354th Fighter Group

The North American P-51 Mustang changed the tide of WWII in Europe. No longer did the B-17 and B-24 Bombers have to fly deep into the heart of Germany unescorted. The P-51 Mustang with it's Rolls Royce Merlin engine had the range and the speed to go anywhere in Europe. First flown by the 354th Fighter Group, the "Pioneer Mustang Group" of the 9th Air Force, the P-51 not only proved to be an excellent fighter plane, but also an excellent fighter bomber in the close ground support role. Nothing was safe on the ground or in the air when P-51 Mustangs were about. Everything was a target of opportunity to the P-51. Through each stage of it's development, it became better and better. Many think, especially the men who flew it that is was the best fighter plane ever built. It was certainly the right machine at the right time and many a bomber crew owed their lives to the swift little P-51 Mustang that they affectionately referred to as the "Little Friends". The Mustang saw many firsts, it was flown by America's first all African American fighter squadron, the Tuskegee Airmen, their red tailed Mustangs were a comforting sight to 15th Air Force bombers flying out of Italy, no bomber was ever shot down by an enemy aircraft, while being escorted by the "Red Tails". The P-51 was the first prop driven fighter plane to go head to head with the first operational German jet fighters and while much slower, the innovative American pilots devised strategies of attack against the faster high flying German jets and the P-51 became the first prop driven plane to shoot down a jet fighter. They went on to serve with distinction in the Korean War, not only with the USAF, but with the Royal Australian Air Force as well. Many nations and American National Air Guards continued to fly the P-51 long after the Korean War. The P-51 was truly a remarkable plane. So the next time you see one of these planes at an air show or a museum, say a little prayer to God and a thank you to the plane and the brave young men who flew it, because in no small way, we owe our freedom to this plane and the men who maintained it and flew it, they literally changed the course of history.

A companion piece to this illustration is my portrait of William "Ben" King a P-51 Mustang Ace: [link]



This illustration was created in Adobe Illustrator 8.0 from builders blueprints on both an Apple G3 iMac 600 and an Apple G4 Power Mac.