Following on from the letter by Tony O’Gorman, (Oxford Mail, September 8) about the North American Mustang, I thought readers might be interested in the fascinating history of this aircraft.
At the start of World War Two, Britain had to evacuate its forces from Europe, and also lost a quarter of its fighter aircraft.
An attempt to rectify this problem was to purchase fighters from the USA.
Unfortunately, the American standard fighter, the Curtis Hawk series, was never able to reach the standards of European fighters.
To overcome this shortcoming in American aircraft, Britain was allowed to put forward a tender for a fighter from North American Aviation.
So desperate was the situation it was specified that the new fighter be ready in six months when it took about four years to develop a new aircraft.
The first sample of this new fighter arrived in Britain in November 1941.
An evaluation found it so good that it was followed by a stream of enough machines to fill 23 squadrons. These machines were used for photographic recognisance as their performance at high altitude made them unsuitable as an interceptor.
The Mustang had a better rate of climb than both the Thunderbolt or the Lightning and much development went into the Mustang over time, with the final version being able to reach 487mph.
It has to be remembered that this was the high point of the piston-engined fighter and also its swan song.
From now on the jet would take over.
DERRICK HOLT Fortnam Close Headington Oxford
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