A North American P-51D with the nickname "Gentleman Jim".
The P-51 Mustang was conceived, designed and built by North American Aviation (NAA), under the direction of chief designer Edgar Schmued at the request of the British. The prototype NA-73x airframe was presented, engineless, on September 9, 1940, 102 days after the contract was signed, and flew for the first time on October 26.
The Mustang was originally designed to use the Allison V-1710 engine, which provided only limited high-altitude performance. It was first flown operationally by the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a tactical reconnaissance aircraft and fighter-bomber. The addition of the Rolls-Royce Merlin to the P-51B/C model changed the Mustang's performance at altitudes above 15,000 feet (5,000 meters), allowing it to match or exceed the Luftwaffe's fighter aircraft. The final version, the P-51D, was powered by the Packard V-1650-7, a license-built version of the Rolls-Royce Merlin 60. The aircraft consumed relatively little fuel compared to other aircraft and had a large fuel capacity. This made the aircraft an ideal escort fighter to protect the Allied bombers.
I took this photo on August 29, 2015.
I am Jaap van den Berg and photography has become a great passion of mine since 2010. Since then I travel all over the world to take pictures of military aircrafts. But besides aircraft I also love to photograph other subjects like landscapes, architecture, flowers, animals, .. Read more…