| P-51 |
| Mustang |
| This best known US fighter of WWII was built to British requirements. The British reluctantly accepted North American's proposal to design a new fighter for them, instead of license-building P-40's, and the USAAF was at first not interested at all. The P-51 was a clean and very refined design, with a laminar flow wing and carefully positioned radiator bath. The early P-51, with Allison V-1710, engine, was an excellent low-altitude reconaissance fighter, but had low performance above 15000ft. After reengining with the R.R. Merlin, the P-51B was one of the best fighters of WWII. It proved to be the ideal fighter to escort the bomber force on the long missions over Germany. The P-51D sacrificed some speed for the introduction of a 'bubble' hood, offering much better view. The P-51F, G and J versions were lightweight developments, with only a superficial resemblance to the original Mustang; the P-51H was more directly related to the P-51D, but powered by the more powerful V-1650-9 engine. After WWII, the P-51D played a very important role as fighter-bomber in Korea. 14819 built. |
| Function: fighter Year: 1944 Crew: 1 Engines: 1 * 1100 kW RR-Packard V-1650-7 Merlin Wing Span: 11.28 m Length: 9.83 m Height: 4.16 m Wing Area: 21.83 m2 Empty Weight: 3466 kg Max.Weight: 5493 kg Max. Speed: 703 km/h Ceiling: 12800 m Max. Range: 3350 km Armament: 6*mg 12.7 mm 2*b454 kg |
| History |
| Facts |
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| An Important Person |
| Benjamin O. Davis Jr. was born in Washinton D.C. he was the son of a United States army officer.He went to high school at West Point. Benjamin graduated at the top of his class. He was one of the first african Americans to graduate rfom the school. He was assighnned to the infantry, but four years later he was in the Tuskegee army air field. The purpose of the field was to train African Americans. Then the Tuskegee airmen were formed into the all-Black fighter squadrens. Davis soon became a Colonel.In 1941 he was assigned to the Pentagon until he went to Korea and commanded a fighter wing. A year later he got his first Generals star. Then in 1970 he retired. |