Mustangs in the Pacific Theater? Yes

[EastCoastGuy]

I had in in-game conversation the other day with a history-challenged person who loudly proclaimed that the P-51 never saw action in the Pacific, and anybody who says it did is a liar.

Sigh...

Well, a few seconds of taking the time to type "P-51 Pacific" into Google reveals the first hit as a Wikipedia article on P-51's that shows the Mustang DID serve in the Pacific from 1944-1945 in both US and Australian service. One of the more notable uses were the long-range units operating out of Iwo Jima that escorted B-29 bombers over mainland Japan and attacked ground targets there as well. Encounters with Zeros were rare though, since the Zero was outclassed by newer Japanese fighters, and the vast majority had already been lost in combat.

Also, if you're interested, look up the book title "Very Long Range P-51 Mustang Units of the Pacific War"

History education -- what a concept.

[wlayton27]

They always say something like "anybody who says it did is a liar." Maybe they were referring to Pearl Harbor, or Hawaii in general, but there were absolutely P-51 Mustangs flying the Pacific campaign.

Here you can watch an actual 1945 documentary which contains live footage of B-29s flying over Japan with P-51 fighter escorts from Iwo Jima. Footage of Iwo Jima and the P-51s begins about 13 minutes into the half-hour documentary.

Originally Posted by "Enzo Angelucci and Peter M Bowers. The American Fighter. Mila, Italy; Haynes Publishing Group., 1987. 331.

It wasn't until 1942 that the USAAF decided to order 310 P-51As and 300 ground attack/bomber A-36A Mustangs. The reason for the delay in procurement of the type was for somewhat murky reasons, uncovered during an inquiry known as the Truman Report.

This bit about the P-51s history might explain why there weren't any P-51s stationed in Pearl Harbor at the time of the attack. Simply put, we didn't have any at that time.

[EastCoastGuy]

Originally Posted by wlayton27

Here you can watch an actual 1945 documentary which contains live footage of B-29s flying over Japan with P-51 fighter escorts from Iwo Jima. Footage of Iwo Jima and the P-51s begins about 13 minutes into the half-hour documentary.

Nice documentary -- thanks! That's the part I explained to the aforementioned person -- who claimed it never happened.