How A P-51 Mustang Landed On A Carrier

The Sea Horse

The US Navy kept a close eye on the P-51 Mustang’s development during the Second World War. After all, America’s premiere fighter and bomber escort was highly regarded by the military.

When the Navy acquired a P-51D for carrier evaluation in 1944, they knew they had to make it work.

The Mustang’s tires were replaced with special high-pressured tires, which included a catapult hook between the main landing gear. This change was done to help the P-51 land safely and smoothly on an aircraft carrier.

Testing of this variant they called the ETF-51D “Sea Horse” was done at Mustin Field in September of 1944.

Finally, on November 15, 1944, Lt. Robert Elder was able to make the first Mustang carrier landing on the USS Shangri-la.

Elder would follow this up with three more landings and four takeoffs – all of which ended in great success!

However, it was soon found out that Elder was actually within 8 knots of stalling the Mustang… It simply wasn’t built for carrier landings.

Fortunately, the F8F Bearcat – a better fit for the US Navy, was already on its way out of the production line when the flight tests were done.