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P-51B Mustang: North American’s Bastard Stepchild that Saved the Eighth Air Force
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.
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.
352 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 25, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 20, 2022
This is a great book! It is not a “page turner”. And yes, it has some editing problems; a couple of sentences and short paragraphs appear twice, so if you are the type of reader who is really bothered by that you might not enjoy it.
I've been in love with the Mustang my entire life and have read pretty much everything written on the subject. If you are looking for pilot stories, there are many books that are better. But if you are interested in the story of how the Mustang came to be, how the USAAF bureaucracy tried to stymie its development and introduction, and how the young men in P-51 cockpits saved the American daylight bombing campaign and ultimately defeated the Luftwaffe in time for the D-Day landings, then this is the book for you!
I've been in love with the Mustang my entire life and have read pretty much everything written on the subject. If you are looking for pilot stories, there are many books that are better. But if you are interested in the story of how the Mustang came to be, how the USAAF bureaucracy tried to stymie its development and introduction, and how the young men in P-51 cockpits saved the American daylight bombing campaign and ultimately defeated the Luftwaffe in time for the D-Day landings, then this is the book for you!
July 7, 2021
Despite the title, this is a comprehensive history of the development of the P-51 Mustang from its first ancestral sketches up to the P-51B and early P-51D. Some condensed combat history is included in the final chapters, mostly to support the author's contention that the "Merlin Mustang" was the pivotal fighter for the 8th Air Force. But primarily this is a walk through the design documentation.
I'm giving it four stars rather than five primarily because, unfortunately, some sections of the text are poorly edited. This affects primarily some of the earlier chapters, where you can find paragraphs and sentences repeated verbatim, as if someone made a hasty compilation of different drafts. In later chapters the authors also struggled to give a logical structure to the text, and the somewhat haphazard placement of titles doesn't help. For a book with an otherwise high production quality, it is a regrettable flaw. To be fair, the authors made a worthy attempt to translate concepts of mathematics and aerodynamics in everyday language, which is a challenge at the best of times.
The book has aspects of fandom history, with its little obsessions: In this case, the development of the P-51's famous ventral installation for the coolant radiator. But if the interest of the authors in this detail is a bit nerdy, it also results in a very detailed and informative study of how the external and internal aerodynamics of this item were developed and optimised. That is true of most of the book: Deep interest, research and attention to detail have produced a really good study of the development of the P-51. It is also carefully put into historical context, and well illustrated. Picture reproduction quality is excellent.
Most of the USAAF fighters of WW2 now seem to have their bulky monograph, imperfect but too good to ignore: For the P-38 and P-47 Warren M. Bodie wrote the long form, for the P-39 it was Birch Matthews. This book will rightfully stand next to them on the bookshelf. Now somebody recommend me an equally good history of the P-40...
I'm giving it four stars rather than five primarily because, unfortunately, some sections of the text are poorly edited. This affects primarily some of the earlier chapters, where you can find paragraphs and sentences repeated verbatim, as if someone made a hasty compilation of different drafts. In later chapters the authors also struggled to give a logical structure to the text, and the somewhat haphazard placement of titles doesn't help. For a book with an otherwise high production quality, it is a regrettable flaw. To be fair, the authors made a worthy attempt to translate concepts of mathematics and aerodynamics in everyday language, which is a challenge at the best of times.
The book has aspects of fandom history, with its little obsessions: In this case, the development of the P-51's famous ventral installation for the coolant radiator. But if the interest of the authors in this detail is a bit nerdy, it also results in a very detailed and informative study of how the external and internal aerodynamics of this item were developed and optimised. That is true of most of the book: Deep interest, research and attention to detail have produced a really good study of the development of the P-51. It is also carefully put into historical context, and well illustrated. Picture reproduction quality is excellent.
Most of the USAAF fighters of WW2 now seem to have their bulky monograph, imperfect but too good to ignore: For the P-38 and P-47 Warren M. Bodie wrote the long form, for the P-39 it was Birch Matthews. This book will rightfully stand next to them on the bookshelf. Now somebody recommend me an equally good history of the P-40...
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews