North American Mustang P-51 Long-Range Fighter (Profiles of Flight) by Martin Bowman.pdf

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First published in Great Britain in 2011 by

PEN & SWORD AVIATION

An imprint of

Pen & Sword Books Ltd

47 Church Street

Barnsley

South Yorkshire

S70 2AS

9781783461158

The right of Dave Windle & Martin W. Bowman to be identified as Authors of this work has been

asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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Table of Contents

Title Page

NORTH AMERICAN P-51 MUSTANG

PROFILES OF FLIGHT - P-51 MUSTANG P-51A, P-51B, P-51C, TP-51B, P-51D, TF-51D, P-51K

N ORTH A MERICA N P-51 MUSTA N G

The Mustang story begins in April 1940 when British Direct Purchasing Commission officials

visiting America sought a new long-range fighter to supplement the Spitfire and Hurricane. A number

of US aircraft manufacturers were called to a conference in New York on 5 April and the delegates

included James H ‘Dutch’ Kindelberger, president of North American Aviation Incorporated, who

was accompanied by the company’s executive vice-president, J. Leland Attwood. When Curtiss-

Wright Corporation offered to supply the Curtiss H-87 (P-40D), which was already in production, it

was suggested that North American could ease the supply problem by assisting in production of the

aircraft. Then Kindelberger offered to design and build a new and infinitely superior fighter

specifically developed to meet the British requirement using the same 1,150-hp Allison V-1710-39

engine. The British Purchasing Commission accepted their proposal but the contract also called for

various types of other fittings and armament to be provided by the British, who specified that the cost

of each aircraft should not exceed $40,000. North American’s only previous experience in fighter

design and construction was limited to the NA-50A, which had been designed in 1939 for Siam (now

Thailand). However, Kindelberger had studied accounts of air combat in Europe and he had already

conceived the broad outlines of a new combat-worthy fighter, designated NA-73. Also, much useful

technical data was obtained from the Curtiss-Wright Corporation. The first prototype was not built

from production drawings, but rather from design layouts so that a faster rate could be achieved. All

told, 3,500 original drawings were required, in addition to a wind-tunnel test programme and a

structural test programme, which had to be virtually completed prior to the first flight. The design

and production team worked sixteen hours each day, six days a week, finishing at 1800 hours.

Mustang Is of 168 Squadron RAF at Odiham in 1942. (via Harry Holmes)

Kindelberger and Attwood called a meeting of the design team at North American, including:

Raymond H. Rice (chief engineer); chief design engineer, German-born Edgar Schmued, who had

previously worked for Fokker and Messerschmitt; E. J. Horkey (aerodynamicist); and Ken Bowen

(project engineer). Arthur G. Patch and John F. Steppe were to oversee wing and fuselage design

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