Later in WWII the Allied bombers were flying deep into Germany but suffered tremendous losses
because of the lack of range the fighter escorts had. German fighters would wait beyond the
range of the Allied fighters and then attack the vulnerable bombers. Once the P-51 called
Mustang by the British had the Allison engine replaced with a British Merlin it possessed the high
performance that had been lacking. With drop tanks the P-51 had the range to escort bombers all
the way to Berlin and back.

Clarence Emil “Bud” Anderson flew 116 sorties while assigned to the 363rd FS, 357th FG.
During the 116 missions Anderson’s aircraft was never hit by enemy fire and he never had to turn
back for any reason. During this second tour he returned from a mission and commented to his
crew-chief that sometime all that green paint had to go because it added unnecessary weight that
took away from the aircraft performance. The next morning Bud discovered his P-51 now had a
sparkling bare metal finish. His ground crew had stayed up all night wiping the paint off using
gasoline-soaked rags resulting in raw and bloody hands. Anderson always praised his ground-
crew for the way they dedicated themselves to keeping his aircraft in top condition. Bud
completed 2 tours in Europe and returned to the USA in February 1945. When he retired from the
USAF in 1972 as a colonel he had been decorated 25 times, took part in Korea and Vietnam, was
a test pilot and various other jobs.

Specifications for the North American Aviation P-51D Mustang

Tasks – Dive-bomber, bomber-escort, ground-attack, interceptor, photo recon

Number Produced All Variants – 14,819

Dimensions
Wing Span – 37 ft   (11.27 m)
Length – 32 ft 3 in   (9.82 m)
Height – 13 ft 8 in   (4.16 m)

Weight
Empty – 7,125 lb   (3,232 kg)
Gross – 10,100 lb   (4,581 kg)
Maximum Take-off – 11,600 lb   (5,262 kg)

Performance
Engine – Packard Merlin two-staged supercharged V-1650-7, 12 cylinder V engine 1,695 hp.
Maximum Speed – 437 mph   (703 km/h)
Ceiling – 41,900 ft   (12,771 m)
Range – 950 miles   (1,529 km)
Maximum Range – 2,300 miles   (3,701 km)

Armament
(6) .50 caliber MG
Maximum External Bomb Load – 2,000 lb   (907 kg)
Or (4) .5 inch rockets.

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