P-51 Mustang Vs. P-38 Lightning

Warbirds World War Two was a perfect time for the creation, development, and implementation of weapons of all kinds, as any history buff knows. This makes it a fascinating period to study for nearly any weapons enthusiast. One particular area that was greatly pioneered during the war was aircraft. Most air forces at the outset of the war were still flying World War One vintage along with a few slightly newer models developed in the Twenties and Thirties. The only air force that had begun developing newer planes was the German Luftwaffe. This was mainly because they had an agenda. During the war, however, everyone was scrambling to be faster, stronger, more maneuverable, and harder-hitting than the other guy. Because of this America developed many different airplanes with varying success each time. Two of the more well known ones were the P-51 Mustang and the P-38 Lightning. These planes bore almost no similarities outwardly, with the Lightning being much larger and …show more content…
Army Air Corps, but all that changed in 1939 (Aircraft Of The World). In just 117 days the P-51 was drawn out, built, tested, and put into production (Aircraft Of The World). This nimble aircraft brought it all together in one of the most complete packages of all time. It possessed almost magical maneuverability due to the laminar-flow-wing technology (Aircraft Of The World). A Rolls Royce-Merlin engine gave the P-51 an outstanding speed of 445 mph and the performance at high altitudes that was sorely needed (Aircraft Of The World). Its firepower was some of the most potent in the form of six .50 caliber machine guns. Range of the Mustang proved to be truly the most impressive feature of the aircraft. It had a combat radius of 750 miles with drop tanks (Aircraft Of The World). It would take the bombers to the target and bring them home again a feat that many bomber crews were grateful for. Also, the Mustang had