Good books about late P-51 Mustang and F-82 Twin Mustang development?

[BarnOwlLover]

I'm thinking in a few days of pursuing purchasing at least one book about the Mustang and/or the Twin Mustang (I live on a fixed income so this will slowly build up depending on funds). I'm particularly interested in the lightweight Mustang developments, as well as the P-51H, and the F-82. I know of the Valiant Wings P-51D/K book that talks about the late P-51s, including a chapter on the lightweights and various photos and diagrams of them. There's also the Building the P-51 Mustang book that I heard has at least some stuff on the lightweights and the H.

There's also a recent book on the F-82 that details the XP-82's restoration to flight status as well.

Would anyone recommend these or others that they want to mention?

 

[BarnOwlLover]

I posted a similar thread in the Looking for a Book section, but so far I haven't heard anything. Tomorrow I'll be coming into some money so I'm wondering what would be a good book or such for those P-51 variants. Also, which might be the better book to start with, the Valiant Wings P-51D/K Mustang book (that also covers lightweights and the H), the Building the P-51 Mustang book, or some other material I might be missing?

 

[Daggerr]

Why the hurry?
Take your time to decide, especially if you have a limited budget.

A few more books for you to consider:

North American P-51H Mustang

preview pages can be found here:

MMP Books -6146 North American Aviation P-51D/K

MMP Books -6146 North American Aviation P-51D/K

www.super-hobby.co.uk

 

[BarnOwlLover]

The "hurry" is that I live on a fixed income and have little discretionary spending money most of the time. That said, I have been looking and I did pull the trigger (for now) on the Building the P-51 Mustang and Schiffer publishing's F-82 Twin Mustang books. Schiffer also has a couple of books on the early and late P-51s that look good.

P-51 Mustang, Vol. 1

The North American P-51 Mustang remains one of the most famous and recognizable aircraft in the world to this day. Nimble and fast—qualities that led the Mustang to be used even today in air races—the aircraft was forged in battle. The early Mustangs, often referred to as “Razorback Mustangs,”...

schifferbooks.com

P-51 Mustang, Vol. 2

Even today, almost eighty years after its first flight, the North American P-51 Mustang remains one of the most famous and recognizable aircraft in the world. Nimble and fast, qualities that lead the Mustang to be used even today in air races, the aircraft was forged in battle. This, the second...

schifferbooks.com

Longer term purchases (based on price) are these items:

Sorry! Something went wrong!

Amazon.com

I also must note that I have one of Schiffer's books on Italian infantry weapons used in World War I and World War II (I'm pretty interested in the MTO of World War II).

 

[Daggerr]

.......... I did pull the trigger (for now) on the Building the P-51 Mustang and Schiffer publishing's F-82 Twin Mustang books. Schiffer also has a couple of books on the early and late P-51s that look good.

P-51 Mustang, Vol. 1

The North American P-51 Mustang remains one of the most famous and recognizable aircraft in the world to this day. Nimble and fast—qualities that led the Mustang to be used even today in air races—the aircraft was forged in battle. The early Mustangs, often referred to as “Razorback Mustangs,”...

schifferbooks.com

P-51 Mustang, Vol. 2

Even today, almost eighty years after its first flight, the North American P-51 Mustang remains one of the most famous and recognizable aircraft in the world. Nimble and fast, qualities that lead the Mustang to be used even today in air races, the aircraft was forged in battle. This, the second...

schifferbooks.com

I get the impression that you are focused on photo books.
Those Schiffer books you mention are mainly photos, but not much text.

I have never seen it but I suspect that 'Building the P-51 Mustang' is also mainly photos with captions but not much other text, as I think this is a new version of his older book 'North American Aviation P-51 Mustang, From Production Line to Frontline' which I have seen.

Longer term purchases (based on price) are these items:

Sorry! Something went wrong!

Amazon.com

Again: not my choices, especially not in view of their prices.
You can see a preview of the first book on Google Books and that did not impress me.

If you want photo books then the mentioned Schiffer books are good.
If you want design details then you should consider others.

If you want to understand the history, design and development of the P-51 then you should buy:

Amazon.com: P-51B Mustang: North American's Bastard Stepchild that Saved the Eighth Air Force eBook : Marshall, James William "Bill", Ford, Lowell F., Gruenhagen, Col (Ret.) Robert W.: Kindle Store
As the title says: it covers everything up to and including the P-51B.

For the P-51D/K you could consider the Valiant or MMP book mentioned above, or several others.
For the F-G-H-J versions: the Ginter book I posted above.

But that is based on my area of interest (design, development, technical details), which may not be yours.

 

[BarnOwlLover]

I'm interested in photos and text, text for descriptions and photos because one, I like photo references, and I'm also sort of a visual learner. I have this book from Schiffer on Italian infantry weapons of both World Wars:

Italian Small Arms of the First and Second World Wars

This is the first comprehensive work, in either English or Italian, to address Italian small arms used during World War I and World War II. It describes each weapon and covers the developmental history and use of all Italian designed and produced pistols, rifles, submachine guns and machine...

schifferbooks.com

Granted, it's geared more towards collectors IMO due to text descriptions and photos (it has photos and text, for example, relating to virtually every model of Carcano rifle ever made). But this isn't really an infantry weapons site (or at least area of this site), this is about World War II aviation.

I'm especially interested in the later developments of the Mustang (Merlin power onward, especially the LW models that culminated in the H and F-82), and I do believe I did read something (I've searched for the comment but couldn't find it) that at least one of the authors of the P-51B book you mentioned is wanting to maybe do a book on the lightweights and the H model, though I may've misread.

I'm going to get the Schiffer books to start with, and maybe as things improve this summer (hopefully having a bit more spending money each month) I might buy the Valiant Wings and P-51B books. The latter because drgondog (one of the authors and poster here) had helped me understand a lot about the P-51's development (especially the LW/H models), and I'd be supporting a fellow forum member (I believe the other author also is poster here as well). As well as the book dedicated to the LW Mustangs to round things out.

 

[GTX]

If you want one that covers everything from the Australian perspective - noting Australia was the only place outside of the USA to produce Mustangs - then try this one:

It is outstanding!!

 

[BarnOwlLover]

I did get my order today, and I'm pretty happy. I'm going to pursue the other Schiffer books I'm interested in, as well as the Valiant Wings and the P-51B book. Makes me also wish there was a more recent book dedicated to the lightweight P-51s (I'll be trying to get a hold of a copy of that book mentioned here, too).

 

[drgondog]

I get the impression that you are focused on photo books.
Those Schiffer books you mention are mainly photos, but not much text.

I have never seen it but I suspect that 'Building the P-51 Mustang' is also mainly photos with captions but not much other text, as I think this is a new version of his older book 'North American Aviation P-51 Mustang, From Production Line to Frontline' which I have seen.


Again: not my choices, especially not in view of their prices.
You can see a preview of the first book on Google Books and that did not impress me.

If you want photo books then the mentioned Schiffer books are good.
If you want design details then you should consider others.

If you want to understand the history, design and development of the P-51 then you should buy:
View attachment 718865 Amazon.com: P-51B Mustang: North American's Bastard Stepchild that Saved the Eighth Air Force eBook : Marshall, James William "Bill", Ford, Lowell F., Gruenhagen, Col (Ret.) Robert W.: Kindle Store
As the title says: it covers everything up to and including the P-51B.

For the P-51D/K you could consider the Valiant or MMP book mentioned above, or several others.
For the F-G-H-J versions: the Ginter book I posted above.

But that is based on my area of interest (design, development, technical details), which may not be yours.

I also included the early P-51D, and devoted background behind the XP-51 conception as well as a flight test comparison XP-51F vs P-51B, both at similar fuel fractions and 1650-3 engine.


I'm working on the follow up through XP-82 and P-51H

 

[BOBO]

I have these good book for F-82 and I'm be very satisfied

 

[BarnOwlLover]

I also included the early P-51D, and devoted background behind the XP-51 conception as well as a flight test comparison XP-51F vs P-51B, both at similar fuel fractions and 1650-3 engine.


I'm working on the follow up through XP-82 and P-51H

I'm looking forward to it The LW P-51s and the P-/F-82 are my favorite Mustangs and an interesting "what could've been" on multiple counts.

 

[BarnOwlLover]

What about the books Mustang Designer or Mustang: The Story of the P-51? Good, or maybe too outdated (or not)?

Or Mustang: Thoroughbred Stallion of the Air?

 

[drgondog]

Bob Gruenhagen's P-51Mustang is The seminal book. We wrote Bastard Stepchild to cover a lot of what Bob left out. Wagner's book is also very good reference.

 

[BarnOwlLover]

Going to have to get Mustang: The Story of the P-51. It may be older than I am by a decade, but it seems to have withstood the test of time.

 

[MIflyer]

Going to have to get Mustang: The Story of the P-51. It may be older than I am by a decade, but it seems to have withstood the test of time.

It does have some details you can't find easily elsewhere, although it has been outstripped you'd probably need multiple other books to equal it.
Osprey's Production Line to Frontline boosk has a lot of good pictures in it but it does no really go into serial numbers. The Warbird Tech series P-51 book has a lot of interesting drawings but does not go into detail such as S/N XXX-YYY had 5/32 rivets while S/N WWW-XXX had 1/8 rivets.

 

[BarnOwlLover]

To be honest, I'm looking mostly for books with photos and info about the lightweight Mustangs, the P-51H and the F-82 series. Mostly info about their development and photos of prototypes and (if applicable) service aircraft, especially the LW Mustangs.

Also considering the Squadron Signal book about the P-51 by the author of the Schiffer P-51 books.

Any additional ideas on where I might find more info on those aircraft in print?

 

[MIflyer]

I don't recall which book this is from but here is something.

 

[BarnOwlLover]

Does look like the later/Dan Doyle edition of the Squadron Signal P-51 book from clips I've seen of it online. Doyle also wrote the Schiffer P-51 books that came out a couple of years ago.

 

[MIflyer]

I am always surprised at how much the F, G, J models look like the subscale homebuilts, such as:


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fApuPOOXYuU

 

[BarnOwlLover]

Not really a book request, but a "wish list" item. After reading his Building the P-51 Mustang book, if he's still around or still writing, this article makes me wish Michael O'Leary would write a book about the XP-82/P-82 Twin Mustang:

Articles, News and Links

The following link takes you to an article written by Kevin S. Tanner, editor with Air Classics Magazine http://xp-82twinmust...

xp-82twinmustangproject.blogspot.com

That and the Alpha Archive in southern California where he got photos for that Mustang book (and probably other stuff he's authored--does it even exist still?) seems to be pretty impressive as far as having rarely seen photos.