In 1940 the British Purchasing Commission approached North American Aviation (NAA) to build under license Curtis P-40 fighters. NAA suggested that rather than produce an old design they proposed a new design, this would become the P-51 Mustang.
When fitted with the Roll-Royce Merlin engine, the Mustang would be one of the most important fighters of the war. With its ability to carry tremendous amounts of fuel, the plane was able to fly deep into Europe providing fighter escort for the bomber groups. Over the skies of Germany, it proved more than a match for what the Luftwaffe could throw at them.
Joining me is Chris Bucholtz.
Chris is an aviation historian with a prolific body of work. He previously joined me in episode 110 to discuss the P-47 Thunderbolt. His new book published by Osprey is P-51B/C Mustang: Northwest Europe 1943-44.
Patreon:
patreon.com/ww2podcast
68 Go Betweens for Hitler
67 - Luftwaffe Night Fighter ‘Ace’, Wolfgang Thimmig
66 - Northrop P-61 Black Widow
65 Lt Col William Edwin Dyess
64 - The Early Guadalcanal-Solomons Campaign 1942
Strafbattalion: Hitler's Penal Battalions
Betrayed: The Buchenwald Airmen
61 - RAF Liberators Over Burma
60 Alarmstart: German Fighter Pilots in Europe
59 - Case Red: The Collapse of France
58 Lost Warriors: Seagrim and Pagani of Burma
57 - The 110th Holds In The Ardennes, 1944
56 - Haile Selassie’s Mongrel Foreign Legion.
Darkest Hour
55 - The Flemish Waffen SS
54 - The Bataan Death March
53 - Her Finest Hour: Diana Rowden, SOE Agent
52 Shadow Over the Atlantic
51 The German Airborne Threat to Britain & the Psychological Impact
50 - Operation Tonga
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