Ouch

My favorite airplane of all time (you didn't know I had one, did you?): the WWII P-51 Mustang.

 

Beautiful, beautiful airplane. Many say the most beautiful of all time. And it's bite could match it's bark.

 

It is the namesake of the Ford Mustang (yes, the car was named after the airplane, not the horse).

 

The P-51 was conceived primarily as a long-range bomber escort, but also saw much action as a fighter. It was originally designed by North American Aviation for the British, and was first used by the Royal Air Force under the name "Spitfire" in the months before the US entered the war. The US version, with many changes and an improved engine, was called the P-51 Mustang. Several models were made but the most feared, the P-51D, was powered by the Packard version of the Rolls Royce Merlin V-12 engine, refitted with a two-stage Wright supercharger and producing 1,400 HP. This engine was manufactured at the Packard plant we often visit today. It made the P-51D the fastest thing in the skies until jets came along. And it could lift the plane up to 30,000 feet - that is truly amazing for a piston-engine aircraft.

 

This is also the plane that the famed Tuskegee Airmen (known as the Red Tails) flew. It has a storied history indeed. Precious few of these beauties are left in working order.

 

And as of today, knock one more off that list.

 

A P-51 collided mid-air with a Douglas A-1 Skyraider yesterday in an air show in England and was destroyed. Now, lest you think I'm a heartless bastard, I must mention that nobody was hurt in this crash. The A-1 was banged up but managed to land safely, and the P-51 pilot jumped out with a chute on (no ejector seats on those old fighters) and he's ok too.

 

But the poor P-51 crashed and it's destroyed...a huge loss for anyone who loves airplanes.