlifting out with the returning Dakotas.
17:31Had the Japanese had any artillery,
17:33they would have been able to shell the airfield from their positions.
17:37But instead, emergency medical stations
17:39could function in the open beside the runways
17:41with only the occasional air raid to threaten procedures.
18:08With the economic might of the Allies
18:10and their material resources,
18:12the damage from a raid like this
18:14figured little in the overall scheme of things.
18:17The situation on the ground
18:18was far more affected during the monsoons,
18:21the wet season.
18:22Then, with floods on every river,
18:24the losses of supplies were enormous.
18:27The road that was being pushed through the jungle
18:30in the wake of the advancing infantry
18:32became impassable,
18:34and the airfields became unmaintainable.
18:37During the monsoons,
18:38on both sides,
18:39things ground to a halt in the mud,
18:42in conditions so bad
18:44that even the legendary C-47s
18:46found themselves unable to operate.
18:48To fly planes in these conditions
19:02require daring, determination, skill,
19:05and lots of luck.
19:06The Allison-engined Mustangs,
19:24for all their limitations,
19:26were regarded by their pilots with great affection,
19:29and so long as they were used within their restrictions,
19:31they were very able.
19:32They were also a pleasure to fly,
19:35responsive and urgent,
19:36but very controllable and well-behaved.
19:40Reports on the plane from 1941 on
19:42had constantly enthused about its performance
19:45when its engine was delivering adequate power,
19:47and in retrospect,
19:49it seems inevitable that the virtues of the airframe
19:52would suggest to someone
19:53that the plane be given a better engine.
19:56The engine that was eventually suggested in mid-1942
19:59was the Rolls-Royce Merlin,
20:02the same engine as the illustrious Spitfire.
20:04After trial installations carried out by Rolls-Royce
20:12had proved very successful,
20:15North American's engineers went to work on the installation,
20:18and the Mustang underwent some changes
20:20in housing the engine
20:21in an extremely tight-fitting, streamlined nose,
20:25giving the plane overall better lines.
20:28The propeller now had four broad blades
20:31to turn the power into thrust
20:32in the thin air of higher altitudes.
20:36The carburetor inlet above the engine
20:38had been repositioned below the propeller.
20:41The fuselage had been strengthened,
20:43and there had been refinements
20:44to the radiator and its ducting.
20:47The new plane proved a very different proposition
20:49to the earlier models.
20:50Where the Allison's had been smooth and silky,
21:00the Merlin-engined planes were noisy,
21:02skittish, and needed more attention.
21:05However, the returns were overwhelming.
21:08At height, it could now outperform anything in the sky.
21:12Its top speed had gone from 380 miles an hour
21:15to 440,
21:17and its rate of climb and reserves of power
21:19for emergency manoeuvring had increased.
21:22The Mustangs were startlingly improved
21:24and ready to re-enter the war
21:26as a more important factor.
21:39Testing of the new planes, though thorough,
21:41was quickly completed.
21:44And with a new factory in Dallas
21:46adding its output to the Inglewood plant,
21:48in 1943, Mustangs were pouring onto the battlefield
21:52in great numbers.
21:54The output from the two plants
21:56were given different numbers,
21:58planes from Inglewood being P-51Bs,
22:01and the identical product from the Dallas plant
22:03becoming P-51Cs.
22:06The Mustangs had always had large fuel capacity,
22:09and the combination of this capacity
22:11and their miserly demand for fuel,
22:14half that of either the P-38 or the P-47,
22:17meant that the P-51 had a marked advantage in range.
22:21As the British, too, were to appreciate,
22:24combining this economy with their new power
22:26and high-level ability,
22:28they were the obvious choice
22:29for the role of escort
22:31to the massed bombers operating against Germany.
22:33The 8th Air Force had been crying out
22:48for a plane with the Mustang's capability.
22:51And though the first Bs were assigned
22:53to tactical groups with the 9th Air Force,
22:55the Strategic Command first borrowed them
22:58and then swapped them for some of their P-47s
23:01to use them as long-range offensive fighters
23:03supporting the bombing.
23:05The Mustangs had found their element,
23:29and with wing tanks providing extra fuel,
23:32they roamed the sky over Europe,
23:34increasingly not simply supporting the bombers,
23:37but seeking combat with the Luftwaffe.
23:40As escorts, they were the first effective shield
23:42the strategic campaign had enjoyed,
23:45and with their guardianship,
23:46the danger to the bombers of Luftwaffe attack
23:48started to wane.
23:50As their numbers increased,
24:05there was now no doubt about their role
24:08in the European theatre.
24:10There was simply no better escort fighter
24:12anywhere at the time,
24:13and their greater availability
24:14was paralleled by an increasing dominance
24:17of the air over Europe
24:18by the Allied air forces.
24:21The Luftwaffe's pilots were used to enjoying
24:23at least parity with the opposing fighters,
24:26if not overwhelming advantages.
24:29Against the Mustang,
24:30they were not matched, but bettered.
24:32From bases throughout Europe,
24:34the Mustangs held increasing sway
24:36over the air war.
24:37One of the units flying the Mustang
24:41was the All-Negro 322nd Fighter Group,
24:45which operated from Italy
24:46and was involved in several
24:48of the war's most famous missions,
24:50including the attacks
24:51on the Romanian oil fields around Plursti.
24:55Working in fairly basic conditions
24:57from temporary fields,
24:59groups like these put in their contribution
25:01with dedication and effectiveness.
25:03For the pilots,
25:13being briefed for a mission,
25:15there must have been some comfort
25:16in the superior performance
25:17of their plane,
25:19and the feelings of the bomber crews,
25:21who had previously flown into the teeth
25:22of the German defences unaccompanied,
25:25can well be imagined.
25:27Still, on any mission,
25:28there was a real chance
25:30for each pilot
25:30that he would be killed or maimed
25:33in the coming hours.
26:04The impact of the Mustangs
26:32on the campaign in Germany
26:33is reflected in the comment
26:35of Goering at Nuremberg,
26:37that when he looked into the skies
26:39over Berlin
26:39and saw Allied fighters
26:41shepherding the bombers
26:42to their deadly work,
26:44he knew that Germany
26:45had lost the war.
26:47The planes he was referring to
26:48were Mustangs.
26:49The effect of the uprated fighter
27:04was to be felt
27:05on most of the fronts of the war,
27:08as here in China,
27:09where they replaced the P-40
27:11and gave Allied airpower
27:12a cutting edge.
27:13Once again,
27:27operating from primitive bases,
27:29this time at the end
27:30of a supply line
27:31of almost bizarre complexity,
27:33the Mustang's range
27:35and power
27:35were used
27:36to quickly establish
27:37air superiority
27:38against the outmoded
27:40and outclassed enemy equipment.
27:42The End
28:17Their arrival on any front made a difference.
28:24In a relative backwater like the China campaign, even a few Mustangs made an immediate impression.
28:41They operated beside the tired P-40s of the Nationalist Chinese.
28:46The planes that had equipped the famous American Volunteer Squadron, the Flying Tigers.
28:52The surviving American pilots, most of them aces, had moved on to sprinkle that very rare and very valuable commodity, experience, through the United States Air Forces.
29:02Leaving behind the long, slogging campaign against the Japanese in China that was to drag on to the war's end.
29:09The 356th Fighter Squadron, flying from England, became the home of Major James Howard, one of the Flying Tiger aces,
29:28whose Japanese victories were painted onto his distinctively marked plane upon arrival in Europe.
29:33He became famous for his exploits on the 11th of January 1944, when he took on 40 German planes, mostly Messerschmitt 110s,
29:43that had managed to mount an attack on a group of B-17s.
29:46This, his gun camera footage from that dogfight, shows his targets as he continued to attack the overwhelmingly superior number of enemies until assistance arrived.
29:57He was involved in the little battle for 30 minutes, and was credited with three definite and three probable victories in the encounter.
30:05Major Howard was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his action on that day.
30:35Among the few criticisms the RAF had made of the Mustang, was a dual complaint about the canopy.
30:46It didn't allow the pilot to look behind him, and a tall pilot was very uncomfortably cramped against the roof of the cockpit.
30:54Robert Malcolm was requested to come up with a remedy for these problems,
30:57and the resulting modification was not only included in production B and C models, but retrofitted to many planes in the field.
31:06A single-piece bulged hood that slid on runners, it simply and directly approached the concerns as an adaptation of the already existing shape.
31:14North American's Los Angeles factory was considered to be vulnerable to Japanese bombing,
31:34and for much of the war it was cloaked with extensive skirts of camouflage,
31:38which not only disguised the buildings, but covered the outdoor run-up lines for the various marks being manufactured at the plant.
31:46Under these nets, the Mustangs were rolled out, tuned and tested.
31:50The Inglewood netting was to see the arrival of the next Mustang model, the D,
32:04with its teardrop canopy that made the Malcolm-designed hood redundant.
32:07This later variant of the D, seen on the Inglewood taxiway, includes the extended tail fin that was added to compensate for the loss of side area caused by the redesign.
32:23As could have been expected from a company with North American's reputation for manufacturing efficiency,
32:29the mass production of the P-51 was carried out in factories that were models of technical refinement.
32:35The superb organisation and automation of the production lines enabled the delivery of over 9,000 Mustangs during 1944 alone.
32:46The company's success with its first fighter, together with its other designs like the B-25 Mitchell bomber,
32:52saw it produce more planes during the war than any other American manufacturer.
32:5815,586 Mustangs alone were to be made.
33:0515,586 Mustangs alone was to be made with the major
33:12under the safety of top of the trans kangaroo.
33:1416,586 told sticks you there.
33:1717,586 Mustangs alone was visited for devastatedbeiter,
33:1916,587 toops entered to be made with iets,
33:2216,484-509 to internet,
33:24185 numbers had devastated and protected and controlled while америкining with great
34:24Completed, the planes were rolled out of the factory and were towed to the run-up lines
34:29to be readied for dispatch to the war.
34:56The heavy bombing campaign in Europe continued, and from May 1944, the P-51Ds swarmed into
35:03the theatre in large numbers to join the B and C Mustangs that were, to give an indication
35:08of their proliferation, already equipping eight groups of the 8th Air Force operating from
35:13Britain.
35:14They were the critical edge that supported the Allies' drive for air supremacy and maintained
35:21that dominance through to the end of the war in Europe.
35:23The Luftwaffe continued to throw its resources against the onslaught.
35:27In the face of the continued assault on the German cities and the increasing focus of the attacks
35:32onto the aviation industry plants and the fuel and transportation systems, the Nazi air arm
35:37had no option but to press its defence to the limit.
35:40But it costs in pilots and planes that could not be sustained.
35:50Though now acknowledged as the Allies' premier escort fighter, the Mustangs retained their
35:55old punch as ground attack aircraft, and given that they were already deep over enemy territory
36:00escorting the bombers, it was logical to set them loose in ground-hugging high-speed attack
36:05on transport and Luftwaffe targets as they made their way back to their bases.
36:19On the 4th of March 1944, for the first time, Mustangs supported the bombers on the 1,100-mile
36:26round trip to Berlin. This long-range capability of the Mustangs was, from then on, exploited
36:33routinely in penetration missions against the Tottering Reich.
36:41In their activity in the European theatre, the Mustangs flew 213,873 sorties, with 4,950
36:50German planes claimed as shot down, and a further 4,131 destroyed on the ground.
36:57The aerial victories account for almost half the total claimed by all American units for
37:02the European theatre in the period after P-51 deployment.
37:06On the other side of the ledger, there were 2,520 Mustangs lost in combat, shot down, lost
37:13because of mechanical failure, or rarer but still a factor, lost because of pilot error.
37:19In this sequence, which we have slowed to quarter speed, the combat cameraman has captured a
37:24pilot's mistake, and we see the horrific result as 2 Mustangs on a ground attack sweep collide
37:30and plough into the ground.
37:32The P-51 outperformed all the piston-engined fighters which the Luftwaffe was able to deploy
37:45against it, and was untroubled in maintaining its supremacy in the air until the emergence
37:50of the German jet and rocket fighters. Even against the Me 262, which Hitler had finally accepted
37:57as Germany's remaining trump card, the P-51 scored victories, normally by ambushing the
38:03jets at landing and take-off, or by overwhelming them with sheer weight of numbers in the dogfights
38:08around the bomber groups. One to one, the Mustangs were totally mismatched against the jets,
38:14which were over 100 miles per hour faster than them. Fortunately for the Allies, the Nazi
38:20leadership had lacked the common sense to back the jets in their early development, and they
38:25were deployed too late, in too small numbers, to stalemate the decisive conflict in the air
38:30over Germany.
38:47Speedier still, but more eccentric and ultimately of far less use than the 262, was the Me 163
38:53Comet rocket plane, popularly known as the Devil's Sled, which could reach nearly 600 miles per hour.
39:00The rockets were deployed at too early a stage of development, and were extremely difficult
39:05and dangerous planes to fly. They could carry only limited fuel, and spent a large part of
39:11each flight unpowered, gliding back to base.
39:18At its high speed it was immune to interception from the escorting fighters, but could only manage
39:24mostly ineffective passes at the bombers before it ran out of thrust.
39:39For the pilots, taking off on a jettisonable trolley, and then landing without power on a skid,
39:55the little rockets were a very demanding proposition.
39:58In addition, in its glide phase it was susceptible to attack from the allied fighters, and unable to
40:11defend itself or take evasive action.
40:13In the war's other major strategic bombing campaign against Japan, the Mustangs again were the first
40:27US Air Force fighters over the enemy homeland.
40:30The Japanese Air Force had already been effectively destroyed in the far-flung battlefields of Asia
40:35and the Pacific, its pilots wiped out, and its designs, aging but still in production, totally outclassed
40:42by the newer and more powerful American planes.
40:46The heyday of the Zeros in the early clashes had been brief, and as the US carriers and Air Force
40:52groups received the new marks, the Japanese had quickly lost their ascendancy in the air.
40:58With the Mustangs loose from Iwo Jima, there was no destination outside the reach of fully fighter-protected
41:04US bomber groups.
41:10Within weeks of the 19th of February landings on Iwo Jima, on the 6th of March 1945, strips
41:17had been prepared, and the Mustangs of the 15th fighter group had taken up residence.
41:22They were joined on the 15th by the 21st group.
41:25On the 7th of April, they mounted their first major sweep of the Japanese homeland, when the
41:306th squadron of P-51s escorted B-29s to Nakajima, near Tokyo.
41:36The Japanese lost 21 aircraft in attacking the formation, and succeeded in downing only 2 Mustangs.
41:43No B-29s were affected by the Japanese planes.
41:47This set the pattern for what was to follow.
41:53A further group was deployed in late April, and by the 22nd of June, the three groups had
41:59flown 832 missions.
42:02The B-29s were flying from the Marianas, and had further to go than the P-51s.
42:07But even so, the round trip for the fighter pilot was a major endurance test.
42:12The flights, which were the longest regular escort missions of the war, lasted nearly 8 hours,
42:18and were mostly over water.
42:20For the first 2 hours of the flight, the pilots had another problem, in that the fuel tank
42:25added inside the fuselage affected directional stability in flight, and until that tank had
42:30been emptied, the pilot needed even more than usual strength and attention to control the plane.
42:35The next fuel priority was to get the most out of the drop tanks, before they were jettisoned
42:40to clear the airframe for action.
42:42Stripped of cover, the whole of Japan was open to the coldly remote and impersonal attack
42:49of the airmen.
42:50The Japanese population, surrounded by the increasingly unrecognisable wrecks of their cities, and bombarded
42:57by leaflets outlining the forthcoming attacks, were engulfed in a sense of terror, of inevitable
42:59terror, of inevitable terror.
43:00fiery death from the bombers.
43:01For the Japanese airmen, simply taking off became an act of bravery.
43:07In the event of combat, they would be confronted by better trained pilots, flying far superior
43:14aircraft in greater numbers, wielding heavier batteries in greater numbers, wielding heavier
43:19batteries of guns.
43:21Their planes were swatted from the sky with inevitability.
43:24On the ground, they were left to the hammering, violent savagery of the slashing runs of the Mustangs
43:31that roamed tormentingly at treetop height.
43:33The Japanese air force could not defend itself, let alone Japan.
43:51The Japanese air force could not defend itself, let alone Japan.
43:56This was the coldest nuclear war.
44:30The last months of the war are a testimony to the stubbornness and pride of the Japanese government.
44:42The immense bloodshed and destruction wrought in Japan was without sense or need.
44:47A more pragmatic regime would have accepted its fate.
44:51Doubtless, the Mustang pilots, returning cramped and exhausted to Iwo Jima, would have preferred to have been able to go home.
44:59Then, with the atomic attacks, the Japanese finally collapsed and it was over.
45:04The P-51s flew their last missions on the 14th of August, the day that Hirohito finally announced acceptance of the Allies' conditions.
45:12After the war, the Mustangs continued in use, not only with the Air National Guard, but in active service.
45:27Those retained were the Ds and the later long-range H models.
45:33With the development of U.S. jets, it was obviously only a matter of time before they would be replaced, having already been superseded.
45:40Not only in the U.S., but around the world, the P-51s stayed in service, equipping the air forces of many countries.
45:48The P-51s
47:07For the newly reorganized United States Air Force, retention of the Mustangs as a stopgap while jets were developed and manufactured in large numbers meant that they were still available when war broke out in Korea.
47:19A number of Mustangs, now called F-51s, were transferred back from the National Guard to active service and in the first year of the war they flew more combat missions than any other Air Force type.
47:31Despite relatively heavy losses, they were used because they were the only aircraft available in large numbers that had both the long range required and the ability to carry enough payload to do some damage when they arrived at a target.
47:46Here, as part of the preparation for a mission, the gun camera, mounted in the front of the wheel bay, receives a new reel of film.
47:55Usually laden with bombs and rockets, they served as ground support, flying over inhospitable mountainous terrain which offered little chance of successful forced landing.
48:14As an example, the South African squadron which flew Mustangs in Korea from November 1950 to January 1953 lost nearly 60 to ground fire.
48:30But to round out the picture, it must be added that the unit, despite the cost, was effective and very valuable, flying 10,373 Mustang missions in Korea.
48:42The Mustang, outdated and deployed in a mission that made them vulnerable, still was a weapon of great destructive power.
49:00The Mustang, reacted to the intensity and power of a sabia, so that the SilenorferPole, hinted that a water hyvä, is not wise, it was theher of a law of laughter, since the
49:13requirement of phenomenal performance.
49:15buffs and processes were guided by theophy of the
49:28I don't know.
49:58Against the MiG-15, the Mustang was more a target than an opponent.
50:09It's days as the world's premier fighter were behind it.
50:13However, in the early phases of the war, it was the sustained ferocity of the Mustang fighter-bombers
50:18that bought time for the 8th Army to dig in around Pusan and finally halt the tide of the initial rush of the North Korean army.
50:25The inertia of history may have already run down the technology of the piston-engined fighter,
50:32but the Mustang represented the highest point of refinement of that lineage,
50:36and there were things a Mustang could do that nothing else in the inventory could.
50:40But it did them at a price.
50:42Back with the National Guard, the planes flew on to the mid-50s in United States use,
50:55and a very few stayed with the Air Force for another 20 years as chase planes.
50:59The P-51s scattered all over the world, to China, Australia, where the last Mustangs were made,
51:07Sweden, almost all the South American republics, the Caribbean, and elsewhere.
51:12They formed the backbone of the Infant Israeli Air Force
51:15and flew in combat with real effect in large numbers for the last time in the 1956 Desert War.
51:22They were still front-line planes in air forces like that of the Dominican Republic and Indonesia into the 70s.
51:29In addition, they became the plane of choice for many civil flyers,
51:34for acrobatics, racing, or simply for pleasure.
51:37Pilots still love them.
51:55They may have their little vices, like the tugging torque of the propeller that drags at the plane in take-off,
52:01but with their thuggish power coupled to their dependable airframe,
52:04they are a totally different breed to other civil planes,
52:07and retain a mystique that is unmatchable.
52:37They were very well built to start with,
52:49and the examples still flying are maintained with such fanaticism and love
52:53that they will probably still be with us into the next century.
53:09Attempts to describe any particular plane as the greatest fighter of World War II
53:34are, admittedly, always generalisations and of little value.
53:38Certainly, one can list a handful of types as the outstanding planes,
53:43but to then pick one is asking for an argument.
53:46In this program, we have repeatedly described the Mustang as the preeminent fighter of its day,
53:52despite the well-argued claims of those who back other marks,
53:55like the Fockwolf 190 or the Spitfire.
53:57However, the Mustang stands apart from both in the same crucial way.
54:03The Spitfire, like the other European designs, was a short-range fighter, basically defensive.
54:09The P-51 was comparable in speed and manoeuvrability to the Spitfire I,
54:14and about the same length and height.
54:16However, it was roughly twice the weight,
54:19which was given over to the fuel it carried,
54:21giving it a range that was around three times that of the British plane.
54:25This factor makes obvious the point that the Mustang,
54:29unlike its comparable European contemporaries,
54:32was an offensive fighter.
54:34Its part in the strategic campaign in Europe was decisive,
54:37and it was not simply, as the German adherents of the FW 190 claim,
54:41a factor of superior numbers that gave the Mustang its success,
54:45it was the better plane.
54:50Compare the others to one another.
54:53The Mustang stands alone.
54:55The
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