AIR FORCE LEGENDS 209 NORTH AMERICAN P-51H MUSTANG. INCLUDES LIGHTWEIGHT FIGHTERS XP-51F, XP51G, & XP51J.pdf

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FRONT COVER:
Mike Couches' P-51-H-10-NA, 44-
64551, civil registration N-551 H land-
ing at Madera, CA, on 16 August 1991.
(William Swisher)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
David R. McLaren was born and
raised in Springfield, lliinois. His love
affair with the Mustang began in 1948
as the local Air National Guard
squadron began to receive them. He
was ten years old at the time
.
In 1956
he became an air traffic controller, a
career that continued for thirty years.
Retiring from the FAA in 1986,
McLaren took up aviation writing as a
second career, a vocation and a
hobby that continues to serve him
weil.
The initial research of the P/F-
51 H appeared as a comprehensive
article in the American Aviation
Historical Society's AAHS Journal
Volume 25 Number 2 (summer 1980)
and Volume 25 number 3 (fall 1980).
This book is a vastly expanded and
updated revision of that article.
BACK COVER:
Top, North American Aviation P-51 H,
44-64164, was the fifth example of the
last production Mustang model built.
This was probably the most pho-
tographed "H" model ever. (NAA)
CONTRIBUTORS:
American Aviation Historical Society,
COL Ralph Bush
,
COL Robert
Mason, COL John
A.
DeVries, J. C.
Hopkins, Grant M. Haies, Gene
Boswell,
Roger D. Hubin, Dominick
Pisano,
Darreil Skuurich, Edward J.
Horkey, H. J. Schonenberg
,
AI Keller,
Dick
Phillips, B. C. Reynolds, Ed
Schmued,
David W. Menard, Roger
F. Besecker, Robert Esposito, David
Ostrowski,
Paul Stevens, John
Seibert,
Paul Coggan, Bob Chilton,
T.
Heffernan, Steve Pace, J. M. Bruce,
COL
Robert Stone, Judy Endicott,
COL
W.H
.
Meterholt, Robert O'Dell,
Mitch
Mayborn,
Norm Taylor,
Stephen J. Roberts, LTCOL Donald
E. Evett, E. Hine, Margaret B.
Livesay, Steve Myers, Ralph Brown,
Mildred W. Wiley, Roger G. Crewse,
Lionel Paul, North American Aviation
Diego Aerospace
(NAA), San
Museum (SDAM), Wayne Morris,
Peter M. Bowers, Dr. Raymond L.
Puffer / Air Force Flight Test Center
History Office (AFFTC/HO), Fred
Freeman, Norm Avery, Jonathan
Thompson,
Boeing
Historical
Archives, National Archives, Ron
Picciani, Don Spering
,
Marty Isham,
Doug Olson, Tom Hail / Texas Military
Forces Museum, Leo Kohn
,
Corwin
"Corky" Meyer, Thomas L. Gray,
William
T.
Larkins, William Swisher
and Nick Will
iams
Middle, Pennsylvania Air National
Guard F-51 H, 44-64346, of the 146th
FIS was painted orange for use as a
target tug during the 1954 Air Guard
Gunnery Meet. The underside of the air
scoop and wings were natural metal.
(Paulson via David Menard)
Bottom, the "Copperheads" of the
197th FBS, Arizona Air National Guard,
had this single F-51 H for a week in
December 1952, long enough to deco-
rate it in their own distinctive scheme.
(via David Menard)
SPECIFICATIONS
SPAN
P-51D
37'
as baseline
XP-51 F
XP-51G
XP-51J
P-51H-1
37'
37'
37'
37'
LENGTH
32' 2.5"
BASIC
I
GROSS WEIGHT
7,635
/
11,600
ENGINE
V-1650-7
32' 3"
32' 3"
33'
33' 4"
5,635/9,060
5,750/8,885
6,030
/
9,140
7,148/ 11,050
V-1650-3
RM-14SM
V-1710-119
V-1 650-9
CONTRACTS AND CONSTRUCTION
I
SERIAL NUMBERS
TYPE CHARGE
#
CONTRACT
XP-51F
NA-105 AC-37857
XP-51 F
NA-105 AC-37857
NA-105 AC-37857
XP-51 F
XP-51 G NA-105A
XP-51G NA-105A
XP-51J NA-105B
XP-51J NA-105B
AC-37857
AC-37857
AC-37857
AC-37857
#
CONST.
#
105-26883
105-26884
105-26885
105-25391
105-25392
105-47446
105-47447
126-37586
126-37606
126-37886
126-38140
SERIAL
#
43-43332
43-43333
43-43334
FIRST FLiGHT
2-1
4-44
5-22-44
5-20-44
PILOT
Chilton
Chilton
Chilton
Virgin
Barton
Welch
Krebs
Chilton
ISBN
0-942612-92-2
Steve Ginter, 1754 Warfield Cir., Si mi
Valley, California, 93063
All rights reserved. No part of this
publication may be reproduced,
stored
in
a retrieval system, or trans-
mitted in any form by any means elec-
tronic, mechanical, or otherwise with-
out the written, permission, of the
publisher.
43-43335 8-9-44
43-43336
11-14-44
43-76027 4-23-45
43-76028 1-29-46
44-64160 2-3-45
44-64180
44-64460
44-64714
44-64989
44-64990
44-65010-65159
45-31456-32236
45-32237 -33935
P-51 H-1 NA-126 AC-1752
P-51H-5 NA-126 AC-1752
P-51H-10 NA-126 AC-1752
contract canceled after
it otherwise would have run to
P-51H-15 NA-126 AC-1752
P-51H-20 NA-126 AC-1752
P-51 H-25 NA-129
P-51 L
NA-129
©
2000 by Steve Ginter
THE NORTH AMERICAN AVIATION P/F-51
H
LlGHTWEIGHT MUSTANG
BACKGROUND
The North American Aviation
Corporation's se ries of "Lightweight"
Mustangs, the XP-51 F, XP-51 G, XP-
51J
,
and ultimately the P-51H, came
as a result of North American's further
development of their standard P-51 A
and
B/C
designs. These efforts were
the direct result of combat experience
in Europe in attempting to counter the
fast German Luftwaffe's Focke Wulf
190 with its higher rate of roll, and the
requirement in the Pacific Theater for
a light, long-range fighter to counter
Japanese aircraft, particularly the
long-range, highly maneuverable
Mitsubishi A6M Reisen ("Zero" or
"Zeke").
THE XP-51F
The XP-51 F, the first of the new
designs, was
"born"
as the result of
several conferences between North
American
's
Mustang designer, Ed
Schmued, and members of the Royal
Air Force and Supermarine Aircraft.
Retaining all the previous Mustang
qualities, the XP-51 F only resembled
the earlier Mustangs in general
appearance. It was an entirely new
design
,
strictly to British specifica-
tions.
The Royal Air Force had reduced
criteria in comparison with the Army
Air Force: asking for a 4g stressed
landing gear, instead of 7g, a positive
6g flight stress, instead of 7.33g.
They did demand an increased rate of
c1imb and an improved rate of roll
,
however. Existing Mustangs, P-
51A/Bs, had a rate of c1imb to 20,000
feet that was 1,200 fpm slower than
the Spitfire, and the Focke Wulf 190
had twice the rate of aileron roll.
The first three XP-51 Fs were
given an Army Air Force Contract
Number of AC-37857 and a North
American Aviation (NAA) factory
"Charge Number" of NA-105 on 2
January 1943. This contract preced-
ed the conversion of the P-51 B to the
bubble canopied P-51 D by eight
weeks and the first contract for actual
P-51 Ds by three months. The XP-51 F
(the P-51 E designation was never
used) was powered by the same
Merlin engine utilized in the P-51
B/C,
the Packard-built RolIs-Royce V-165-
3 that were capable of producing
1680 BHP under optimum war emer-
gency conditions. Continuing with the
"Iightweight"
concept, an Aeroprod-
ucts three-blade Unimatic propeller
was utilized
,
to maintain aircraft
weight and balance. The P-51 pro-
peller blade weighed 100 pounds.
NAA test pilot Bob Chilton flew
the first XP-51 F, Air Force serial num-
ber 43-43332, on 14 February 1944,
thirteen months after the program got
under way. Despite pounds of
Simonize wax and many attempts,
the best he could do with 2,000 hp at
90" hg was 493 mph. This was more
than the RAF had asked for, but not
as much as the NAA engineering
team had desired. Chilton flew the
third XP-51 F, 43-43334, on 20 May,
and the second one, 43-43333, on 22
Above, North American Aviation test
pilot Bob Chilton flew most of the
"
Iightweight" Mustang test flights.
(NAA) Bottom, XP-51 F engine run-up.
The spinner is natural metal. (NAA)
May.
The first XP-51 F was flown for a
total of 147 flights by NAA, accumu-
lating 126:45 hours before being
transferred to NACA at Ames on 30
April 1945. It served with NACA until
6 November 1947, when it was sal-
vaged. The second XP-51 F was only
flown by NAA for 14 flights, totaling
7: 15 hours before being delivered to
the Vultee Factory at Burbank on 30
June. On 3 July it was se nt to Wright
Field, Ohio, and on 5 March 1945 it
was salvaged. The third XP-51 F
became Royal Air Force FR409. It
was flown seven times for 3:55 hours
before being sent to Boscombe
Down
,
England
,
for RAF evaluation
on 11 July 1944. According to Chilton,
the XP-51 F was the most fun to fly of
1
XP-51F
At lett, the instrument panel of the XP-
51 F showing a major departure from
previous Mustang instrument panels.
The flight instruments are grouped
within the white border in an attempt to
enhance the pilot's scan during IFR
flight conditions. (NAA) Below, XF-51 F
43-43392 was the first "F" and is seen
here with what looks like a yellow spin-
ner in the photo at bottom the spinner
appears to be red. As there are no
dates on any of these photos, it is
unknown which spinner color was
used first. (via Wayne Morris) Bottom,
right side view of XP-51 F shows the
elongated bubble canopy. (via SDAM)
2
[
XP-51F
At
right, the first XP-51 F, NA-105, 43-
43332
with the RolIs-Royce Merlin V-
1650-7
engine and an Aeroproducts
unimatic
three-bladed propeller that
spanned
eleven feet. (via Wayne
Morris)
Below, two left-side views of
XP-51
F 43-43332. Note the absence of
a
gun
sight and that the ventral
radia-
tor
design was carried through to suc-
ceeding
examples, as weil as into
the
P-82
Twin Mustang series. A unique
feature
of the lightweight Mustang
series
was the lightweight, simplistic
main
gear with much smaller ti res than
t
hat
used on the P-51A/B/C/D
Mustangs.
The XP-51 Fs and the initial
P-510s
did not have a dorsal fin
attached
to their vertical stabilizers.
(via
Peter M. Bowers)
3

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