More Mustangs

[Karnak]

Actually the RAF was very disappointed with the Mustang 1A and had to relegate it to ground attack.  It wasn't at all what they had wanted, which was a fighter to help defend England from the Luftwaffe.  The problem was the Allison's performance deteriorated rapidly as it gained altitude.
The USAAF was likewise not that thrilled by it until they stuck a Merlin in it to create the P-51B Mustang.

Sisu

[Hangtime]

Actually; the British were thrilled with 'em. Could'nt get enuff of our funky stuff... hell the war dept wouldn't let the brits have any more of our frontline state of the art fighters... like P40's, which is how we got a Mustang in the first place.  

The Mustang I's were initially delivered with 4 .50's in the wing; and get this; 4 .30's in the cowl. OOOOhhh yah. Clouds of lead.   The British wanted to stick their own junk in 'em, and the first twenty were held fer trial and fit requirements to spool up english production of the radios; sights and other equipment for the rest of the expected order. Quite a few got cameras added for recon purposes. They liked 'em so much the said to Kindleberger ; "we want 300 more. quick.. before yah'all wize up"

At about this point; they fitted one with eight rockets; long range tanks and 2 40mm Vickers cannon in underwing mountings. They loved it. I want one.  

Then the USAAF stepped in and snatched back the contracts. The bums.   They wanted some of this funky stuff too. Some of the .20mm cannon birds made it (Mustang IA's) to England but the rest outta the first batch wound up in USAAF service (most still in english cammo) doin recon work in North Africa. Still.. tho not plentiful; those IA's would be a blast to fly here. Especially the 40mm rig... Booooooorah.

Now... anybody ever seen a P51B/C rendered with a Malcom Hood? Only 4 .50's but with a substantially lighter airframe than the D model, a bunch of experienced p51 pilots thought it was the superior Mustang. The Malcom hood was a huge improvement; and visibilty was reported as better than the D model. Further.. it was FASTER than a D model on the deck and had crisper handling.

I'd like to see the P51 B/C with the hood (an awful lot of B/C's were refitted with the hood) and incorporating the gun feed retrofit that became available in late '43. Bud Andersons first Mustang.

The British had many of these... they called 'em Mustang III's. The color scheme of these english assigned Malcom-Hooded Marvels is really slick. Saw a 1/4 scale model of one; and it looked sharp. Will try to find color documentation for a Mustang III

That's two great verisons of the P51 that I'd love to see here... *hint hint*

Hang