The HORRORS of P-51 Mustang Pilots

The HORRORS of P-51 Mustang Pilots

When people talk about the P-51 Mustang, they usually focus on how it saved the bombing campaign and won the air war over Europe. But what most people don't realize is that winning the air war was actually the beginning of the worst part for Mustang pilots, not the end. Nearly 80% of P-51s lost during the war weren't shot down by enemy fighters. The real killer was something else entirely.

This video covers the full story of the Mustang that most channels skip over, from the 1943 bomber crisis when B-17 loss rates meant only 14% of crews would survive their 25-mission tour, to why the original Allison-powered Mustang couldn't solve the escort problem until a Rolls-Royce test pilot got an idea that changed everything. We explain how the Merlin engine transformed an adequate low-altitude fighter into the aircraft that broke the Luftwaffe during Big Week.

You'll learn why the P-51's liquid-cooled engine made it three times more likely to be lost to ground fire than the air-cooled P-47, and why strafing missions became far deadlier than dogfighting ever was. The video also covers the Pacific VLR missions from Iwo Jima, including Black Friday, when 27 Mustangs went down in a single storm with only one loss to enemy action. We end with the story of Philip Schlamberg, the 19-year-old pilot who became the last American combat death of World War II on a mission that flew after Japan had already surrendered.

Related: P-51 Mustang history, Eighth Air Force bomber escort, Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, Big Week 1944, WWII fighter pilot life, Iwo Jima VLR missions, P-47 vs P-51 survivability, Luftwaffe defeat


Chapters:

0:00 What Really Killed Mustang Pilots
4:40 The Fighter Nobody Asked For
8:28 Into the Meat Grinder
15:08 Why Strafing Was Worse Than Dogfighting
20:49 Black Friday Over Japan