Birds of Prey

World War II wasn’t won in battle alone. The engineering know-how and industrial might of the United States was a big key to the Allied victory.

That’s particularly evident in the thousands of aircraft the U.S. produced in the walk up to and during the war itself. While quality vehicles were produced by other nations – Britain’s Supermarine Spitfire, German Messerchmitts and Foke-Wulfs and Japanese Zeroes – America’s aviation industry churned out one superior design after another, from heavy bombers to long-range bombers to agile fighters to durable carrier-based aircraft.

One such example is the P-51 Mustang.

The plane was originally designed for use by Britain’s Royal Air Force, which had an urgent need for fighters during the Blitz on London. The U.S. Army Air Corps had to be sweet-talked into taking delivery of the Mustang.

Once it was in the air, however, the P-51 proved to be an outstanding machine. The aircraft was fast, agile, capable of taking enemy fire and – best of all – had a long range, which increased their value as escorts to vulnerable bomber runs deep in German territory.

By the end of the war, the P-51 Mustang had become the second most-commonly built aircraft in the U.S. arsenal.