Duel #147: VLR P-51 Mustang vs Japanese Fighters

An illustrated study of some of the final and most fierce aerial clashes of the Pacific War, featuring first-hand accounts and combat reports.

For four months in 1945, the skies over Tokyo saw USAAF P-51 Mustang pilots clash with Imperial Japanese Army Air Force (IJAAF) and Imperial Japanese Naval Air Force (IJNAF) fighters in some of the most intense aerial battles of the Pacific War. The Japanese marshalled ten different fighter types to defend the relatively small and well-defined target area, but the already iconic Merlin-engined P-51D Mustang, with its game-changing Very Long-Range (VLR) capabilities, would prove more than a match for their combined forces.