In this episode, VDH and Sami cover the situation in Ukraine, the legal challenges faced by Letitia James, the historical significance of air power during World War II, and more.
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John the Econ
The British approached North American to contract-build P-40s, as NAA was under-capacity at the moment. North American said that instead of building P-40s (as it was already recognized as obsolete) they could come up with a far better clean-sheet design in less than 3 months. Due to pre-war budgeting constraints that limited fighter buys, the USAAF bought the A-36 as ground attack/dive bombers instead of a fighter, as the Allison engine was not effective at the higher altitudes where combat was now taking place. The British noted the excellent handling qualities and potentially superior combat radius of the Mustang, but were disappointed with the engine performance. What seemed to them to be a no-brainer, they substituted the Allison engine with the Rolls-Royce Merlin that was currently in the Hurricane & Spitfire and other of their best airframes. This made the Mustang a high-altitude contender to effectively counter the evolving ME-109s and eventually FW-190s. Soon, the USAAF was testing this combination, the P-51A as a fighter was contracted for, and Packard was soon building Merlins under license in the US for the Mustang and other planes.
The Mustang was never the fastest, highest, farthest, most maneuverable, most heavily armed, or most durable plane of the war. However, it was close enough by nearly every metric and with the combination of better trained pilots soon achieved air superiority over Europe and then as fighter cover for the B-29 over Japan.
The British approached North American to contract-build P-40s, as NAA was under-capacity at the moment. North American said that instead of building P-40s (as it was already recognized as obsolete) they could come up with a far better clean-sheet design in less than 3 months. Due to pre-war budgeting constraints that limited fighter buys, the USAAF bought the A-36 as ground attack/dive bombers instead of a fighter, as the Allison engine was not effective at the higher altitudes where combat was now taking place. The British noted the excellent handling qualities and potentially superior combat radius of the Mustang, but were disappointed with the engine performance. What seemed to them to be a no-brainer, they substituted the Allison engine with the Rolls-Royce Merlin that was currently in the Hurricane & Spitfire and other of their best airframes. This made the Mustang a high-altitude contender to effectively counter the evolving ME-109s and eventually FW-190s. Soon, the USAAF was testing this combination, the P-51A as a fighter was contracted for, and Packard was soon building Merlins under license in the US for the Mustang and other planes.
The Mustang was never the fastest, highest, farthest, most maneuverable, most heavily armed, or most durable plane of the war. However, it was close enough by nearly every metric and with the combination of better trained pilots soon achieved air superiority over Europe and then as fighter cover for the B-29 over Japan.