Preserved North American P51D Mustang and B-17G Flying Fortress Sally B flying at the Flying Legends 2015 Air Show
The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang was an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II, the Korean War and other conflicts. The Mustang was conceived, designed and built by North American Aviation (NAA) in response to a specification issued directly to NAA by the British Purchasing Commission. The prototype NA-73X airframe was rolled out on 9 September 1940 The Mustang was originally designed to use the Allison V-1710 engine, which had limited high-altitude performance. It was first flown operationally by the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a tactical-reconnaissance aircraft and fighter-bomber (Mustang Mk I). The addition of the Rolls-Royce Merlin to the P-51B/C model transformed the Mustang's performance at altitudes above 15,000 ft, giving it a performance that matched or bettered the majority of the Luftwaffe's fighters at altitude. The definitive version, the P-51D, was powered by the Packard V-1650-7, a license-built version of the Rolls-Royce Merlin 60 series two-stage two-speed supercharged engine, and armed with six .50 caliber ( mm) M2 Browning machine guns. This aircraft was manufactured in 1944 for the United States Army Air Force and registered as military serial number 44-73877. She did not see combat action during WWII. In 2012 she was purchased by a UK owner and delivered to the UK in August that year. Since then the aeroplane has been overhauled and refitted and is now in the colour scheme of Lt. Blanchford, RAF 112 Squadron which operated from Italy in 1945 on ground attack missions over the Balkans and along the Adriatic coast. Sally B is the name of an airworthy 1945-built Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress, the only one remaining airworthy in Europe. Based at the Imperial War Museum Duxford, England, Sally B flies at airshows in the UK and across Europe as well as serving as an airborne memorial to the United States Army Air Forces airmen who lost their lives in the European theatre during World War II.
Size: 4000px × 3200px
Location: Imperial War Museum, Duxford, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom
Photo credit: © Niall Ferguson / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: -17g, 2, 112, air, aircraft, blanchford, bomber, fighter, flying, fortress, legends, lt., military, mustang, p51d, raf, show, squadron, usaf, war, world, ww2
