From Wikipedia: By the end of the war, the 56th FG was the only 8th Air Force unit still flying the P-47, by preference, instead of the P-51. The unit claimed 677.5 air victories and 311 ground kills, at the cost of 128 aircraft.
Republic P-47 Thunderbolt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Is it true that the unit didn't want P-51's?
If so, why?
Yes - they were happy with the P-47 firepower and high altitude performance... Some regretted not converting to the P-51 with respect to their legacy for air to air credits - but they finished number 1 there anyway...
In fact, the 56th FG was the only 8th AF operational group by the end of 1944 to fly the P-47. The 78th didn't convert until mid December.
Interesting, if not meaningful - the 56th FG had 41 air victory credits in 1945, topping 5 and tying one Mustang Group. The 353rd and 78th who converted in November and December 1944, scored 73 and 78 respectively in the P-51. The 357th FG scored 107... giving a hint of what the 56th could have done in the P-51.
Meaningful - the 354FG converted back to Mustang combat on February 16 1945 - and destroyed 175 in the air during that period 2-15 to April 26. From Jan 1 through February 16 they destroyed ZERO in the P-47.
The 354th was largely flying armed recon with the rest of the 9th - but they destroyed more in the air than the rest of the 9th AF P-47s combined in two months than they (P-47s) destroyed between January 1, 1945 through May 8, 1945. I believe that is true for RAF TAC also.
So what can we speculatively say? 1.) the Pioneer Mustang Group would have easily topped the 56th in the ETO had they not been forced to fly P-47 November through mid February? 2.) the 56th could have reached 1000 destroyed in the air had they converted second, as asked, in early March 1944? 3.) they probably would have lost more top pilots in the P-51 while strafing than in the P-47.