F-51 Mustangs Over Korea - USAF and South African Air Force

Here’s some great U.S. Air Force film from the Korean War, depicting piston-engine Mustangs in service. The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang fighter of World War II was a winner. It boasted 400-mile-an-hour-plus speeds, great range, and the ability to carry various ordnance under its wings. In 1950, and by now redesignated the F-51, Mustangs were available when urgently needed to combat North Korean aggression. The Air Force had an abundance of many warplanes with the end of World War II. The decision was made to keep some Mustangs in service while drawing down other fighters like the P-38 and P-47 in the postwar world. For Korea, Mustangs were less likely to be air-to-air combatants in a world quickly dominated by jets. And efforts to use F-51s on night interdiction sorties proved less than desirable as the muzzle flash from six wing-mounted .50-caliber machine guns was temporarily blinding to pilots. Because the Air Force used bases in Japan early in the Korean War for some fighters,