Most books covering the P-51 Mustang begin with the design and development phase. It’s not uncommon for the books to mention briefly that Mustangs were sent to England early in the war and the deficiencies they had. The authors explain that soon after, the Rolls Royce Merlin replaced the original Allison engine. Generally, from this point forward, the authors describe what a great fighter the P-51 was – and rightfully so, but the original Allison-powered aircraft is all but ignored.
Author Martyn Chorlton doesn’t take that path in his new book, Allison-Engined P-51 Mustang. He describes what a great airplane this was in operations other than those of the high-altitude fighter – e.g., dive-bombing, low-level reconnaissance, and ground-attack.
