The p51 is an iconic fighter that filled a vital role in WW2 Europe. American bombers including the b17 flying fortress and b24 liberator were pounding German cities later in the war. They were suffering heavy causalities inflicted by defending fighters of the Luftwaffe, such as the fw190. The escorting fighters available like the p47 were not able to accompany the bombers all the way to the target and back due to limited fuel.
The p51 was armed with 6 .50 caliber machine guns, 3 in each wing.
The p51 was designed to carry enough fuel to make the entire voyage with the bombers. When fitted with the British merlin engine used in the spitfire it was an outstanding performer at high altitudes. It was more than a match for the bf109 and a match for the fw190. The Luftwaffe suffered heavy losses when attacking the bombers. The Germans could not replace the experienced pilots lost and newly trained ones were easy pickings for the American pilots.
Mustangs encounter a flight of bf109's.
P-51 was a good plane, but as many others it had its advantages and disadvantages. P-51s were used in high numbers and usually had an advantage of 10 to 1. They had high range (the main mission - escort bombers, that no other fighters could do) and were a little faster than German planes like Bf-109, not jets. But any veteran or historian will tell you which plane you want to be in when fighting against Bf-109, P-51 Mustang or Spitfire, they'll choose Spitfire. Bf-109 could out turn and out climb P-51, if Bf-109 had a good pilot. I think Bf-109 and Spitfire were rivals throughout the war.
A lot of experienced German fighter pilots died on the Russian front, and it helped the US air force. The most widely produced Russian fighter was Yak-9, it wasn't the best, but there were many of them.
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I'm not surprised that the spitfire was a better dog-fighter than the mustang due to less weight and better wings. I'm not sure about the turning capabilities of the p-51 vs the bf-109 but I do know the bf109 wasn’t a great turn fighter. The p-51 taken with all it's benefits combined with the better range might be considered a better fighter than the spitfire. The latter Russian Yaks and la-5s were great fighters also. Thanks for commenting!
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Nice info on the P-51 its one of my favorite planes to read about. There is no doubt that in the beginning of the war the German fighters were far superior to the Allied fighters. However as the war went on The the Luftwaffe simply could not handle the numbers of fighters and the growing technology level coming from the Allies. By the time the 8th air force was running bombing missions in the days leading up to D, witch is when the P-51 was implemented, it was all just too much for the Luftwaffe.
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Agreed. The only advantage the Germans had was with the me262 jet fighter. However, it was never produced in enough numbers and lack of trained pilots was another issue.
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