North American Aviation P-51 Mustang (Osprey Production Line to Frontline 1)

Regarded as the finest US fighter of the World War II, the Mustang was built in astonishing numbers - 7956 P-51Ds alone - as the might of America's overwhelming industrial base swung into line behind the nation's global war effort. This new series follows the great fighter types of the conflict from the raw metal phase, through construction and testing, to the combat theatres of Europe, the Middle East, China/Burma/India and the Pacific. Using official and private archival black and white and colour material, all the facts behind the Mustang's construction are revealed. Complemented by an introductory text explaining the production processes involved and the evolution of the fighter, plus detailed photo captions, the professional images taken by North American Aviation's own photographic department set the scene for the later front line views captured by air and ground crews and USAAF photographers alike. The detailed appendices include comprehensive production batch lists of aircraft constructed during the war years, scale drawings illustrating all major types and a cutaway over a double page spread Title1 1 Page_02 2 Page_03 3 Page_04 4 Page_05 5 Page_06 6 Page_07 7 Page_08 8 Page_09 9 Page_0010 10 Page_0011 11 Page_0012 12 Page_0013 13 Page_0014 14 Page_0015 15 Page_0016 16 Page_0017 17 Page_0018 18 Page_0019 19 Page_0020 20 Page_0021 21 Page_0022 22 Page_0023 23 Page_0024 24 Page_0025 25 Page_0026 26 Page_0027 27 Page_0028 28 Page_0029 29 Page_0030 30 Page_0031 31 Page_0032 32 Page_0033 33 Page_0034 34 Page_0035 35 Page_0036 36 Page_0037 37 Page_0038 38 Page_0039 39 Page_0040 40 Page_0041 41 Page_0042 42 Page_0043 43 Page_0044 44 Page_0045 45 Page_0046 46 Page_0047 47 Page_0048 48 Page_0049 49 Page_0050 50 Page_0051 51 Page_0052 52 Page_0053 53 Page_0054 54 Page_0055 55 Page_0056 56 Page_0057 57 Page_0058 58 Page_0059 59 Page_0060 60 Page_0061 61 Page_0062 62 Page_0063 63 Page_0064 64 Page_0065 65 Page_0066 66 Page_0067 67 Page_0068 68 Page_0069 69 Page_0070 70 Page_0071 71 Page_0072 72 Page_0073 73 Page_0074 74 Page_0075 75 Page_0076 76 Page_0077 77 Page_0078 78 Page_0079 79 Page_0080 80 Page_0081 81 Page_0082 82 Page_0083 83 Page_0084 84 Page_0085 85 Page_0086 86 Page_0087 87 Page_0088 88 Page_0089 89 Page_0090 90 Page_0091 91 Page_0092 92 Page_0093 93 Page_0094 94 Page_0095 95 Page_0096 96 Page_0097 97 Page_0098 98 Page_0099 99 Page_01 100 Page_0100 101 Page_0101 102 Page_0102 103 Page_0103 104 Page_0104 105 Page_0105 106 Page_0106 107 Page_0107 108 Page_0108 109 Page_0109 110 Page_0110 111 Page_0111 112 Page_0112 113 Page_0113 114 Page_0114 115 Page_0115 116 Page_0116 117 Page_0117 118 Page_0118 119 Page_0119 120 Page_0120 121 Page_0121 122 Page_0122 123 Page_0123 124 Page_0124 125 Page_0125 126 Page_0126 127 Page_0127 128 Page_0128 129 Page_0129 130 Page_0130 131 Page_0131 132 Page_0132 133 Page_0133 134 Page_0134 135 Page_0135 136 Page_0136 137 Page_0137 138 Page_0138 139 Page_0139 140 Page_0140 141 Page_0141 142 Page_0142 143 Page_0143 144 Page_0144 145 Title2 146 Undoubtedly the finest US fighter of World War 2, the Mustang was built in astonishing numbers - 7956 P-51Ds alone - as the might of America's overwhelming industrial base swung into line behind the nation's global war effort. This new series follows the great fighter types of the conflict from the raw metal phase, through construction and testing, to the combat theatres of Europe, the Middle East, China/Burma/India and the Pacific. This new series traces the development of fighting equipment from the raw metal phase through construction and testing to combat. The first volume examines the finest U.S. fighter of World War II, the Mustang, through archival photos, detailed scale drawings, text outlining the plane's history and production techniques, and appendices packed with production facts and figures. First in a new series PRODUCTION LINE TO FRONTLINE, following the great fighter aircraft of World War 2, from the raw metal phase, through construction and testing, to the various fields of combat. Official and private archival photographs are used, complemented by an introductory text, detailed photo captions and a double-page cutaway. BY MID-OCTOBER 1940, North American Aviation (NAA) had become firmly established at Mines Field in southern California - the airfield that is now Los Angeles International Airport.