P-51 Mustang

The P-51 Mustang was an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber designed and built by North American Aviation, first flying in October 1940 and entering operational service with the Royal Air Force on January 5, 1942. A total of 15,686 Mustangs were produced, making it one of the most widely manufactured fighters of its era, and later variants fitted with the British Rolls-Royce Merlin engine gained the range and high-altitude performance needed to escort American heavy bombers all the way to targets deep inside Germany and back. Mustang pilots were credited with destroying 4,950 enemy aircraft during the Second World War, a record that helped establish the type as one of the most effective piston-engine fighters of the conflict. Its combination of long range, speed and maneuverability let the Mustang finally break the German fighter defense of daylight Allied bombing raids from 1944 onward.