Bud Anderson
P-51 Mustang
Originally designed as an export for our Allies, the P-51 didn't come into its own until British engineers mated it with the Rolls-Royce "Merlin" engine. The Merlin gave the Mustang impressive performance at high altitudes, far superior than the Mustang's original spec power plant, the Allison engine. When installed, exterior drop fuel tanks gave the Mustang long legs which gave our bombers, for the first time in the war, fighter escorts all the way to targets deep inside Germany. Bradley’s 354th Fighter Group was the test-bed for the P-51, Bradley and his fellow pilots were the first in the ETO to put the Mustang to the test in combat.
