Cruising Fighters

Title

Cruising Fighters

Artist

Maj Seda

Medium

Photograph - Photograph

Description

A pair of beautiful vintage Spitfire and P-51D Mustang fighter planes side by side cruising around the Top Gear track at Dunsfold Park in Surrey England (Wings and Wheels event). A magnificent sight.

The P-51 was the most successful long-range fighter escort of World War II, but it was not an instant success. The P-51 was designed for the British in only 120 days to meet their requirement to purchase more fighters. The first P-51Ds were built with Allison engines; these aircraft were remarkable at low altitudes, but were considered under-powered and disappointing at higher altitudes. In late 1942 the P-51 was transformed when, in the UK, Rolls Royce Merlin engines were tested in place of the Allison. The Merlin, as used in the Spitfire, was then license-built by Packard in the USA and in 1943 was installed in the P-51B & C models. The Merlin made the 1944 P-51D, with its bubble canopy and six-guns, possibly the most beautiful and potent fighter of the time.

The P-51D range was an incredible 2,055m (3,327km) with a level maximum speed of 437mph (703kph) at 25,000 feet; the max diving speed was 505mph (818kph). Its huge fuel capacity was 1,000 litres internally and 815 litres in drop tanks. It service ceiling was 41,900 feet (12,800m).

The most famous military aircraft of all time and one of the most beautiful ever built, the Spitfire is perhaps chiefly remembered as the symbol of the Battle of Britain. The Spitfire was developed by Supermarine brilliant chief designer, R.J. Mitchell, and was the only British type in continuous construction throughout World War II. The RAF first Spitfires were delivered to No 19 Squadron at Duxford in 1938 and by July 1940, on the eve of the Battle of Britain, nineteen RAF squadrons were equipped with the new fighter. During WWII, thanks to constant improvements and modifications, the Spitfire was never outclassed as a short-ranged piston-engined interceptor apart from a brief period in 1941-1942, when it first encountered the Focke-Wulf FW-190. When production finally ceased in 1949, more than 22,000 Spitfires and Seafires (the naval version of the Spitfire) had been built in some forty different variants.

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September 13th, 2014

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