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Originally Posted by Mikado463
 agreed ......and when it came to the Mustang the 'D' version was the one. It's .50 cal brownings and rearward visibility were much improved |
The .50 cal was a much needed addition in terms of the firepower but in order to get to and keep up with the Luftwaffe in the first place, the Packard V-1650 Merlin, two stage/two speed supercharged engine was the real winner in the D model P-51. The original Allison engine could not keep up in terms of speed or altitude and the Luftwaffe often used the surprise tactic of flying high and diving in for the kill.
While I mention it without giving the Luftwaffe any credit or honor, truth be told, they were much more advanced in experience and technology. A quick glance at the aces of the skies during WWII and confirmed kills, the list is very sobering... One will quickly notice there are over 140 Luftwaffe pilots that held mind blowing numbers of kills before the list gets to any allied pilots, Soviets included. Ivan Kozhedub was an ace pilot and a national Soviet hero with over 60 confirmed kills while the top Luftwaffe pilot had over 340 kills and the list goes on to include 140 other Luftwaffe pilots that were close to those numbers.... The allies definitely had their work cut out for them fighting with the Luftwaffe in the skies as well as on the ground. If it wasn’t for all the allies pulling together and the great sacrifices required, the war could have ended very differently. God bless all the WWII vets, they gave it their all for our freedom.