Mustang NL51ZW
This exact Mustang was constructed in 1945 as a P-51D-30-NA by North American at Inglewood in California and was taken on strength with the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) with serial number 44-74453 later that year. In 1947 the Mustang was transferred to the United States Air Force (USAF) before being withdrawn from active service a year later and put into storage.
In 1948 the aircraft was redesignated as F-51D and on the 8th of November 1950, it was delivered to the Royal Canadian Air Force where it served with the No. 442 “City of Vancouver” Squadron (Auxiliary) at RCAF Station Sea Island with serial number 9597.
It was then transferred to the No. 402 “City of Winnipeg” Squadron (Auxiliary) at RCAF Stevenson Field where it flew up until its retirement in 1959. After its military service, the Mustang was remanufactured as an Executive Mustang by Cavalier and sold into private hands where it went through a number of different owners.
In March 1963 the aircraft was involved in a fatal accident but was restored again in 1984 using components from an Australian CAC airframe and new-build spars. Once restored it once again went through a number of different owners wearing different colour schemes before having another accident in 2011 when the landing gear collapsed on landing.
It was restored back to airworthy condition in 2013 and performed its first post-restoration flight on the 30th of October 2014. It was exported to Germany in 2020 and is currently based at Siegerland Airport.
North American P-51 Mustang
The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in April 1940 by a design team headed by James Kindelberger of North American Aviation (NAA) in response to a requirement of the British Purchasing Commission. The Purchasing Commission approached North American Aviation to build Curtiss P-40 fighters under license for the Royal Air Force (RAF). Rather than build an old design from another company, North American Aviation proposed the design and production of a more modern fighter. The prototype NA-73X airframe was rolled out on 9 September 1940, 102 days after the contract was signed, and first flew on 26 October.
The Mustang was designed to use the Allison V-1710 engine, which had limited high-altitude performance in its earlier variants. The aircraft was first flown operationally by the RAF as a tactical-reconnaissance aircraft and fighter bomber (Mustang Mk I). Replacing the Allison with a Rolls-Royce Merlin resulted in the P-51B/C (Mustang Mk III) model, and transformed the aircraft's performance at altitudes above 15,000 ft (4,600 m) (without sacrificing range), allowing it to compete with the Luftwaffe's fighters. The definitive version, the P-51D, was powered by the Packard V-1650-7, a license-built version of the two-speed, two-stage-supercharged Merlin 66, and was armed with six .50 calibre (12.7 mm) AN/M2 Browning machine guns.
From late 1943, P-51Bs and P-51Cs (supplemented by P-51Ds from mid-1944) were used by the USAAF's Eighth Air Force to escort bombers in raids over Germany, while the RAF's Second Tactical Air Force and the USAAF's Ninth Air Force used the Merlin-powered Mustangs as fighter-bombers, roles in which the Mustang helped ensure Allied air superiority in 1944. The P-51 was also used by Allied air forces in the North African, Mediterranean, Italian, and Pacific theatres. During World War II, Mustang pilots claimed to have destroyed 4,950 enemy aircraft.
At the start of the Korean War, the Mustang, by then redesignated F-51, was the main fighter of the United States until jet fighters, including North American's F-86, took over this role; the Mustang then became a specialized fighter-bomber. Despite the advent of jet fighters, the Mustang remained in service with some air forces until the early 1980s. After the Korean War, Mustangs became popular civilian warbirds and air racing aircraft.