WW2 Bombing Raids on Germany Were Bloodbaths for the Allies Until a Futurist Fighter Plane (the P-51) Was Developed

History Unplugged Podcast

History Unplugged

Society & Culture, History

4.2 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 16 February 2023

⏱️ 39 minutes

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Summary

One of the lowest points of World War 2 for the Allies was autumn 1943, when bombing runs from England to Germany were ramping up. Hundreds of B-17s flew out to strike military targets, but they flew unescorted due to being the only planes with enough range (fighters could only make it from England to Belgium and back) and were sitting ducks for German fighters. Losses were as high as 25 percent. Flight crews were grounded and murmured mutiny.

But what change everything was the revolutionary P-51 Mustang fighter. It had a top speed of over 400 mph and fly over 2,000 miles – outrunning and outlasting any other fighter in the war. But not many know the story of how it gained its reputation—how it nearly didn’t make it to the skies at all. Today’s guests are David and Margaret White, author of “Wings of War: The World War II Fighter Plane that Saved the Allies and the Believers Who Made It Fly.”

We discuss how the P-51 Mustang airplane was not only used in the war, but how it was created, the roadblocks that almost prevented it from taking flight against the Luftwaffe, and how it ultimately won the war.

Transcript

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0:00.0	If there was a time when the Allies could have lost World War II, one of the best candidates
0:08.9	for that time would be the fall of 1943.
0:12.0	This is when the Allies were launching massive bombing raids into the heart of Germany,
0:15.8	but their B-17 bombers went unaskwarted without any fighters to help them.
0:19.9	Now, B-17's were formidable.
0:21.8	They had a crew of 10 and carried 1250 caliber machine guns pointing in all directions.
0:26.6	The problem is, when they went on bombing runs, they would have to fly straight toward
0:30.0	their target, no matter what they came across, and there were no fighters that had enough
0:33.7	rage to assist them when they flew out of Britain and into Germany.
0:37.1	This is when the German fighters struck.
0:39.1	B-17's erupted into flames, pus a flak appeared all around them, and when they were struck,
0:44.4	bomber crews would desperately try to bail out.
0:46.6	Of the 229 fortresses that were part of a bombing raid on the city of Schweinfurt, 60 were
0:51.0	shot down and 70 more were lost on the way home.
0:53.9	These were unsustainable losses.
0:55.7	The crew were grounded, some men talked of mutiny, and they were quiet fears that the
0:59.1	entire European war effort was coming to part.
1:01.6	But arguably would change everything was the P-51 Mustang.
1:05.0	It was the fastest plane the US Army Air Forces had ever developed, and it could outfly
1:08.5	any German fighter in the skies.
1:10.0	If you could go over 400 miles an hour, most importantly had a range of over 2000 miles
1:14.3	and could accompany any bomber into Germany.
	...

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