North American Aviation P-51 Mustang

Description

Regarded as the finest US fighter of the World War II, the Mustang was built in astonishing numbers - 7956 P-51Ds alone - as the might of America's overwhelming industrial base swung into line behind the nation's global war effort. This new series follows the great fighter types of the conflict from the raw metal phase, through construction and testing, to the combat theatres of Europe, the Middle East, China/Burma/India and the Pacific. Using official and private archival black and white and colour material, all the facts behind the Mustang's construction are revealed. Complemented by an introductory text explaining the production processes involved and the evolution of the fighter, plus detailed photo captions, the professional images taken by North American Aviation's own photographic department set the scene for the later front line views captured by air and ground crews and USAAF photographers alike. The detailed appendices include comprehensive production batch lists of aircraft constructed during the war years, scale drawings illustrating all major types and a cutaway over a double page spread