0:00:31 > 0:00:34Europe, 1943.
0:00:34 > 0:00:40The Allies gamble all on daylight bombing of Germany by the US 8th Air Force.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43It's a gamble they are losing.
0:00:43 > 0:00:48'Wave after wave of enemy fighters attack the unescorted bombers.'
0:00:54 > 0:01:00In mid-1943 the 8th Air Force was basically being shot out of the sky.
0:01:02 > 0:01:05While the RAF bomb at night,
0:01:05 > 0:01:10the Americans are certain they can achieve better accuracy in daylight.
0:01:10 > 0:01:16But the lumbering bombers are easy prey for German fighters.
0:01:16 > 0:01:23The Americans had believed their B17 Flying Fortresses to be impregnable.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26They were wrong.
0:01:26 > 0:01:33We found out, to our dismay, that the vaunted firepower of the B17...
0:01:33 > 0:01:36was still not enough to protect us
0:01:36 > 0:01:41from a concentrated attack of German fighters.
0:01:42 > 0:01:48The daylight bombing campaign is threatened with failure,
0:01:48 > 0:01:53and with it, the most effective way of taking the war to Germany.
0:01:53 > 0:01:58The Americans need a fighter to match the bomber's 1,400 mile range,
0:01:58 > 0:02:01match its altitude of 35,000 feet,
0:02:01 > 0:02:04and THEN take on the Luftwaffe.
0:02:06 > 0:02:12Only one fighter has the capacity to save the daylight bombing campaign.
0:02:12 > 0:02:19The story of the Allied victory in the air over Germany is the story of the P51 Mustang.
0:02:24 > 0:02:29If you wanna go to Berlin and mix it up with the enemy,
0:02:29 > 0:02:34keep him off the bomber-stream, engage the Luftwaffe,
0:02:34 > 0:02:37it WAS the P51.
0:02:37 > 0:02:44I felt I had the best weapon available. State of the art.
0:02:44 > 0:02:50Everything that makes a good fighter was right at our fingertips.
0:02:50 > 0:02:56NEW SPEAKER: It was truly the sport car of its era. At the time...
0:02:56 > 0:03:02I felt like the luckiest pilot in the Air Force,
0:03:02 > 0:03:07to be able to fly the Mustang. It was the greatest!
0:03:07 > 0:03:13The Mustang, the saviour of the American air war, began life in 1940.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16Ironically, the British inspired it.
0:03:16 > 0:03:22A huge RAF order had led to North American Aviation's brand new fighter design.
0:03:22 > 0:03:28Combining the latest design methods and technology, it was named the P51.
0:03:28 > 0:03:32We were trying to be an isolationist nation.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35We weren't gonna go to war in Europe.
0:03:35 > 0:03:40So had it not been for the British buy of these airplanes,
0:03:40 > 0:03:44the US probably never would have had the P51.
0:03:44 > 0:03:49Typical of the British flair for naming, they named it the Mustang.
0:03:49 > 0:03:54'The P51 Mustang, with its killing potential
0:03:54 > 0:03:58'has brought new hope to a besieged Britain.'
0:03:58 > 0:04:03NEW SPEAKER: The RAF, when they got this aircraft late in 1941,
0:04:03 > 0:04:09used it as army support, a tactical fighter,
0:04:09 > 0:04:14shooting the enemy on the ground, low-level reconnaissance.
0:04:14 > 0:04:21It was a beautifully streamlined, aerodynamic airframe, but it had this Allison engine.
0:04:21 > 0:04:27It was a damn good engine at low altitude, but it had no supercharging.
0:04:27 > 0:04:30Above 15,000 feet, power fell off.
0:04:30 > 0:04:34It was no match for any German interceptor.
0:04:34 > 0:04:39The Mustang needed but one addition to make it a true thoroughbred.
0:04:39 > 0:04:43That addition came courtesy of the British.
0:04:45 > 0:04:49Fortunately, a few people influential in British production...
0:04:49 > 0:04:52managed to fly the airplane.
0:04:52 > 0:04:59One of them, Ronnie Harker from Rolls-Royce, said, "Let's put a Merlin on this thing."
0:04:59 > 0:05:07The British-made Merlin engine, produced by Rolls-Royce, had a peerless reputation for performance.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10It was the one used in the Spitfire.
0:05:10 > 0:05:14The supercharged Merlin doubled the P51's altitude.
0:05:14 > 0:05:19It could now fly as high as the American bombers, at 40,000 feet,
0:05:19 > 0:05:22six miles up in the sky.
0:05:22 > 0:05:26NEW SPEAKER: It was a quantum improvement,
0:05:26 > 0:05:34the introduction of the Rolls-Royce Merlin. And...does anything SOUND better?
0:05:34 > 0:05:37That dude just hums!
0:05:37 > 0:05:41It's just a LOVELY engine to listen to.
0:05:41 > 0:05:46Doesn't sound too bad inside the cockpit either!
0:05:50 > 0:05:55The Mustang cockpit is extremely well-organised.
0:05:55 > 0:06:00A pilot can just reach blindly and get the controls fairly quickly.
0:06:00 > 0:06:05This is the throttle, one of the finest-feeling in any airplane.
0:06:05 > 0:06:09Everyone loves this great handful of throttle.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12The stick. Up here, the machine guns,
0:06:12 > 0:06:16OR bombs. It has a trigger on the front, and a button on the top.
0:06:16 > 0:06:22You can use one for guns, one for bombs. Here's the fuel management.
0:06:22 > 0:06:26The flying instruments are well-organised.
0:06:26 > 0:06:30Altitude, air speed, compass.
0:06:30 > 0:06:35Turn and bank, propeller, mixture control.
0:06:35 > 0:06:40At the left are the flaps. All the trims, elevator, aileron, rudder.
0:06:40 > 0:06:46I've covered most of what a pilot does, THAT quickly. It's THAT manageable.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49The airplane's also simple OUTSIDE.
0:06:49 > 0:06:54The tail, straightforward and simple, with a mass-balanced elevator.
0:06:54 > 0:06:58Any WWII airplane is going to require a large rudder.
0:06:58 > 0:07:03Since the torque on the propeller's so intense, he needs a lot of this.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06This flap is massive.
0:07:06 > 0:07:10It's to slow the plane enough to land(!)
0:07:10 > 0:07:1550-calibre guns went up in here. Excellent firepower in six of them.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18Nice, thin laminar-flow wing.
0:07:18 > 0:07:24I can get my hand around the cord of this wing! The thinner, the faster.
0:07:24 > 0:07:29An enormous four-bladed Hamilton standard propeller in front.
0:07:29 > 0:07:31Eleven foot two in diameter.
0:07:31 > 0:07:37A massive gyroscope, controlled only by hand and feet, throttle and rudder.
0:07:37 > 0:07:42The great Merlin engine makes the airplane what it was in WWII.
0:07:42 > 0:07:47A high-altitude engine developed by the British,
0:07:47 > 0:07:51built by the Packard Motor Car Co in the US.
0:07:51 > 0:07:55It made the Mustang the high- altitude fighter that it was.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01I was 22. And at 22...
0:08:01 > 0:08:06one likes the good lines of...machinery,
0:08:06 > 0:08:08and young ladies...
0:08:08 > 0:08:13But the P51 simply had a class all of its own.
0:08:13 > 0:08:16It was a beauty to behold.
0:08:16 > 0:08:21In 1942, despite the high performance of the Mustang,
0:08:21 > 0:08:27America's air commanders put THEIR faith in the 8th Air Force bombers,
0:08:27 > 0:08:30principally the B17 Flying Fortress.
0:08:30 > 0:08:35It was aptly named, with its nine gun positions, powered gun-turrets,
0:08:35 > 0:08:38and twin 50-calibre machine guns.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41Believing in the B17's firepower,
0:08:41 > 0:08:47they saw no need for fighter escort even in daylight.
0:08:47 > 0:08:51The Luftwaffe would quickly teach them a lesson.
0:09:15 > 0:09:19SHEPPARD: The bomber losses were tremendous,
0:09:19 > 0:09:25remembering that each bomber had ten or eleven men on it.
0:09:25 > 0:09:29We were losing up to 50 bombers per mission.
0:09:29 > 0:09:35..This was a horrendous figure to absorb in your daily life.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38It's 500 or 600 men being wiped out.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41500 or 600 FAMILIES were being bereft.
0:09:41 > 0:09:46This is something that is very difficult to take.
0:09:46 > 0:09:51One goes to breakfast with his crewmates and squadron mates,
0:09:51 > 0:09:54one comes to dinner that evening,
0:09:54 > 0:09:59and...maybe a quarter of them aren't there any longer.
0:09:59 > 0:10:05What they needed was a long-range fighter to escort the bombers.
0:10:05 > 0:10:09The Spitfire had the performance, but a tiny fuel capacity.
0:10:09 > 0:10:16The Americans turned to the P47 Thunderbolt, a powerful and rugged fighter.
0:10:16 > 0:10:22But despite its large fuel tank, it just didn't have the bombers' full range.
0:10:22 > 0:10:30FIRST PILOT: After the P47 had to turn and go home, and we were out there all alone, all we could do...
0:10:30 > 0:10:37was "tuck it in", fly the closest formation we could,
0:10:37 > 0:10:39to concentrate the defensive fire,
0:10:39 > 0:10:45because any stragglers or strays were an easy kill for the German fighters.
0:10:45 > 0:10:50SHEWFELT: Their Ground Control knew almost to the mile
0:10:50 > 0:10:55where the American escort would have to turn and go back,
0:10:55 > 0:11:01and within five minutes the bombers could count on being hit...
0:11:01 > 0:11:04by the German fighters...
0:11:04 > 0:11:08and mauled...mercilessly,
0:11:08 > 0:11:12from then till the target, and back.
0:11:12 > 0:11:19They really knew our tactics, our capabilities and limitations.
0:11:19 > 0:11:24After a particularly disastrous raid on Schweinfurt in October 1943,
0:11:24 > 0:11:31American bombers had to restrict their targets to the range of the escorts.
0:11:31 > 0:11:35The Luftwaffe ruled the skies over Germany.
0:11:37 > 0:11:42Some think that by 1943, with America in the war,
0:11:42 > 0:11:45it was all but over. But far from it.
0:11:45 > 0:11:53If anything, the Luftwaffe was actually getting the better of the bomber forces.
0:11:53 > 0:12:00The solution that saved American daylight bombing was deceptively simple.
0:12:00 > 0:12:04Disposable fuel tanks made of a laminated paper compound.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07It doubled a fighter's fuel load.
0:12:07 > 0:12:12The fighters most used in 1943 were the Spitfire and the Thunderbolt,
0:12:12 > 0:12:16but only the Mustang could carry the fuel.
0:12:16 > 0:12:23With over 200 gallons more fuel, the Mustang could fly ANYWHERE in occupied Europe.
0:12:23 > 0:12:28When we got the 108 gallon laminated paper fuel tanks,
0:12:28 > 0:12:34it let the Mustang go all over Germany with the bombers,
0:12:34 > 0:12:37have loitering time...
0:12:37 > 0:12:42In fact it was truly the turning point of the air war in Europe.
0:12:42 > 0:12:45GERMAN ACCENT: As long as you had
0:12:45 > 0:12:51no enemy fighters, it was easier to approach a bomber formation
0:12:51 > 0:12:55than...one with fighter escort.
0:12:55 > 0:13:02The moment the Americans or the British came with fighter escort, it was bad.
0:13:02 > 0:13:09The US Air Force now had a fighter with the range, altitude and performance to protect its bombers.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12All they needed was enough of them.
0:13:12 > 0:13:18America could, better than anyone, mass-produce.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21We just took the automobile industry
0:13:21 > 0:13:25and turned it into one large production engine.
0:13:25 > 0:13:30The US built almost 300,000 airplanes in World War Two.
0:13:30 > 0:13:35That's almost the same number as everyone else put together.
0:13:35 > 0:13:38It's a phenomenal amount.
0:13:38 > 0:13:42With a fighter to protect bombers AND take on the Luftwaffe,
0:13:42 > 0:13:47now American pilots had to prove the Mustang in combat.
0:13:47 > 0:13:50Men like fighter ace Don Blakeslee.
0:13:50 > 0:13:57Blakeslee was the single man responsible for standing up and saying, "Let me have this airplane."
0:13:57 > 0:14:02HE integrated the Mustang into the theatre, with the 354th Group.
0:14:02 > 0:14:06He helped them prepare for combat, then asked for the plane.
0:14:06 > 0:14:13I felt it from the first time I saw the airplane, first flew it.
0:14:13 > 0:14:18The way it handled... And when I knew I could go ANYPLACE...
0:14:18 > 0:14:25I mean this sincerely - there wasn't a PLACE I couldn't go in enemy territory - that was IT.
0:14:25 > 0:14:33Suddenly he had an airplane, as he said, had seven-league boots. It could go to Berlin! He wanted that,
0:14:33 > 0:14:40to get WAY out there, and never have to turn away from the bombers. To go ALL the way.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44Only when the bombers turned around, HE would. This airplane did it.
0:14:44 > 0:14:49In '51 we were actually SEEKING the enemy,
0:14:49 > 0:14:53because we knew that - and proved it -
0:14:53 > 0:14:56numbers didn't mean anything,
0:14:56 > 0:14:59range didn't mean anything,
0:14:59 > 0:15:01go get 'em!
0:15:01 > 0:15:08On March 4th 1944, he got his wish to go all the way with the bombers to Berlin,
0:15:08 > 0:15:14the heart of the Third Reich, a target never before tried in daylight.
0:15:14 > 0:15:19So in this mission we're going to Berlin. Everyone's making a fuss.
0:15:19 > 0:15:22The media... "Oh, god, here we go(!)"
0:15:22 > 0:15:28The hard part of the thing was, the weather wasn't particularly good.
0:15:28 > 0:15:33The journey to Berlin and back was 1,300 miles, a seven hour flight.
0:15:33 > 0:15:37Bad weather made half the force turn back.
0:15:37 > 0:15:43Blakeslee pushed on, determined to tackle the Luftwaffe over the Nazi capital.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46I got on to one,
0:15:46 > 0:15:49and I got on his tail,
0:15:49 > 0:15:53close, close, close. I had him...
0:15:53 > 0:15:56cold turkey.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59And the GUNS didn't fire.
0:15:59 > 0:16:02You can imagine what I thought.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05I flew up beside him...
0:16:05 > 0:16:08and there's been STORIES,
0:16:08 > 0:16:10saying that I waved, and he waved...
0:16:10 > 0:16:15He wasn't ABOUT to wave. If he'd have waved, I woulda RAMMED him!
0:16:15 > 0:16:20Blakeslee's guns had iced over in the high-altitude cold.
0:16:20 > 0:16:26Teething troubles were inevitable in these early long-range missions.
0:16:26 > 0:16:30The March 4th mission had been little more than a dry run.
0:16:30 > 0:16:35On March 6th, the 8th Air Force returned to Berlin
0:16:35 > 0:16:40with one of the largest air armadas ever assembled.
0:16:50 > 0:16:57800 bombers stretched over 30 miles of sky, and with them, their Mustang escorts.
0:17:00 > 0:17:06The March 6th mission to Berlin was something of a turning point.
0:17:06 > 0:17:12It proved that the escort fighters could not only go all the way,
0:17:12 > 0:17:19they could protect bombers well, and destroy enemy fighters.
0:17:19 > 0:17:25They had to fight HARD. The enemy, as it was his capital under attack,
0:17:25 > 0:17:30put up his total air force, everything that he could muster.
0:17:34 > 0:17:39In the battle, a bomber section was separated from its fighter escort.
0:17:39 > 0:17:44Swarming into the gap, Luftwaffe fighters shot down 42 bombers.
0:17:47 > 0:17:52But where the Mustangs were present, the Luftwaffe got shot from the sky.
0:17:52 > 0:17:5787 German planes were lost, a fifth of the counter-attack force.
0:17:57 > 0:18:03Huge damage was inflicted on the German capital, and national morale.
0:18:03 > 0:18:10Hermann Goering, who led the German Luftwaffe, looked up on March 6th
0:18:10 > 0:18:15and saw red-nosed Mustangs - they'd have been Blakeslee's - over Berlin,
0:18:15 > 0:18:18and said, "The war is lost."
0:18:18 > 0:18:25A story, but that must've been the feeling of many Luftwaffe commanders who now saw...
0:18:25 > 0:18:28enemy one-man fighters over Berlin,
0:18:28 > 0:18:33something that was thought impossible a couple of years earlier.
0:18:33 > 0:18:37HAGENAH: The sky was full of enemies,
0:18:37 > 0:18:41and we had to fight them.
0:18:41 > 0:18:47The Mustang was better in every respect. In every respect.
0:18:47 > 0:18:51Manoeuvrability, higher cruising speed, acceleration.
0:18:51 > 0:18:55We had NO chance against the Mustang.
0:18:57 > 0:19:01The Mustang rode high in German skies.
0:19:01 > 0:19:03A new generation of aces emerged.
0:19:03 > 0:19:09Blakeslee, by now a legend, was decorated by Eisenhower himself.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12But while some were glorified,
0:19:12 > 0:19:19other Americans, ignored by the media, were also making their mark in Mustangs.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22Especially the "Red Tails" squadron,
0:19:22 > 0:19:25the Tuskegee Airmen.
0:19:25 > 0:19:29The Tuskegee Airmen evolved...
0:19:29 > 0:19:36after much effort and controversy in the military.
0:19:36 > 0:19:38The military traditionally believed
0:19:38 > 0:19:43that negroes, or blacks, were not to be given any technical roles,
0:19:43 > 0:19:46merely menial work.
0:19:46 > 0:19:50With the pressures exerted on Congress and the military,
0:19:50 > 0:19:56they opened up the Air Corps for admission to the blacks.
0:19:56 > 0:20:01And this experiment was expected to fail.
0:20:01 > 0:20:05Unfortunately, they provided so many obstacles
0:20:05 > 0:20:12that they didn't get anything but the cream of the crop(!) THEY were not about to give in
0:20:12 > 0:20:17to the expectations of the bigotry that existed.
0:20:17 > 0:20:2350 missions was the tour of duty when we arrived in Naples, Italy.
0:20:23 > 0:20:27I flew 107 missions during a four-month period.
0:20:27 > 0:20:31As there were no black replacements,
0:20:31 > 0:20:37we continued to fly, as we knew it was an experiment. We had NOT planned for failure.
0:20:37 > 0:20:42Our record, to my knowledge, has never been equalled or surpassed...
0:20:42 > 0:20:47in ANY war. We never lost a bomber to enemy air action.
0:20:47 > 0:20:51I heard some were reluctant to have us, early on,
0:20:51 > 0:20:55but later said they better get a Red Tails escort.
0:20:55 > 0:21:00The Mustang was a powerful weapon in our hands also.
0:21:00 > 0:21:04It gave us the chance to prove ourselves
0:21:04 > 0:21:09as...a many-roled fighter outfit.
0:21:11 > 0:21:17The 332nd shot down or damaged 409 German aircraft.
0:21:17 > 0:21:23Not bad for an outfit that the Army Air Corps said couldn't learn to fly,
0:21:23 > 0:21:28and if they DID learn to fly, didn't have the courage to fight in combat.
0:21:31 > 0:21:35Convinced by the Mustang's extraordinary performance,
0:21:35 > 0:21:41the USAF now found new ways to exploit their war-winning machine.
0:21:41 > 0:21:49The American bombing depended on visual sighting on a target five miles below.
0:21:49 > 0:21:55How many days do you get "visual conditions" in north-west Europe? Very few.
0:21:55 > 0:22:00But it helped to send out scouting Mustangs way ahead of the bombers,
0:22:00 > 0:22:02who could report back by radio
0:22:02 > 0:22:06on the actual conditions over the target.
0:22:06 > 0:22:09We were eyes for the bomber commander,
0:22:09 > 0:22:16before the bombers, 45 minutes before anybody,
0:22:16 > 0:22:20to report back on the weather, target conditions,
0:22:20 > 0:22:24where enemy aircraft were forming, how the flak was.
0:22:24 > 0:22:30If the primary target was covered up with smoke-screens or weather,
0:22:30 > 0:22:34we'd divert the bombers to a secondary target.
0:22:34 > 0:22:41Brooks saw this kind of mission was necessary. The Mustang was the only plane for it.
0:22:41 > 0:22:44It was manoeuvrable, had firepower,
0:22:44 > 0:22:48it had range. So it was ideal for the mission.
0:22:48 > 0:22:54Our little scout force got a few victories. Not many - it wasn't our job.
0:22:54 > 0:22:59What my scouting force is famous for - I just had one wing-man...
0:22:59 > 0:23:04He and I had done our job and were on the way back,
0:23:04 > 0:23:08and a gaggle of Germans were heading towards the bombers.
0:23:08 > 0:23:14I called it 75, the bombers said 125. We compromised at 100 enemy...
0:23:14 > 0:23:19And my wing-man and I shot five of them at that time.
0:23:19 > 0:23:24One of the fighter squadrons I called on the radio came up,
0:23:24 > 0:23:30and got 34 kills out of the remaining airplanes in the air.
0:23:30 > 0:23:33The older I get, the braver I was(!)
0:23:36 > 0:23:41In keeping the German fighters away from the American bomber formations,
0:23:41 > 0:23:45they gradually achieved something never thought possible,
0:23:45 > 0:23:49air superiority over the enemy homeland.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52That in itself was a war-winning feat.
0:23:52 > 0:23:57It let Eisenhower say, on the morning of D-Day...
0:23:57 > 0:24:02"If you see any aircraft over the beaches, they're ours." They WERE.
0:24:02 > 0:24:04We dominated the air over there,
0:24:04 > 0:24:12the P51, and gradually beat the Luftwaffe to its knees
0:24:12 > 0:24:19through damage to their production facilities for their combat aircraft,
0:24:19 > 0:24:24damage to their oil production, so they couldn't supply the training
0:24:24 > 0:24:27of new pilots.
0:24:27 > 0:24:33So their typical pilot near the end of the war was...quite inexperienced.
0:24:33 > 0:24:39and rather easy prey for our, by then, HIGHLY experienced P51 pilots.
0:24:39 > 0:24:45BLAKESLEE: The boys didn't even wanna take leave. They wanted to fly.
0:24:45 > 0:24:49I think they felt "Well, hell, this is a turkey-shoot.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52"And we're not the turkey."
0:24:52 > 0:24:56Destruction in the air was not now enough.
0:24:56 > 0:25:01While the bombers headed home, the Mustangs loitered, wreaking havoc.
0:25:01 > 0:25:08General Hap Arnold told pilots "Get them in the air, get them on the ground, just GET them."
0:25:08 > 0:25:14We would fly escort with them until we reached back about the Dutch border,
0:25:14 > 0:25:20and we'd go back looking for targets of opportunity. Airfields, transport,
0:25:20 > 0:25:23what-have-you, and go down to strafe.
0:25:23 > 0:25:25We looked at trains,
0:25:25 > 0:25:29or barges on the river, or...
0:25:29 > 0:25:33any enemy installations such as airfields.
0:25:33 > 0:25:39Wherever we found a suitable target, we'd turn loose. That was playtime.
0:25:39 > 0:25:44It was a thrill to hit an airfield and blow the planes up,
0:25:44 > 0:25:48or to hit a transportation target,
0:25:48 > 0:25:51or to hit a locomotive
0:25:51 > 0:25:54and see the steam blow.
0:25:54 > 0:25:57BLAKESLEE: We'd go down...and if it moves,
0:25:57 > 0:25:59you KILL it!
0:25:59 > 0:26:08You have the ammunition. You PAID to bring it. Don't bring it home! We got more.
0:26:08 > 0:26:11Ground strafing was not without hazard.
0:26:11 > 0:26:16Anti-aircraft fire shot down more Mustangs than the Luftwaffe.
0:26:16 > 0:26:22In fact, that's the nastiest job in the whole business.
0:26:22 > 0:26:26We lost more people on ground work than aerial work.
0:26:27 > 0:26:30But the point is, as someone said...
0:26:30 > 0:26:34"That's how you earn your hazard pay!"
0:26:34 > 0:26:38Whether 100 feet off the ground or six miles up in the sky,
0:26:38 > 0:26:43the Mustang was turning the course of the war.
0:26:43 > 0:26:46The number of victories increased
0:26:46 > 0:26:51to a point where the Luftwaffe was hard-put to put up a formation
0:26:51 > 0:26:56to engage the American bombers. Some days they just didn't try.
0:26:56 > 0:27:00Once it had been the hunter of the American bombers.
0:27:00 > 0:27:03Now it was hunted by their fighters.
0:27:03 > 0:27:08I just KNEW if we kept on doing what we were doing,
0:27:08 > 0:27:11that they were BOUND to know...
0:27:11 > 0:27:15that you don't fool around with P51s.
0:27:15 > 0:27:17And I think they learned that.
0:27:17 > 0:27:20It was our salvation,
0:27:20 > 0:27:23and all of us will...
0:27:23 > 0:27:28Bomber pilots will bow down and take off our hats
0:27:28 > 0:27:32to the pilots who were trained to fly that airplane,
0:27:32 > 0:27:38and to fight with it in the superb way that they did.
0:27:41 > 0:27:4550 years after the war it helped to win,
0:27:45 > 0:27:52the allure of the P51, the Cadillac of the skies, remains as strong as ever.
0:27:54 > 0:27:57MARCH: People who were not even born
0:27:57 > 0:28:03when the Mustang was designed and put into service,
0:28:03 > 0:28:08probably are attracted to this particular airplane
0:28:08 > 0:28:11by the very aesthetics of its lines,
0:28:11 > 0:28:14and the beautiful hum...
0:28:14 > 0:28:17of the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine,
0:28:17 > 0:28:20and its gracefulness in flight.
0:28:20 > 0:28:24It is a lovely airplane to watch in flight.
0:28:27 > 0:28:32# Saddle your blues to a wild mustang
0:28:32 > 0:28:39# Gallop your troubles away, a-way, away, a-way
0:28:39 > 0:28:43# Those ornery mavericks need a strong, steady hand
0:28:43 > 0:28:49# Yip 'em up, round 'em up, trip 'em up, tie 'em up, use your brain
0:28:49 > 0:28:53# Saddle your blues to a wild mustang... #
0:28:54 > 0:28:58Subtitles by E Kane BBC Scotland - 1996
0:29:06 > 0:29:07MUSIC: Wonderwall by Oasis