Mustangs over Normandy – P-51s search and destroy targets of opportunity

Spring 1944: Allied heavy bombers and their airborne “little friends” had been hammering away at Fortress Europe since early in the year. Around-the-clock strategic bombardment missions, in concert with low-level “Chattanooga Choo Choo” strafing missions by Allied fighters, helped soften up intended targets. As fliers, our objectives were railways, airfields, and German emplacements, and to knock the Luftwaffe out of the sky. A newcomer, the North American P-51B/C Mustang, had recently joined the battle-tested P-38...