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RANK 6 USA
 RANK 6 USA INFO

"APACHE" | AH-64A P…
This page is about the premium British fighter Mustang Mk IA (Great Britain). For other versions, see
P-51 (Family).

▄Mustang Mk IA
Britain III Rank

Battle rating: Class:

PREMIUM Fighter
AB RB SB
4.0 3.7 4.0
Description
Purchase:
The ▄Mustang Mk IA is a premium rank
III British fighter with a battle rating of 4.0
1 850
(AB/SB) and 3.7 (RB). It has been in the
game since the start of the Open Beta Test Show in game
prior to Update 1.27.

The Mustang Mk IA is equipped in the same manner as the

American original P-51 with four 20 mm cannons in the
wing and Allison engine. The Mustang Mk IA takes on a
two-tone desert camouflage as default with a light blue
Contents
underbelly, making it quite distinguishable in the airspace.
Distinguishable identifications towards the Royal Air Force 1 Description
are seen with roundels on the wings and rear fuselage, with 2 General info
a red, white, blue fin flash. 2.1 Flight performance
2.1.1 Details
2.2 Survivability and armour
General info 2.3 Modifications and economy
3 Armaments
Flight performance 3.1 Offensive armament
4 Usage in battles
4.1 Manual Engine Control
Max speed
4.2 Pros and cons
at 5 200 m 631 km/h 5 History
5.1 In-game description
Turn time 20 s 6 Media
7 See also
Max altitude 8 839 m 8 External links

Engine Allison V-1710-39

Type Inline
 Cooling system Water

Take-off weight 5t

Describe how the aircraft behaves in the air. Speed, manoeuvrability, acceleration and allowable loads -
these are the most important characteristics of the vehicle.

Max
Speed Max Turn time Rate of climb Take-
Characteristics (km/h at altitude (seconds) (metres/second) off run
5,200 m) (metres) (metres)
AB RB AB RB AB RB

Stock 591 578 21.6 22.2 8.5 8.5

8839 491
Upgraded 673 631 18.9 20.0 18.6 13.1

Details

Features

Combat Take-off Landing Air Arrestor

flaps flaps flaps brakes gear

✓ ✓ ✓ X X

Limits

Max
Flaps (km/h)
Wings Gear Static G
(km/h) (km/h) Take-
Combat Landing + -
off

0 287 650 520 279 ~12 ~6

Optimal velocities (km/h)

Ailerons Rudder Elevators Radiator

< 500 < 230 < 550 > 340

Compressor (RB/SB)

Setting 1

Optimal altitude 100% Engine power WEP Engine power

3,597 m 1,150 hp 1,599 hp

Survivability and armour

Crew 1 person
 Speed of destruction
Structural 0 km/h
Gear 287 km/h

38 mm Bulletproof glass - Armoured windscreen

6.35 mm Steel plate in front of the engine
6.35 mm Steel plate between the engine and pilot
11.11 mm Steel plate behind the pilot

Modifications and economy

Repair cost
AB 2 500
RB 5 200
SB 890

Crew training 10 000

Experts 240 000
Aces 700
Research Aces 790 000

Reward for battle AB / RB / SB

2 × 80 / 250 / 300 %
2 × 154 / 154 / 154 %

Modifications

Armaments
Offensive armament

Weapon 1 4 x 20 mm Hispano Mk.II cannon

Ammunition 500 rounds
Fire rate 600 shots/min
The Mustang Mk IA (Great Britain) is armed with:

4 x 20 mm Hispano Mk.II cannons, wing-mounted (125 rpg = 500 total)

Usage in battles
The Mustang Mk-1A is similar to its bigger brother (or in some ways smaller) in the fact that it carries many
good and bad traits. Interestingly, it inherits much of the advantages of the P-51D while adding some of its
own good characteristics. High altitude performance is miserable, but it won't get there any time soon with
the sluggish climb rate. Top speed is very good, yet achieving it can take some time due to the slow
acceleration. Low-altitude manoeuvrability is decent.

The Mk-1A is equipped with four Hispano 20 mm cannons, making it a formidable firing platform.
However, these cannon will run out of ammo, due to the sparse 125 rpg. They will jam quickly too. Take
advantage of the cannon though, because when compared to other nation's counterparts the MK-1A can
make rapid kills of any plane. Air targets belts are recommended for experienced players; they possess the
most HE shells out of any belt, but lack tracers. Unlike in the Typhoon series, the guns on the Mustang are
mounted in close proximity, dealing a deadly double punch when hitting. Very similar to the Spitfire Mk.Vc
which has 5 rounds per gun less than the Mustang.

Unfortunately, the Mustang Mk-1A is not a great Boom & Zoom fighter nor a great turn-fighter; it is a trade-
off between the great high-altitude performance of the P-51D and its own average all-altitude performance.
The top speed is only middling, although top speed and dive-speed are excellent. Climb rate is relatively
poor, at only 13 m/s. To top that off, it has an average turn-rate as well. Thus, the Mk-1A is a great plane for
head-ons, tail-end combat, and in very few cases, turn fighting. At low altitudes, turning is very snappy
provided you have the speed. The engine is prone to overheating relatively (and annoyingly) quickly in
realistic and simulator battles. Additionally, a small amount of damage taken by the engine can result in its
destruction, which is relatively annoying while attacking bombers. Additionally, the cockpit is a great
downfall, as it provides poor visibility.

A Mustang with altitude is a dangerous Mustang. Try to take out a Mustang, you must do what you can to
rob it of its altitude advantage by either climbing above it or bringing it down to the Earth. The latter can be
easily done if the Mustang pilot is aggressive and will eagerly tail an enticing target in a dive down to low
altitude. In this case, one can rely on bleeding the Mustang of its speed as it pursues its target or when it
returns to a climb and use this opportunity to pounce the Mustang.

Manual Engine Control

MEC elements

Radiator
Mixer Pitch Supercharger Turbocharger
Oil Water Type

Controllable Not controllable Controllable Not

Not Not
Auto control Not auto Auto control Combined controllable
controllable controllable
available controlled available 1 gear

Pros and cons

Pros:

Punishing armament of four Hispano Mk.II

Amazing acceleration at low altitude
Good top speed
Good manoeuvrability (roll+pitch) at high speed (max @ 600 km/h)
High energy retention in level flight
Decent climb rate, until 3,000 m
Great RP and reward bonus due to premium status

Cons:

Rather low ammo, with 125 RPG

Loses a lot of energy in sustained turns
Poor engine performance at alt > 4,000 m
Engine overheats rather quickly
Poor backward visibility in simulator mode due to cockpit design
No G-Suit, can black out easily in high-speed manoeuvres

History
Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the aircraft in more detail than in the introduction.
If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article
about the vehicle and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-
name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by
using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may
also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under ===
In-game description ===, also if applicable).

In-game description

The North American P-51 Mustang was a single seat fighter which was designed, developed and entered
service all during the course of the Second World War. The origins of the aircraft came about in April 1940,
when the British Purchasing Commission approached the North American aviation company to design a
fighter to augment those already in service with RAF Fighter Command. The prototype first flew on October
26th 1940 and, after a highly successful test and evaluation period, 320 aircraft were ordered and the first
production aircraft flew on May 1st 1941. Delivered to No.26 Squadron at Gatwick, the new American
fighter was designated the Mustang Mk.I by the RAF. It was considered to be superior to any other
American fighter at the time, particularly at low level. However, the 1100 hp Allison V-1710 engine had a
poorer performance at high altitude, particularly above 15,000 feet which was above where the engine
supercharger was optimized for.

For this reason, the Mustangs were used in support of ground operations rather than in their intended original
role as a fighter. The Mustang was very successful in this role and an additional order for a further 300
aircraft was placed. The new batch was modified by fitting self sealing fuel tanks and replacing the earlier
Mustangs' eight machine guns with a new armament of four 20mm cannon, to create the Mustang Mk.IA.
The RAF's successes with the Mustang led to a good deal of attention from the United States Army Air
Force; after highlighting the fighter's only serious shortcoming as its high altitude performance, enquiries
were made into fitting the aircraft with a different engine.
The British Rolls-Royce Merlin was selected for testing in five converted Mustangs, and the performance of
the fighter increased dramatically. The airframe and wings were strengthened to harness the power of the
Merlin engine, which also resulted in the fitting of under wing stores now being an option. Mustangs could
now carry bombs, rockets or long range drop tanks. Now more than capable of competing across all altitude
bands and boasting a particularly long range for a single engine fighter, the Mustang was rapidly evolving
into one of the most capable air assets of the entire war. However, with British and American interest in the
fighter still growing, future variants of the Mustang would show yet more improvements.

Generally regarded as the greatest American fighter of the Second World War, Mustang pilots were to claim
nearly 5,000 air-to-air kills by the end of the conflict. The Mustang would go on to serve the USAF in the
Korean War, and was exported to over 50 foreign air forces.

Media
Skins

Skins and camouflages for the Mustang Mk IA (Great Britain) from live.warthunder.com. (https:
//live.warthunder.com/feed/camouflages/?vehicle=p-51b)

See also
Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

reference to the series of the aircraft;

links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links
Official data sheet - more details about the performance (https://forum.warthunder.ru/index.php?
/topic/277120-mustang-mk-ia/)

North American Aviation [Expand]

Britain fighters [Expand]

Britain premium aircraft [Expand]

Retrieved from "https://wiki.warthunder.com/index.php?

title=Mustang_Mk_IA_(Great_Britain)&oldid=120923"
 This page was last edited on 16 January 2022, at 22:12.

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