NA-91

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• The RAF orders 150 North American Model NA-91 for lend-lease as the Mustang. At this point the USAAF intends the type to be only used for lend-lease while the primary American Army fighters will be the P-38, P-39, and P-40 series, with the XP-47 in the pipeline for development. As North American Aviation has never design-built a fighter aircraft, the British Purchasing Commission bought the designs and plans for the P-40 and the experimental XP-46 from Curtiss-Wright for £56,000 and provided them to North American in 1940.

- In the panic after Pearl Harbor, 57 of these will be retained by the USAAF and designated the P-51 Apache. The British name will be adopted later, with Apache going to the A-36 dive bomber variant.

 

Mustang I with RAF camouflage on a test flight over California"