North American P-51 Mustang

The P-51 Mustang is one of the greatest warplanes of all time. Developed as a private venture, it was seized upon by the British as the answer to their shortage of fighter aircraft in the early months of World War Two. Early Allison-engined Mustangs lacked performance at high altitude, but the great promise of the airframe was clear, and when fitted with the Rolls-Royce Merlin the Mustang became one of the best pistoned-engined fighters ever built. Not only was its performance on a par with the best British and German fighters of the era, but it was the first single-engined fighter with range sufficient to accompany bombers from Great Britain to Berlin and back. A product of over two decades of research by Malcolm V. Lowe, this new history of the Mustang tells the story of its development, technical features and operational history, and also looks at its long post-war career as warbird and racer. Malcolm Lowe also dispels many of the myths that have grown up around the Mustang. AUTHOR: Malcolm V. Lowe has written for journals and periodicals world-wide on aviation, space-flight, classic cars and ships, and has built a reputation for careful and authoritative research, based where possible on original documentation and photography. He has also written for more than thirty magazines world-wide, and most recently has been an historical contributor to such leading magazines as Aeroplane Monthly in Britain, Flieger Magazin and Aero International in Germany and Popular Mechanics in the US. This new work on the P-51 Mustang is his fifteenth published book. SELLING POINTS: ? A new history of the Mustang covering its development, technical features and operational history ? The P-51 Mustang is one of the greatest single-engined warplanes of all time ? An important addition to the aviation literature of WWII ? Profusely illustrated with 300 colour tb/w photographs ? Malcolm V. Lowe is an aviation author with numerous books to his credit ILLUSTRATIONS 300 colour tb/w photographs *