Japanese Pilots Were Stunned When 444mph P-51 Mustangs Appeared Over Tokyo With Drop Tanks

Video from the channel WW2 Prison Camps and 2 more about North American P-51 Mustang, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 51:05. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.

Narrated documentary on the transformation of the North American P-51 Mustang from a low-altitude fighter into a long-range escort fighter, and on its role in the air campaign against Germany and, in the final stretch, against Japan. Although the title mentions Tokyo, most of the account takes place in Europe.

The Mustang was born in 1940 at North American Aviation, commissioned by the British Purchasing Commission. The NA-73X prototype, designed by Edgar Schmued's team with a laminar-flow wing, was completed in 117 days and flew on October 26, 1940. Its Allison V-1710 engine lost power above roughly 15,000 feet, so the RAF assigned it to low-altitude reconnaissance. On April 30, 1942, Rolls-Royce test pilot Ronald Harker flew it at Duxford and proposed fitting it with a Merlin 61. With support from Ray Dorey and Sir Wilfrid Freeman, five aircraft were converted (Mustang X); the first flew at Hucknall on October 13, 1942, reaching 433 mph at 28,000 feet. Packard built the Merlin under license as the V-1650, and the first P-51B with that engine flew at Inglewood on May 5, 1943.

The video contrasts this story with the heavy losses of unescorted B-17s during the Schweinfurt raids of August 17 and October 14, 1943.

The 354th Fighter Group flew the first combat mission with the P-51B on December 1, 1943, led by Don Blakeslee. The documentary describes the P-51B's early problems: machine-gun jams, poor rear visibility and an 85-gallon tank behind the pilot that shifted the center of gravity aft. Doolittle released the fighters from close escort duty, and James H. Howard single-handedly defended the bombers over Oschersleben on January 11, 1944, an action for which he received the Medal of Honor. After Big Week (February 20-25, 1944), the Mustangs reached Berlin on March 6. The account also covers Chuck Yeager, George Preddy, WASP pilots such as Betty Gillies, the missions from Iwo Jima to Tokyo starting April 7, 1945, and the "Black Friday" of June 1, 1945, when a weather front brought down 27 Mustangs.