What you need to know: The North American P-51D Mustang is widely considered one of the greatest fighter aircraft of all time, and earned its place in history for its pivotal role in World War II.

-With its powerful Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, exceptional range, and six .50-caliber machine guns, the P-51D was a revolution, enabling long-range bomber escort deep into Germany and Japan. Famous pilots such as Chuck Yeager achieved ace status flying Mustangs, and the aircraft shot down almost 5,000 enemy planes.

-Even though the Mustang became obsolete during the jet age, the Mustang continued to serve in the Korean War and remains a favorite among aviation enthusiasts to this day.

Why the P-51D Mustang is still considered the greatest fighter aircraft of all time

So which warbird deserves the title of best fighter of all time?

Of course, this is a highly subjective matter that will cause some controversy no matter what answer I give, so as I write this I am mentally preparing myself to avoid the rotten tomatoes that some readers will surely throw my way with this answer: North American P-51 Mustang, or more precisely, the P-51D Mustang.

No, the Mustang does not have the staggering 104:0 air kill ratio of the F-15 Eagle and the 135:4 kill ratio of the F-14 Tomcat (sorry, The best gun fans) or a 76:1 kill ratio in the F-16 Fighting Falcon.

However, with all due respect to these impressive combat aircraft and their crews, none of these more modern jet jockeys played a winning role in a conflict as massive as World War II, so the P-51 DMustang gets the nod.

Other contenders for the World War II title

“Oh, Chris,” I can already hear fans of various other WWII fighters urging me on, “if you’re going to make winning ‘Dubya-Dubya Two’ your bar, what about (insert their favorite WWII warbird here )…” And to maintain “fairness and balance” (to borrow a Fox News slogan), quite a few of them presented valuable arguments.

There is the P-38 Lightning, piloted by all-time American ace Major Richard “Dick” Bong.

There is the P-47 Thunderbolt, also known as “The Flying Bathtub” or “The Jug”, flown by two of America’s leading aces in the European theater, Francis “Gabby” Gabreski and Robert S. Johnson, which also enjoyed an unrivaled reputation for ability withstand brutal punishment and still return home safely.

There is also the F6F Hellcat, which finally allowed the US Navy to gain air superiority over the infamous Japanese Zero, and was flown by the USN’s leading ace, Commander Dave McCampbell, at the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

Still, others can make valid arguments in favor of the F4U Corsair (Black Sheep Squadron, anyone?), the P-40 (Flying Tigers, anyone?), and so on).

P-51D – a game changer

However, none of the above-mentioned aircraft achieved the status of a real breakthrough during the “Great” as the P-51 DMustang.

After all, it was Mustang who supposedly suggested it Reichsmarschall and the head of the Luftwaffe, Hermann Goering, admit: “The day I saw the Mustangs over Berlin, I knew everything was fine.”

That said, in extolling the Mustang’s successes, it’s important to note that we’re talking about the D model here. After all, as my colleague Peter Suciu noted: “Although the P-51 Mustang has gone down in history as arguably the best operational piston-engine fighter ever built and was able to provide long-range escort for American heavy bombers that could take the war into the heart of Nazi Germany, it did not make an immediate impression.”

Mr. Suciu adds: “The Mustang entered RAF service in 1942 and was not an immediate success. It was initially equipped with a liquid-cooled Allison V-1710 engine, which limited its performance at altitude. For this reason, the aircraft was mainly used for armed tactical reconnaissance.”

P-51D specifics

Enter the P-51D with a much more powerful Rolls-Royce Merlin engine that solved altitude performance problems, and a teardrop or “bubble” canopy that solved the poor rearward visibility problems of earlier versions of the aircraft.

These factors, combined with six .50-caliber Browning machine guns – three on each wing – meant that the Mustang’s reputation finally gained traction (bad pun intended).

As already indicated, the Mustang was thus able to escort B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators to perform their delightful precision bombing missions deep into Germany, no longer suffering intolerable losses from the ravages of the Luftwaffe.

Meanwhile, in the Pacific, P-51D pilots were performing the same type of crucial escort service for B-29 Superfortresses during their bombing raids on Japan.

Fight record

Mustang pilots shot down a total of 4,950 enemy aircraft, with over 250 pilots achieving ace status and an average of 7.69 air kills.

The most famous of these pilots was Chuck Yeager – the man who broke the sound barrier – who scored 11.5 victories, including 5 in one day, achieving “day ace” status, and even managed to shoot down a Messerschmitt 262 Schwalbe (“Swallow”), the world’s first operational jet fighter.

At this point I must confess my personal sentimental attitude towards the P-51: in 1986, at the age of 11, the first model airplane I built was a 1:48 scale Monogram P-51D; at the same time, I was reading Yeager’s best-selling autobiography at the time and was fascinated by Chuck’s previously mentioned World War II exploits, and I especially liked his description of one of his shootings as (paraphrasing here): “Man, I opened that (Messerschmitt) 109 like it was a can of spam.”

P-51D – Beyond World War II

The P-51D served admirably in the Korean War even though it became obsolete in the jet era, especially the enemy-piloted MiG-15 fighters and the F-86 Saber, which became a mainstay of the United States Air Force during the conflict.

The United States Air Force retired its last P-51 in 1978, but the mighty Mustang remained in service with the Dominican Republic Air Force until 1984.

About 175 Mustangs still fly today thanks to private collectors and restoration experts, and about 100 other Mustangs are on display in museums.

About the author

Christian D. Orr is a former Air Force officer, federal law enforcement officer and private military contractor (he worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany and the Pentagon). Chris holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and a master’s degree in intelligence studies (terrorism studies concentration) from American Military University (AMU). It was also published in Daily Torch AND Journal of Intelligence and Cybersecurity.

All images are a mix of Creative Commons and Shutterstock.