King of the Strafers by Iain Wyllie Col. James A (Goody) Goodson's P47 Mustang
Dallas Doll by Philip West American designed and built, British inspired and later powered,
the Mustang turned into arguably the finest WWII long-range fighter ever
constructed. The Mustang, developed from the Prototype NA73X, was
manufactured in large quantities with an impressive final total of
15,586 aircraft. Of these, 13,600 were powered by the British Rolls
Royce designed Merlin engine. Reichsmarschall Herman Goering is reported to have said: "When I
saw those Mustangs over Berlin, I knew that the war was lost.";
testimony indeed to the mighty Mustang and those who flew and fought in
them.
Escort Service by Keith Woodcock In the early morning sun, two North American P51D Mustangs of the 359
FS, 356 FG, take off from their base at Martlesham Heath to escort 8th Air
force bombers on another daylight raid
Deadly Duo by Harley Copic Captain Don Gentile and Lt John Godfrey, 4th Fighter Group, team up to
form one of the most successful Leader-Wingman duos in the 8th
Air Force, scoring a combined total of 36 victories.
Head for Home by Anthony Saunders When a fighter escort with a bomber's range first appeared over Berlin,
Goering knew the end of the war was only a matter of time. when that
particular fighter escort turned out to be the Mustang, perhaps the most
outstanding of all WWII fighters, the time was all too short. Unlike the
RAF's Spitfire and Hurricane, that had succeeded in the Battle of Britain,
Goering's Luftwaffe failed to protect it's own air space, leaving allied
air forces unhampered to bomb Germany by both day and night. Two battle weary Mustangs of 357th Fighter Group, with ammunition spent
and fuel low, have broken away from the main bomber force to head across
the Channel for home.
Vintage Mustangs by Stan Stokes. The P-51B and
the Ford Mustang make quite a pair in Stans depiction. The P-51 Mustang
was arguably the most effective
American
fighter
aircraft of WW II.
North American proposed this design in response to the RAFs
desire to find a second production source for the P-40. Early
models were equipped with an Allison engine and had marginal
performance. With the addition of the Packard-built Merlin engine
beginning with the B variant, the Mustang had the power to earn its
place in history. One of the top scoring Mustang aces of the War was
USAAF Col. Henry Brown. Browns P-51B, The
Hun Hunter from Texas, is
depicted in Stans painting.
A Pistol Whipping by Stan Stokes.
There
were tens of thousands of aerial combat encounters during World War II.
One of the most unusual was a dogfight that took place between Captain
Arthur C. Fiedler, Jr. and an unidentified German Bf-109 pilot on June
28, 1944. Fiedler was an Illinois native who received his wings in July
1943. He was assigned as a flight instructor in Dover, Delaware, but in
May 1944 he was assigned to the 317th Fighter Squadron of the
325th Fighter Group. Flying P-51B Mustangs the 317th
was based in Lesina, Italy. Fiedler named his Mustang after his wife
Helen. On a combat mission on June 24th Fiedler claimed a
probable. Four days later the eventual ace was flying near Polesti,
Rumania when a Bf-109 crossed directly in front of his aircraft.
Slamming his P-51 into a near vertical bank he trailed the 109 for a few
seconds attaining several hits before his guns jammed. As Fiedler rolled
out of his bank he found himself flying in formation parallel to the
109, and headed towards Russia. Fiedler was not willing to make himself
a target for the 109, and with his Mustang low on fuel and with jammed
guns, Fiedler reactively drew his service revolver. As he drew his .45
pistol, the German pilot unexpectedly jettisoned his canopy and bailed
out. Fiedler was given the nickname Svengali for this incident. Fiedler
continued his combat tour into 1945, and by January he had attained 8
confirmed aerial victories. Fiedler remained in the Air Force following
the War. Flying in both Korea and Vietnam, he was promoted to Colonel in
1969, and retired from the Air Force in 1975. The P-51 Mustang and the
Messerschmitt Bf-109 were two of the most important aircraft of WW II.
More than 15,000 P-51s were produced, the most of any American-built
fighter, while the Bf-109 was the most produced fighter aircraft of the
war with 35,000 produced. The P-51 was designed by Raymond Rice and
Edgar Schmued of North American Aviation, because the President of the
company thought he could do better than merely produce Curtiss P-40s
under license for the RAF.
Initially introduced with an Allison liquid-cooled V-12, the P-51
performed poorly despite its superior airframe. As early Mustangs
arrived the British were anxious to see how this aircraft would perform
with the powerful Rolls Royce Merlin engine. The aircraft was about 13
percent faster and could climb to combat altitude in 45 percent less
time than the Allison-equipped aircraft. Going into production as the
P-51B the Brits received about 1000 aircraft while the USAAF took an
additional 1000. The first P-51B models were in service with the Eighth
Air Force in December 1943. The excellent performance of these aircraft
and their excellent range when equipped with external wing tanks, made
the P-51 a tremendous asset when accompanying American daylight bombers
on their raids into Germany. The 109 was arguably the most advanced
fighter aircraft from 1935 until 1940. The 109 was designed by Willy
Messerschmitt and Walter Rethel with the goal of packing the most
powerful engine available into the smallest possible aircraft structure.
During the Spanish Civil War the 109 proved its superiority. Despite
numerous technical enhancements as the war progressed, by the end of the
War the 109 was both outclassed and outnumbered by its rivals.
A Big Victory by Stan Stokes.
On
September 18, 1944 P-51 pilots of the 375th Fighter Squadron
of the 361st Fighter Group, based at Little Walden in Essex,
were assigned the mission of escorting B-17s on a shuttle mission to
Russia. The Mustangs would accompany the bombers to the south of Sweden
where they would be picked up by an escort of Russian fighters. Urban
Drew, flying
a 51-D named Detroit Miss,
was one of the USAAF pilots on this mission. Just before breaking off
the escort Drew spotted a twin-engine German aircraft flying very low to
the water. He broke off with two wingman and went down after the German
plane. It turned out to be an He-111, most likely a courier plane from
Scandinavia. He opened fire hitting the top gun position, circled
around, and with his second burst set the aircraft afire. It tumbled
into the Baltic. As Drew and his two wingman climbed back to altitude to
rejoin their flight, he looked off to the right and spotted an enormous
flying boat moored at a sea plane base on a lake. Drew called to his
wingman and said, get lined astern immediately, and we will make one
pass, and one pass only... lets see if we can burn and sink this mother.
The three Mustangs commenced their attack with the element of surprise
to their advantage. The three Mustangs poured about 1200 rounds of 50
caliber ammo into the behemoth, and as the third aircraft pulled up
black smoke and flames were pouring from the target. It was not until
that moment that anti-aircraft batteries opened fire, but the P-51s were
quickly out of range. During the debriefing it was determined that their
target was probably a Blohm and Voss BV-222. Years later, in 1974, while
Drew was living in London, he was contacted by the British Broadcasting
Company (BBC) which wanted to do a documentary. It was only then that
Drew found out that the aircraft he destroyed at the Bug Seaplane Base
on Lake Schaal was actually the BV-238, the largest aircraft to see
service in WW II. Development work on the Blohm and Voss BV-238 began in
