This is a MUST SEE! These were truely THE GREATEST GENERATION!

[Skinhead]

The P 51 was the most versatile fighter plane of WW2.  It excelled at both ground level support of the troops and high altitude long range fighter cover for the heavy bombers.  It was the equal of the best fighter planes in dog fights.  It was also an accident of fate or timing rather than planning that it existed.



In late 1940 or early '41 Britain was desperately short of fighter planes of any sort and had sent some RAF people to the US to see what they could buy.  Hoping to buy some P-40's, they talked with Curtis Wright, but found all the P-40's booked up by the US govt. They got a tip from Curtis Wright that North American Aviation had no contracts yet and was looking for business, and that Curtis Wright would license North American to build P-40's if they worked out an agreement.  When the RAF asked the small North American management crew if they would be interested, their answer was, "why do you want to buy an expensive high priced plane that would take well over a year to start any production when we have a new design worked out and can have a prototype ready for RAF test flights in 9 months, if you can get us an engine for it from Allison."  They made a deal and were very happy with the performance of the prototype and placed a production order.  When this news worked its way through to the Army Air Force, they decided to look into the possibilities and eventually ordered a production run that wound up as the A-36 low level fighter.  The Allison V12 was the only non-radial combat aircraft engine built in the USA, and unlike the Rolls Royce Merlin engine and the German ME 109, it did not have a supercharger, essential for combat above 15,000 ft altitude as well as top performance at lower altitudes.  After the RAF had a few months experience with the new plane, the RAF did the obvious thing and grafted a Rolls Royce Merlin engine from a Spitfire onto one of their P-51's. At this time the RAF and the North American folks discovered that Packard Motor Company in the US was building Rolls Royce engines for the PT Boats of the Navy.  Packard was happy to add Merlin engines for North American to its production runs and the

P-51 was officially launched.



One of the benefits of North American being small and nearly broke was that the design engineers had to do double duty as production engineers, so they designed the plane for simple and fast (as well as low cost) production.  At that time the conventional practice was to build the airframe and then have people crawl inside to string all the wires and cables and this more than doubled the assembly time and cost.  North American designed the fuselage in two half shells and had the electrical, hydraulic and control cables, etc., installed in each half prior to sewing the halves together.  The P-51 cost about one third of the P-38 and about half the cost of the P-47 and F6F Navy planes.    




http://www.asb.tv/videos/view.php?v=1bf99434&br=500





The video has great resolution and should be watched in "Full Screen", to do so click on the box with the arrow coming out of it in the lower right corner of the video presentation.

[RP#62]

Awesome. Thanks
-RP

[Serk]

Wow... Awesome, thanks for sharing!

Dangit, I think I've got something in my eye...

[98 T]

WOW....JUST....... WOW!!

[Jess from VA]

The sad truth is that general aviation is dying off.  Most of the dedicated pilots and plane owners are older guys.   

[shortleg]

 
    It is funny how that generation never talked.
To get my father and uncle to talk was like pulling a rusty nail out.
   I had to tell my Dad and uncle that I needed to pass on the storys
and facts to the next generation so they would know and relise what they have.
  I have pages and pages of storys from the both of them. They always make
feel like a bullet just missed me when I read them.
              Shortleg[Dave]

[rmrc51]

Absolutely FANTASTIC!!!!!!

[solo1]

Thanks.  Great pilots, great plane, great video.

[Dubsvalk]

The owner of the company I work for owns a P51 Mustang.  He flys it regularly with other vintage planes like the B29s  and can be seen in flying magazines from time-to-time.  He also owns an A6 trainer 1943 model which I have had the pleasure to fly.  Haven't gotten to fly in the P51 yet.
dubs

[olddog1946]

That was a very interesting post...After WWII my father went to work for North American Aviation and worked for them for 19 + years...Unfortunately, they had a bad rap for laying people off to keep from having to pay any retirement benefits..Dad always said he'd be to valuable to them for that to happen, and continually took night classes to improve his education and skills..he did that his entire career with them, worked on salary and always put in extra time as well.....GUESS WHAT?   didn't matter a bit, they laid him off anyway, took him 2 yrs to find a job. which turned out to be an electrician helper and not enough money to live on..BUT it worked out because it got him flying again, ferrying business execs around the country to make extra money and getting his instructors license.. He was killed in a plane wreck, flying a Cessna 180..another long story.....but at any rate he died doing what he loved...I hope to do the same..

[Westernbiker]

JUST......SPEECHLESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[DIGGER]

That's great.......I'll pass around

[bigvalkriefan]

I have a great appreciation for the greatest generation. That was great. Thanks

[bassman]

EXCELLENT - THANKS !!!   No mention of the father and mother.....just the grandkids and grandfather...just wondering....

[Novavalker]

Great video. Thanks for passing this one along.