P-51A

P-51A

P-51A

USA

II Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
3.0	3.0	3.0

Class:

PREMIUM

Fighter

Purchase:Bundle or Gift

Show in game

This page is about the American fighter P-51A. For other versions, see P-51 (Family).

Description

The P-51A Mustang is a premium gift rank II American fighter with a battle rating of 3.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was a special vehicle offered during the 2015 Thunder League as a reward for completing 5 Air challenges. The P-51A TL comes with a high-powered engine and with four 12.7 mm Browning machine guns.

General info

Flight performance

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

Characteristics	Max Speed (km/h at 3,170 m)		Max altitude (metres)	Turn time (seconds)		Rate of climb (metres/second)		Take-off run (metres)
	AB	RB		AB	RB	AB	RB
Stock	627	612	9500	21.2	22.0	11.3	11.3	370
Upgraded	712	668		19.1	20.0	26.0	15.7

Details

Features
Combat flaps	Take-off flaps	Landing flaps	Air brakes	Arrestor gear
✓	✓	✓	X	X

Limits
Wings (km/h)	Gear (km/h)	Flaps (km/h)			Max Static G
		Combat	Take-off	Landing	+	-
855	287	652	450	279	~12	~6

Optimal velocities (km/h)
Ailerons	Rudder	Elevators	Radiator
< 550	< 230	< 550	> 360

Survivability and armour

Examine the survivability of the aircraft. Note how vulnerable the structure is and how secure the pilot is, whether the fuel tanks are armoured, etc. Describe the armour, if there is any, and also mention the vulnerability of other critical aircraft systems.

Armaments

Offensive armament

The P-51A is armed with:

• 4 x 12.7 mm M2 Browning machine guns, wing-mounted (350 rpg inner + 280 outer = 1,260 total)

Usage in battles

At the start of the battle, WEP and climb until you are higher than most enemy aircraft (the aircraft has an excellent climb rate). Then proceed to destroy bombers and climbing fighters. Do NOT turn fight with any aircraft except for bombers. If someone is on your tail, proceed in a shallow dive. The plane's exceptional top speed should allow it to outrun almost everything. In terms of weapons, use the tracer belt or the omnipurpose belts, as they have the most incendiary munitions. Feel free to spray the guns, as the ammo reserve is quite large.

Manual Engine Control

MEC elements
Mixer	Pitch	Radiator			Supercharger	Turbocharger
		Oil	Water	Type
Not controllable	Controllable Auto control available	Not controllable Not auto controlled	Controllable Auto control available	Combined	Not controllable 1 gear	Not controllable

Modules

Tier	Flight performance		Survivability	Weaponry
I	Fuselage Repair	Radiator		Offensive 12 mm
II		Compressor	Airframe
III	Wings Repair	Engine		New 12 mm MGs
IV		Engine Injection	Cover

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Extremely fast in level flight or in a dive
• Great rate of climb
• Four .50 cals with decent amount of ammo
• Gets access to the late-war .50 cal belts
• Awesome looking skin: Lightning strips and red (magenta) make it go faster
• Little lockup at highspeeds
• Hard to wingrip

Cons:

• Not very manoeuvrable
• Only four Browning HMGs
• Fast engine overheating
• Rolls hardly below 370 km/h
• No payload options

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).

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

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

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• encyclopedia page on the aircraft;
• other literature.

North American Aviation
Fighters
P-51A	P-51
P-51C	P-51C-10
P-51D	P-51D-5 · P-51D-10 · P-51D-20-NA · P-51D-30
P-51H	P-51H-5-NA
Twin-engine fighters	F-82E
Jet fighters	F-86A-5 · F-86F-2 · F-86F-25 · F-86F-35 · F-100D
Strike aircraft	A-36 · PBJ-1H · PBJ-1J
	FJ-4B · FJ-4B VMF-232
Bombers	B-25J-1 · B-25J-20
Export/Licence	▂B-25J-30 · ␗B-25J-30
	▄Mustang Mk IA · F-6C-10-NA · ␗P-51D-20 · J26 David · J26 · P-51D-20-NA · ␗P-51K
	F-86F-30 ▅ · ␗F-86F-30 · F-86F-40 ▅ · F-86F-40 JASDF▅ · ␗F-86F-40
	◄F-86K · ▄F-86K (Italy) · ▄F-86K (France)
	␗F-100A · ▄F-100D · ␗F-100F
Captured	▅P-51C-11-NT
	Canadair Limited license-built the F-86 as the CL-13 for use in Canada and export to Europe.
	Fiat license-built the F-86K for the Italian Air Force though another 120 NAA built F-86Ks were also sold to the Italians.
See Also	Mitsubishi Heavy Industries · Canadair Limited · Fiat Aviation