The Tactic that Killed P-51 Mustang Pilots

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I lived in the FRG from the early 1970s. My landlord, Herr Lehr, was a veteran of WW2 and had been invalided early. We spoke of the war as often as I was able to prevail upon him to do so. He told me among many other things that from a certain point in the conflict one just didn't go out in daylight, PERIOD. He described the fighters attacking farms, farmers, tractors, livestock, anything that moved or sustained the war effort. I've often tried to imagine any given strike which after the bombs were toggled, 600 fighters were then freed up to ravage the countryside, all the way back to the coast. Not to mention aircraft already at it as part of the tactical air force. Since relating some of his experiences has in the past caused some people heartburn, let me just relate, mine are solely retold observations, with no hidden messages whatsoever. Duane Beeson had been a Eagle Squadron pilot, getting out of his Spitfire and into the Jug with kills already under his belt. Seems to me his airplane was named 'The Boise Bee'. I have seen a P-51B under restoration in Nampa, Idaho and it was marked as Beesons Mustang. I think Beeson lived through the war and was dead a year later from a brain tumor.

I wonder if they could have restricted the strafing to the P-47? It had the air cooled engine, a tougher frame and 2 more 50 caliber machine guns.

Little known but infuriating scandal related to the AAF "Bomber Mafia" in 1943. P-47s were perfectly capable of escorting bombers as far as Berlin, had the Army Air Corps ordered large capacity drop tanks that had been designed and were available to be mass produced. Air Corps leadership chose not to, thinking it was unnecessary. Even when it proved to be disastrous, their first response was the B-17 gunships, a ridiculous concept. Meanwhile, P-47s in the Far East were doing very long range escort missions in New Guinea, equivalent to Berlin and back, using a large capacity drop tank developed by the Australians. The post WW2 narrative that fully escorted missions deep into Germany were not possible until the Mustang was false, to cover the bad decisions. Also, the P-47 was the better fighter overall, but the Mustang's fuel burn advantage and much lower unit cost (about 2/3rds) made it a no brainer logistically and is the real reason it dominated later in the war.

Unfortunately in Korea the same error was repeated; P51 (F51) got used as ground attackers. Probably because most P47 already have been scrapped at this time.

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No wonder so many of the pilots preferred the P47 to the P51.

War thunder got a good person to sponsor!

In the category, "If I knew then what I know how"... attacking fuel processing facilities sounds like it may have had better success.

Bomber Mafia running the show

The tactic might have been sound...if the better aircraft suited to that task were chosen and removing flak positions first, aircraft second. Taking out the guys shooting at you kinda helps the mission. Generals/Commanders can be stupid.

Hopefully you tell Gabreski’s story as well as Zemke’s story. For that matter, the story of the P-47 only 56th FG

the P-51 started life as a Fighter Bomber for the RAF as the MkI. In the first 18months of combat with the RAF, only 8 Mustangs were shot down. And those 8 losses include multiple aircraft lost to unknown causes. All unknown causes were assumed to be from enemy fighters or AAA, even though most were crashing due to CFIT from pilots flying so low and fast. The Allison Mustangs were the single fastest piston aircraft of WW2 at low altitude (less than 15k ft). The P-51 had more armor than a P-47 too. P-51: Firewall, Windscreen, Dash, seat back P-47: windscreen, dash, seat back The A-36A was the single best dive bomber in all of WW2 and was preferred by its pilots over the P-47. And it was the Only Allied dive bomber in all of WW2 permitted to make Danger Close drops of 500lb bombs to support friendly troops in contact.

Great video

P-47 never had that problem. look at the P51 that crashed at a airshow in 2011 lots of casualties

I read a lot of Osprey publishing books like the down to earth strafing aces but I know you like reading the Osprey publishing books too like the Aces and Units great video TJ3 Q: Would you make a story of the American Spitfire Aces of WW2.

You'd really like have to have perfect vision to be able to see any of this crap on the ground

That radar guided 20 and 40 mm flak cannons were deadly.The majority of people dont know the germans had them.Yes,they had them in different configurations.

Me as a Anti Air Junky on Hearts of Iron 4. Proud of the success of the humble anti aircraft crews.

Attacking a German airfield in a P-47 was considered to be a suicide mission. P-47 pilots considered strafing heavily defended ground targets, suicide. Even the P-47 couldn't survive in those conditions. Typhoons/Tempests were getting slaughtered trying to catch Me262 landing at their airfields. RAF Losses of Typhoons/Tempests were so bad that attacking Me262 at their airfields was prohibited by the RAF.