The P-51 Mustang: The Best Fighter Ever Essay -- plane, D model, aircra

The P-51 Mustang: The Best Fighter Ever The P-51 Mustang is regarded by many sources as the greatest fighter plane ever created. With the technological advancements this plane achieved, to it’s service record, to it’s importance in winning World War Two, the Mustang is truly one of the greats. The Mustang played a key role in long range bomber support and saved countless bomber crew’s lives, and pilots loved to fly it. The P-51 had the most aerial victories of any American fighter in World War Two and it was flown by some of America’s top aces. The P-51 was a beast of a fighter plane The most recognizable of the Mustangs was the D model. This is the model with the famous â€Å"bubble† canopy. It had a V12 Packard Merlin-built Rolls Royce model V-1650 engine that generated over 1,650 horsepower. The engine along with a sleek aerodynamic body, and laminar flow wings (which produce less drag than conventional wings because of their shape), gave the Mustang a top speed of about 440 miles per hour, making it one of the fastest fighter aircraft in World War Two. The laminar flow wing along with external fuel tanks gave it a range of over 1,000 miles making it the only fighter capable of escorting bombers for their entire mission. It was a very agile and maneuverable aircraft and could do moves most planes could only dream about. It had a wingspan of 37 ft., was 32 ft. 3 in. long, 13 ft. 8 in. tall, and fully loaded could weigh up to 12,100 lbs.It was armed with six Browning .50 caliber machine guns, and could carry six five inch rockets, or up to two thousand pounds of bombs on the underwing racks. The P-51 was also one of the first aircraft to have an electric gyro gun sight; its sight was designated the K14. The sight could calculate ... ...p against any other fighter out there. The P-51 Mustang truly is the greatest fighter aircraft in history. WORK CITED 1. Sherman, Stephen E. "Aces of the Eighth Air Force in World War Two." US 8th Air Force Aces, Mustang and Thunderbolt Fighter Pilots in WW2. Acepilots.com, June 1999. Web. 05 May 2014. "North American P-51D Mustang." Factsheets : North American P-51D Mustang. The Official Web Site of National Museum of the USAF, 2 Apr. 2011. Web. 05 May 2014. Jackson, David D. "Warbirds and Airshows- WWII US Aircraft Victories."Warbirds and Airshows- WWII US Aircraft Victories. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 May 2014. . Clarke, R. Wallace. British Aircraft Armament. Vol. 2. Sparkford: Stephens, 1994. Print.