Download or read book Very Long Range P 51 Mustang Units of the Pacific War written by Carl Molesworth and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-10-20 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: These pilots called themselves the 'Tokyo Club'. It was a simple task to become a member. All you had to do was strap yourself into a heavily loaded P-51 Mustang, take off from Iwo Jima, fly 650 miles north over the sea – often through monsoon storms – in your single-engined aircraft to Japan, attack a heavily defended target and then turn around and fly home despite a shrinking fuel supply and perhaps battle damage as well. Do it once and you earned membership in the club. Do it 15 times and you earned a trip home. But make one mistake or have one touch of bad luck, and you had a very good chance of ending up dead. Featuring photographs throughout and detailed aircraft profiles, this book tells the little-known story of these brave men and their efforts to defeat the aerial forces defending Japan.

Download or read book Mustang Designer written by Ray Wagner and published by Smithsonian Institution. This book was released on 2014-12-02 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mustang Designer tells the story of American wartime fighter development, including engines and armaments, as part of a nationwide program of aircraft builders and fliers, focusing on Edgar Schmued, the designer of the Mustang. The P-51 Mustang is widely regarded as the best propeller-driven fighter that ever flew. What many might not realize is that the plane's developer was a German migrant. This book tells of how Schmued created a weapon that would ultimately prove lethal to the aspirations of those who had seized control over his native land.

Download or read book Allison Engined P 51 Mustang written by Martyn Chorlton and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-09-20 with total page 67 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A definitive technical guide to the early Allison-engined P-51 Mustang variants. While the introduction of the Merlin engine did improve the Mustang's performance and produce the bubble-canopied fighters with which we associate the name, credit must be given to the Allison-engined variants that preceded it. From its inception in early 1940, the Mustang's development was extraordinarily rapid – such was the need for a fighter at the time, and the confidence in its design. By early January 1942, the Mustang was in service with the RAF, flying low-level armed reconnaissance operations over Northern France. Despite later Merlin variants arriving in-theatre, this remained a hunting ground for the Allison Mustangs through to D-Day and beyond – a remarkable service length. This book shows how, in American hands the Allison-engined Mustangs performed as dive-bombers and fighters, serving with distinction in North Africa and the Far East.

Download or read book To Fly and Fight written by Clarence E. "Bud" Anderson and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2017-05-12 with total page 576 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bud Anderson is a flyers flyer. The Californians enduring love of flying began in the 1920s with the planes that flew over his fathers farm. In January 1942, he entered the Army Air Corps Aviation Cadet Program. Later after he received his wings and flew P-39s, he was chosen as one of the original flight leaders of the new 357th Fighter Group. Equipped with the new and deadly P-51 Mustang, the group shot down five enemy aircraft for each one it lost while escorting bombers to targets deep inside Germany. But the price was high. Half of its pilots were killed or imprisoned, including some of Buds closest friends. In February 1944, Bud Anderson, entered the uncertain, exhilarating, and deadly world of aerial combat. He flew two tours of combat against the Luftwaffe in less than a year. In battles sometimes involving hundreds of airplanes, he ranked among the groups leading aces with 16 aerial victories. He flew 116 missions in his old crow without ever being hit by enemy aircraft or turning back for any reason, despite one life or death confrontation after another. His friend Chuck Yeager, who flew with Anderson in the 357th, says, In an airplane, the guy was a mongoosethe best fighter pilot I ever saw. Buds years as a test pilot were at least as risky. In one bizarre experiment, he repeatedly linked up in midair with a B-29 bomber, wingtip to wingtip. In other tests, he flew a jet fighter that was launched and retrieved from a giant B-36 bomber. As in combat, he lost many friends flying tests such as these. Bud commanded a squadron of F-86 jet fighters in postwar Korea, and a wing of F-105s on Okinawa during the mid-1960s. In 1970 at age 48, he flew combat strikes as a wing commander against communist supply lines. To Fly and Fight is about flying, plain and simple: the joys and dangers and the very special skills it demands. Touching, thoughtful, and dead honest, it is the story of a boy who grew up living his dream.

Download or read book P 51 Mustang written by Paul A. Ludwig and published by Ian Allan Publishing. This book was released on 2003 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Not just another book on the P-51 Mustang, this detailed and controversial book forms an investigative analysis into the often - and little-known - troubled design and development history of America's premier piston-engined fighter aircraft. Supported by hundreds of rare photos and superb color artwork, author Paul Ludwig weaves a carefully crafted story.

Download or read book P 51 Mustang written by John M. Dibbs and published by Zenith Press. This book was released on 2002-11-30 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The greatest fighter to emerge from WWII is brought vividly to life through the stunning photographs of John Dibbs. The story is told through quotes and anecdotes of the greatest Mustang Aces of WWII. Poignant archival images are complemented by 21 of the most accurate Mustang restorations flying today. Filled with details of the men, machines and battle groups, plus forewords by Aces "Bud" Anderson and Col. Robert Goebel.

Download or read book Modelling the P 51 Mustang written by Stan Spooner and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-02-20 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The North American P-51 Mustang had a humble genesis as a British request for single engine escort fighters but became, arguably, World War II's most important fighter aircraft. It had incredible endurance, fantastic maneuverability and excellent high-altitude performance, and served throughout World War II and beyond. This aircraft is one that holds a great deal of interest for many modellers around the world. This book takes the modeller from the aircraft's beginnings to the ultimate manifestation of this elegant and deadly bird, the F-82 G/H Twin Mustang. Special attention is paid to painting both both interiors and exteriors, with a wide range of different schemes used.

Download or read book P 51B Mustang written by James William "Bill" Marshall and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2020-07-09 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During World War II, the United States Army Air Corps was led by a cadre of officers who believed implicitly that military aviation, particularly fast heavy bombers at high altitude, would be able to destroy strategic enemy targets during daylight with minimal losses. However, by 1942 the Flying Fortress was proving vulnerable to Luftwaffe fighters. This title charts the United States Army Air Force's struggle to develop a Long-Range Escort which would enable them to achieve the Combined Bomber Objectives and gain mastery of the skies over the Third Reich. The commitment of the USAAF to the Mediterranean and European theatres saw an increasingly desperate need to find a fighter escort, which reached crisis point in 1943 as losses suffered in the Tidal Wave offensive and Schweinfurt-Regensburg-Munster raids emphasised the mounting strength of the Luftwaffe. The USAAF leaders increasingly accepted the probability of bomber losses, and the deployment of the P-51B Mustang solved the problem of Germany's layered defence strategy, as Luftwaffe fighters had been avoiding the P-47 Thunderbolt and P-38 Lightening escort fighters by concentrating their attacks beyond the range of the Thunderbolt and Lightning. The P-51B duly emerged as the 'The Bastard Stepchild' that the USAAF Material Division did not want, becoming the key Long-Range Escort fighter, alongside the P-38 and P-47, that defeated the Luftwaffe prior to D-Day. As well as the P-51B's history, this title explores the technical improvements made to each of these fighters, as well as the operational leadership and technical development of the Luftwaffe they fought against.

Download or read book P 51 Mustang written by Robert Jackson and published by Air World. This book was released on 2020-09-30 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An illustrated history of the renowned fighter aircraft, ideal for modelers and aviation enthusiasts: “Highly recommended.” —AMPS Indianapolis The North American P-51 Mustang was one of the most successful and effective fighter aircraft of all time. It was initially produced in response to a 1940 RAF requirement for a fast, heavily armed fighter able to operate effectively at altitudes in excess of 20,000 feet. North American built the prototype in 117 days, and the aircraft, designated NA-73X, flew on October 26, 1940. The first of 320 production Mustang Is for the RAF flew on May 1, 1941, powered by an 1,100hp Allison V-1710-39 engine. RAF test pilots soon found that with this powerplant the aircraft did not perform well at high altitude, but that its low-level performance was excellent. It was when the Mustang airframe was married to a Packard-built Rolls-Royce Merlin engine that the aircraft’s true excellence became apparent. Possessing a greater combat radius than any other Allied single-engine fighter, it became synonymous with the Allied victory in the air. During the last eighteen months of the war in Europe, escorting bomber formations, it hounded the Luftwaffe to destruction in the very heart of Germany. In the Pacific, operating from advance bases, it ranged over the Japanese Home Islands, joining carrier-borne fighters such as the Grumman Hellcat to bring the Allies massive air superiority. Yet the Mustang came about almost by accident, a product of the Royal Air Force’s urgent need for new combat aircraft in the dark days of 1940, when Britain, fighting for survival, turned to the United States for help in the island nation’s darkest hour. This is its story, including plentiful photos and information for modelers.

Download or read book P 51 Mustang Combat Missions written by Martin W. Bowman and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "P-51 Mustang combat missions brings to life what it was like to fly - and take into battle - one of the defining fighter aircraft of World War II. The tactics, violence, and tension of U.S. fighter missions in the European Theater of Operations (ETO) are revealed in exceptional drams and detail. More than seventy first-person accounts from P-51 Mustang pilots, including renowned aces. Detailed accounts of every type of P-51 operation, from bomber escorts over the Reich to hedge-skimming strafing runs over German airfields in occupied France. Authoritative explanations of the P-51's historical development and technical characteristics. More than 300 high-quality archive and memorabilia photos." -- p.4 of cover.

Download or read book Me 262 vs P 51 Mustang written by Robert Forsyth and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2019-12-26 with total page 81 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Arguably two of the finest fighters built during the course of World War II, the Me 262 and P-51 Mustang heralded new dawns in aircraft performance. Making its operational debut in the summer of 1944, and powered by the Jumo 004 jet engine, the Me 262 outclassed Allied planes in terms of speed and firepower ratio, offering a formidable punch with four 30 mm MK 108 nose-mounted cannons. However, in the P-51, fitted with the Rolls-Royce (Packard) Merlin engine and drop tanks, the USAAF finally had a fighter that had the 'legs' to escort its heavy bombers deep into Reich airspace and back. If flown to its strengths, the P-51 was more than capable of taking on the feared Me 262 on an equal footing, despite the differences in power and top speed. Indeed, the Mustang proved to be the Luftwaffe fighter arm's nemesis. When the P-51D sortied over Germany from the summer of 1944 onwards, it shredded through the ill-trained and depleted Gruppen of the Luftwaffe's defence wings. This book examines the two fighters in detail, exploring their history and development and containing accurate descriptions of the combats between the P-51 Mustang and the Me 262 in what were some of the most bitter and large-scale aerial actions fought over Europe in 1944–45.

Download or read book North American P 51 Mustang written by Jarrod Cotter and published by Haynes Publishing UK. This book was released on 2016-05-05 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The North American P-51 Mustang holds an important place in US aviation history as its finest fighter aircraft of all time. During the Second World War it was the only Allied fighter capable of flying to Berlin and back from Britain without refueling. Read about the Mustang's illustrious combat history and take a close-up look at how it is constructed. Discover what it takes to own and fly this classic fighter, and find out how engineers keep it airworthy. Centrepieces of this manual are co-author Maurice Hammond's Second World War-vintage Merlin-engine P-51Ds - Janie and Marinell.

Download or read book Spitfire vs Bf 109 written by Tony Holmes and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2020-05-28 with total page 147 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Churchill's words, 'never was so much owed by so many to so few', came to encapsulate how, in a few critical months, the entire fate of the British Empire, if not the war, hung in the balance, to be determined by a handful of pilots fighting tirelessly in the skies over Britain. Tony Holmes describes the Battle of Britain, the clash between the Spitfire I/II and the Bf 109E - detailing not only the key elements of both aircraft types - the airframe, engine, armament and flying characteristics, but also the pilots' training and tactics accompanied by diagrams of actual flight formations. The growing influence of radar and the efforts of British air defences are also examined, as are real-life engagements - from both German and British perspectives. With a wealth of first-hand accounts from the veterans who strapped themselves into these legendary machines as well as illustrations and cockpit-view artwork, this book puts the reader in the midst of a dogfight, providing a unique insight into one of the greatest duels of history in the world's first major aerial battle.

Download or read book Mustang Ace written by Robert J. Goebel and published by . This book was released on 2010-09 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: MUSTANG ACE Memoirs of a P-51 Fighter Pilot by Robert J. Goebel When Robert Goebel left home to join the Army Air Corps in 1942, he was a 19 years old and a high-school graduate. The only previous time he had traveled far from his native Racine, Wisconsin, was an epic trip in the summer of 1940, when he and a pal had ridden the rails to Texas and back to visit two of Bob's brothers who were in the service. Even during his weeks in Pre-flight training, young Goebel found that he felt at home in the service, and he looked forward to the great adventure on which he had embarked out of a sense of patriotism and yearning to see the wide world. Easygoing and quick to learn, Cadet Goebel worked his way steadily through the Basic, Primary, and Advanced phases of military flight training, and found in himself an aptitude for flight. However, like nearly all of his comrades, Goebel could not learn how to hit a flying target with the guns mounted on the trainers he flew. Nevertheless, he-and they-graduated to fighter school and, after earning their wings and commissions, were sent on to join an operational fighter unit - in Panama. The months of rigorous operational flying in Panama seasoned Lieutenant Goebel and his young companions, and made better aviators of them, but it did little to advance their gunnery skills. When a new crop of novices arrived, Goebel and his companions found themselves on their way to Europe to join the fight. They wound up in North Africa in the Spring of 1944 with orders to join the 31st Fighter Group in Italy. Just as Goebel and his young companions were about to join the leading fighter group in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, the 31st turned in its British-made Spitfire fighters for new P-51 Mustang fighters. Within weeks, Bob Goebel had flown his first combat missions and had lost his element leader, who was shot down in a swirling dogfight. But master the job he did. A steady succession of bomber-escort missions over southeastern Europe slowly and then more rapidly forced Lieutenant Goebel to settle in and master aerial gunnery and the mentally taxing high-speed dogfights in which he became engaged. At last, he shot down his first German fighter. And he advanced to positions of leadership, in due course leading the entire 31st Fighter Group deep into enemy territory. At length, he shot down a fifth German and thus became an ace-a Mustang Ace. And then he shot down three Germans in one day on a mission to Ploesti, Rumania. He flew to Russia and back, and supported the invasion of southern France. In the end, by September 1944, he had eleven confirmed victories to his credit and was one of the 308th Fighter Squadron's most respected combat leaders. When he was sent home at the end of his combat tour, Captain Bob Goebel was not yet 22 years old.

Download or read book North American P 51 Mustang written by Mariusz Lukasik and published by Top Drawings. This book was released on 2017-04-03 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Aircraft described as flying wing have aroused interest of the designers since the early, pioneer years of aviation. This definition is used to describe aircraft with specific design solutions, allowing for resignation from conventional vertical and horizontal empennage and primarily from conventional fuselage. Virtually the whole airframe comprises only the wing, housing both the cockpit and powerplant. A sugroup of flying wings are tailless aircraft, differing from the traditional designs only in lack of horizontal empennage. 18

Download or read book P 51 Mustang written by Gardner N. Hatch and published by Turner Publishing Company. This book was released on 1993 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fittingly named for a wild horse, this fighter became widely recognized for its power and beauty. It was a key element in Allied air superiority in Europe during WWII, destroying 9,081 enemy aircraft, and with similar results in the Korean War. Striking photos and the personal stories of the men who flew it help to tell the story of this superior aircraft. Full color photos of restored P-51s. Revised and updated

Download or read book P 51 Mustang written by Cory Graff and published by Zenith Press. This book was released on 2015-10-19 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: P-51 Mustang celebrates the 75th anniversary of the most iconic American warbird; from combat to recon, D-Day to the Battle of the Bulge.