P-51 Mustang

WWII triple Mustang ace explains the Mustang’s strong points in combat and takes us along during in a breathless blow-by-blow account of a dogfight with a Messerschmitt while a formation of B-17’s was bearing down on them.

War in the Pacific stretched the limits of human and airplane endurance as can be seen by the 11 hour missions Barrett Tillman describes. For endless hours, Mustang pilots droned along with the enemy being mechanical failure, weather, navigation and fuel starvation not the Japanese.

For every hour of glory in combat, ground crews put countless hours into keeping their beloved Musang ready for the fight. They are the most forgotten warriors, but if it hadn’t been for them, each Mustang would have flown exactly one mission before being grounded with mechanical problems.

She started out purely as a gun fighter, but soon became a do-everything ordninance delivery system. Barrett Tillman explains the various munitions carried by the Mustang and details the various systems, including the gun sights, required for the mission.

Author Jenry Sakaida tells the unknown tale of a P-51C Mustang that was captured intact by the Japanese who then proceeded to fly it in an effort to learn its secrets. The first thing they found was that it was a truly superb airplane. After that, everything was secondary.

Through the words of both WWII and Korean Mustang drivers, author/historian Warren Thompson, shows us what it was like to be king of the hill while fighting Messerschmitts but be scrambling for your life while fighting a MiG. Two wars, same airplane, different perspectives.

Jan Tegler has spent hours with Mustang pilots, Robert Riddle and Alden Rigby, writing down their tales, some momentous, some funny, some horrifying that give us a better insight into the Mustang pilot’s war.