"P51 mustang Ground attack" Topic

Being rather a noob on ww2 aviation (sadly i like tanks not planes, but that's slowly changing), I recently purchased a p51d airfix kit (lovely neat and well fitting kit) and was pondering can I use this in a ground attack role? I have googled this great philosophical question of our ages, and found the British (I have RAF decals) used a P51 F, alas I can find no pictures of this beauty. I am aiming for a Normandy campaign with my current collection and wonder if I have purchased a paperweight?

I am a little confused by your post. If you are asking if you can use a P51D as a ground attack plane for your Normandy campaign, the answer is yes.

Sorry I get a bit gabby. What were they usually equipped with?

The British used just about all the variants of the Mustang. Don't get to concerned about the version – Many versions numbers just identified where the aircraft was made (California or Texas). The F model was an experiment with light weight wings. Only 3 were made and tested.

I had a friend mention that the bomber escort pilots would attack targets of opportunity on the way home, so I could almost use any squadron.

Yep – trains in particular were a favoured way of emptying the ammo trays on the way home from other missions. Most close air support was done by P-47s, as they were rightly considered more survivable against ground fire, but while P-51s weren't generally used for dedicated ground attack in Normandy, they could certainly appear, especially in the German rear areas.

There was a dedicated ground attack version of the Mustang, the A-36 Apache, but doesn't seem to have seen action in Normandy:

link

G.

Not impossible, although I'm not aware of the RAF using Mustangs for specialised ground attack. That was more of a Typhoon job.

The P-51 "F" was an experimental lightweight fighter version of the P51. Very few were built and none ever entered Combat service. As an experimental aircraft I don't believe that the British received any. However the "F" was used to develop the P51 H, which would have been the production model if the war had continued into 1946, deliveries began before VJ Day and one or two may (I repeat may) have made it into the combat area before the end of the war, although there is very little proof of this having happened. Most of the production was cancelled, some 500 being made, they generally wound up in Air National Guard Outfits. None saw combat in Korea and I don't believe that any were flown by anyone other than the US.

FWIW, P-51s were armed with rockets on occasion.