Haslope's Komet, 1945

Flt Lt Haslope, RAAF, flying with 165 Squadron RAF, was escorting British Lancasters and Halifaxes during a daylight raid on Leipzig on April 10th, 1945 when he sighted an Me 163 rocketing down through the bomber formation. He immediately put the Mustang into a steep dive; ignoring the speed limits imposed by the manufacturers, he plummeted down, turning and twisting to follow his adversary, firing at every opportunity. When the Komet pulled out of its dive Haslope followed and was subjected to so much “G” that he blacked out. When his vision returned, he saw that he had followed the Komet up into an enormous loop. He watched the Komet zoom on down the other side of the loop, fail to pull out, and slam in to the ground. The Luftwaffe pilot must have been killed by Haslope’s fire. The RAAF pilot wasn’t doing too well himself; his aircraft had held together in the dive but was “bent” during the high “G” pull-out; the wings were warped so badly he could barely maintain control. With difficulty, he made the long return journey back across Germany and the North Sea to his base at Bentwaters in South-East England. There, his Mustang was examined by engineers and was deemed unsafe to fly and was scrapped.

Haslope’s extraordinary achievement was witnessed by other pilots in the raid and, for his efforts, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. It had been an extraordinary scenario when you realise that the Komet’s maximum speed was close-on 600mph (965km/h) and the Mustang III could achieve 430mph (690km/h). Only seven Komets were shot down during the war; the other six were destroyed by American pilots.

The Mustang was designed for the British Royal Air Force in the amazing time of 117 days by designers, Raymond Rice and Edgar Schmued of the North American Aviation Inc., California, USA. The first flight took place in October of 1940 and the first delivery in May of 1941. Originally, the British Government had asked North American to produce P40 Warhawks but North American bridled at this and claimed they could design a better aircraft using the same Allison engine that powered the P40.

Their new machine featured a wide-track undercarriage, making for better control on take-off and landing, self-sealing fuel tanks, and a laminar-flow wing that produced excellent high-speed characteristics. It outperformed the P40 but was used by the RAF only as a ground-attack fighter because the Allison’s power fell off badly at crucial higher altitudes. Rolls-Royce suggested that a Packard-built Roll-Royce Merlin, similar to those that powered the Supermarine Spitfire, be fitted. This was the kiss of life for this remarkable aircraft.

The new power-plant produced the necessary improvement in performance throughout the operating envelope and, as has so often been recorded, the Mustang became the greatest long-range fighter of the Second World War; without it the American Eighth Airforce, almost certainly, would have changed its daylight-raid strategy in Europe because bomber losses in unescorted daylight raids were unacceptably high. When the P51D, the most numerous of the models, was fitted with drop tanks the operational range went up from around 950miles (1528km) to 1300miles (2091 km) and a straight-line range to over 2,000 miles (3218 km). This enabled the Mustang to escort bombers into the heart of Germany, all the way to Berlin and back to the UK.

The aircraft that John Haslope flew was the Merlin-powered P51B model and modified with a bulged, Malcom cockpit canopy for better vision. In the later P51D, the rear vision was improved yet again by lowering the aft-end of fuselage and installing a tear-drop hood. Lateral stability problems necessitated an extension to the fin. The resulting difference in silhouette can be seen by comparing the main picture with my sketch of an Australian-built P51K, below.

The Mustang fought in many theatres of war, but its main contribution was in the skies above Europe. Australia built 200 Mustangs at the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation at Fisherman’s Bend, Victoria; the last of these came off the production line in 1946.

The North American P-51K of 84 Squadron, RAAF, 1945. Note the “Tear Drop” cockpit hood.