I’M GOING TO OFFER A BOLD SUGGESTION—not for the greatest, but for the most decisive aircraft ever built, and by that I mean the aircraft that has had the most impact. For me, it’s the P-51 Mustang.
I’d reached this conclusion some time ago, but a few weeks back I had the chance to go up in a converted two-seater P-51D. There’s an adage about aircraft that if right, and the Mustang certainly looks the part: sleek but brawny, not the obvious beauty that is the Spitfire, but sturdier and infinitely more refined than a Thunderbolt or a Hurricane, fighters all. It also seems a generation ahead of early-war fighters in development. As I have learned, it certainly was so in construction, which made it quicker and cheaper to build—a massive advantage in a time of total war.
