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Later in WWII the Allied bombers were flying deep into Germany but suffered tremendous losses because of the lack of range the fighter escorts had. German fighters would wait beyond the range of the Allied fighters and then attack the vulnerable bombers. Once the P-51 called Mustang by the British had the Allison engine replaced with a British Merlin it possessed the high performance that had been lacking. With drop tanks the P-51 had the range to escort bombers all the way to Berlin and back. The 2nd FS as the 2nd Pursuit Squadron and later renamed the 2nd FS assigned to the 52nd FG. The unit was sent to England as part of the 8th Air Force and in 1943 was equipped with Spitfires to escort bombers. Desperate for fighters in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations the 52nd FG / 2nd FS were sent to fill the need. In April 1944 the Spitfires were replaced by P-51 Mustangs. One pilot was Captain Fred Ohr credited with 6 victories, 1 in a Spitfire and 5 in his Mustang 44-13298 “Marie”.

Info:     P-51D Mustang - Major Ray Wetmore, 370th FS, 359th FG, 1945