First flown in 1940, North American Aviation’s powerful and agile P-51 was the first single-engine aircraft based in England to penetrate Nazi Germany during World War II. With its superior aerodynamics, the Mustang outperformed enemy planes and went on to establish an impressive aerial record. It was the first single-engined plane based in Britain to penetrate Germany, first to reach Berlin, first to go with the heavy bombers over the Ploesti oil fields and first to make a major-scale, all-fighter sweep specifically to hunt down the dwindling Luftwaffe. One of the highest honors accorded to the Mustang was its rating in 1944 by the Truman Senate War Investigating Committee as the most aerodynamically perfect pursuit plane in existence. By war’s end North American built 15,575 P-51 Mustangs. The P-51D Mustang had a wingspan of 37 feet and was 32 feet long. Powered by one 1,490- horsepower engine, it flew 437 mph with a range of 2,300 miles.