The P-51 Mustang had the opportunity to replace the A-10 Warthog. Here is the reason why it never happened.
The P-51 Mustang had the opportunity to replace the A-10 Warthog. Here is the reason why it never happened.
But while a propeller-driven aircraft could be useful for organizations like the Special Operations Command that waged small wars in remote locations, the United States is not willing to send upgraded World War II aircraft against China or Russia.
The American P-51 Mustang was one of the best fighters of the Second World War.
(This appeared for the first time several years ago.)
If life had worked differently, the Mustang could also have fought in Vietnam and flown against a Soviet invasion of Western Europe. In fact, it could even have replaced the Warthog A-10.
the Piper PA-48 Enforcer It was a modernized version of the P-51. It was a creation of David Lindsay, founder of the manufacturer Cavalier Aircraft, who bought the Mustang rights in 1956.
The P-51 eventually became the Turbo Mustang III. But in 1968, in response to a search by the Air Force of a counterinsurgency aircraft (COIN) to fight in Southeast Asia, Lindsay moved the Turbo Mustang III and moved to Piper Aircraft, maker of popular aircraft such as the Piper Cub. What emerged in 1971 was the PA-48 Enforcer, Piper's offer for the COIN contract.
While fast fighter jets are more attractive, the idea of a propeller-driven plane for COIN work makes sense: their slower speed allows them to roam the jungle to provide air support or detect guerrillas. Prop jobs are also cheaper and require less maintenance. A P-51 cost $ 51,000 in 1945, or approximately $ 675,000 at present. The Enforcer probably would have cost around a million dollars. The A-10 Warthog cost almost $ 19 million each.
However, a modernized Mustang was a curious option. The P-51 had gained its reputation in 1944-45 as a fighter of air superiority that was fast, maneuverable and, most importantly, long enough to escort the B-17 and B-24 bombers in Europe occupied by the Nazis. But with its lighter chassis and liquid-cooled engine that would take a hit, it was not the ideal aircraft to land on; that honor was reserved for the P-47 Thunderbolt, heavier, heavy but extraordinarily strong. Unfortunately, the Air Force discarded the Thunderbolt after World War II, which meant that the most fragile Mustangs were used for ground attacks in Korea, and suffered heavy losses in the process.
Re-engined with the Lycoming T55, which powered the CH-47 helicopter, as well as An ejection seat and other improvements. The PA-48 may have looked like a Mustang, but most of its components were new. It had a maximum speed of 345 miles per hour, almost one hundred miles per hour slower than the P-51. On the other hand, it would have been to attack Viet Cong, not fight Messerschmitts in Berlin. While the P-51 had a thousand-pound bomb load, the PA-48 could carry a respectable six thousand pounds of bombs or rockets, which is more than some modern fighter jets carry.
Incredibly, throughout the 1970s, Lindsay and Piper launched the Enforcer not only as a COIN aircraft, but also as the main US ground attack aircraft. That role happened to be fulfilled by the A-10. It's one thing to offer a prop job for a niche role like scrub wars, but quite another to suggest that you should replace a jet As the first ground attack aircraft.
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Not in vain, the Air Force said no, thank you. But Lindsay, who had been a newspaper editor, persistently lobbied Congress until the Air Force gave Piper a $ 11.9 million contract in 1981 to build two PA-48 prototypes for evaluation. The war is boring Joseph Trevithick obtained a copy of the Air Force test report through the Freedom of Information Act. While the testers found the Enforcer easy to operate and maintain, they also concluded that it had low power, lacked maneuverability with a full pump load and was too fragile.
On the other hand, compared to a heavily armored A-10, almost any aircraft would be fragile. But the air defense environment has become more hostile since World War II. Not only nations like Russia are deploying more sophisticated surface-to-air missiles, such as the S-400, but even irregular armies and terrorist groups such as ISIS and Hezbollah are well equipped with missiles and anti-aircraft weapons. The combat missions for the F-35 will be challenging enough, even with stealth. The skies would be absolutely lethal for a plane of 1945.
It is true that the PA-48 would have been cheaper, but this virtue is rooted in a time when human life was cheaper. America lost almost forty-four thousand aircraft of the Army Air Force (the forerunner of the United States Air Force) abroad during World War II, plus another fourteen thousand in training accidents in the United States. More than forty thousand aviators died in combat cinemas, and that figure was even worse for the Germans and the Japanese. The P-51 was considered high technology by its time. But the aircraft of the Second World War and their pilots were essentially flying bullets, which would be spent as ammunition in a massive war of attrition. Even Operation Rolling Thunder in Vietnam cost more than nine hundred aircraft.
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